Natural wonders on my doorstep

The Eastern Cape is genuinely my favourite place on the planet. I’ve travelled around Southern Africa, and from East Africa to the Arabian Peninsula to Southeast Asia, and there is still nothing quite like it. Maitland Beach on the outskirts of Port Elizabeth was a recent discovery for me. Aside from King’s Beach, with its calm infinity-pool waters, and St George’s Strand, with its surf, I hadn’t explored many of the Windy City’s beaches.

Imagine my delight at driving up to this enormous sand dune and a gorgeous beach that stretched towards Jeffreys Bay. I contemplated walking it, so lost was I in the sun, sea, sand and beauty of the river mouth. I was most impressed with how raw it still is – no beachfront resorts or holiday homes, just jagged coastline and wide open shoreline.

There is something endlessly fascinating about the sea; the ebb and flow of the waves, the cool breezes and somehow feeling closer to the rest of the world, as if you could swim out into the ocean and let the tide take you wherever it goes next.

– Mihlali Mbobo, Port Elizabeth