The good old days on the North Coast

In the seventies, camping on the KZN North Coast was quite different to today. You could even camp ‘wild’ in places with no amenities – it was not only free but also safe. One such place was at the Amatikulu beach and the so-called ‘flat rock reef’ north of Richards Bay. Only a few people knew where to turn off the R102 onto the twin-track leading to this secluded beach. This was of course before the days of the N2. Getting to the beach meant serious business for your off-roader. I had an old Series 3 Land Rover Defender and my friend Mike Hutchons an even older 2A. Kevin Holland, another friend, had the latest Landy with its new six-cylinder in-line petrol engine. The first thing you did when you arrived at the beach is open the bonnets to check the oil and water. Mike always arrived last and we joked they had to adjust his speedometer to “furlong per two weeks”. (A furlong is around 200 m. – Ed). Then we used the Landies to drag stumps closer for that night’s big fire. Those were the days when you could still drive anywhere on the beach. The fire burned all night – for braai meat and water for coffee. We parked the Landies side by side with a tarpaulin stretched in-between them and that’s where the women and children slept. The men slept next to the fire under the stars. We fished, of course, and I remember a story that people will probably have a hard time believing. It was evening, and Kevin pulled a strange thing out of the water. We were angling in an estuary, but Kevin could cast really far. He had cast it over the mouth, to the opposite bank – without knowing it – where a farm pig had actually picked up the bait. And so he caught a pig! Sodwana was just as popular. Those were the days when you would barely count four boats on the beach. The campsite was basic, with only pit toilets. You didn’t really see off-roaders on the beach as you know them today, but there were beachbuggies and Mazda 1600 bakkies with 185 tyres. We regularly drove the 90 km from here to Cape Vidal, but you also had to find out when the navy was training so that you would not end up under fire. Mabibi is about 30 km north of Sodwana and has some of the best snorkelling spots in the country. We could still drive all the way on the beach to get there. Things have changed a lot, and some days we’re not sure if we’re worse off today or not, but the North Coast is still one of my wife Marianne and my favourite destinations. We have been avid travellers all our lives who like experiencing places, and we like to call ourselves the ‘Crows of the Back Roads’. My son Ruben once claimed that there probably aren’t many children who grew up like him and his sister Liezel – in the back of a bakkie, on their way to somewhere.