By Kevin Ritchie
East London - Paradise is relative; one man’s treasure island could well end up being another’s Devil’s Island.
My idea of paradise is a little piece of heaven on the Wild Coast, Morgan Bay. I’ve known about it for years but only recently rediscovered its allure.
In the old days you had a beast of a trip on a dirt road out to get to it or Kei Mouth, its neighbour, but the road’s been tarred now.
It’s still a bit of an adventure getting there, but at least this time you don’t feel like Kingsley Holgate getting there – even though the GPS still reckons it will take you an hour to navigate the 85km trip.
It’s worth it when you get there – an idyllic vista bracketed by a lagoon on the one side and the hump of a strangely comforting hill, with sheer cliffs beyond, and the beautiful Indian Ocean in front.
There are two hotels – the eponymous Morgan Bay Hotel and the Mitford, a caravan park and a whole host of holiday homes – and that’s it. The village runs the length of the 1.6km-long coast with Morgan Bay Hotel in a prime location.
The hotel is one of those legendary Wild Coast hotels; child-friendly to the nth degree, with games rooms, a swimming pool and in-house childminders, where your rack rate can include full board and lodging or just bed and breakfast – both of which are unpretentious and generous Eastern Cape home cooking.
There are 34 rooms to choose from – some sea-facing, others with no view at all, all wonderfully eclectic yet stylishly fitted out in a Mr Price Home meets Biggie Best.
A short walk out the front stoep and over the terraced lawn and you’re on the beach and into the sea.
Alternatively, you can walk up the hill to the right. You can do a lot of walking in Morgan Bay, you can do a lot of thinking too.
Or you can go to nearby game parks, search for Ming dynasty porcelain on a Portuguese shipwreck; or play golf.
If the weather’s bad, you can pop into Morgan Bay’s other hotel, the Mitford, and lose an entire afternoon speaking to the barman about the area and its characters as you quaff craft beers from Chintsa.
Then again you might never have to leave the Morgan Bay Hotel. It’s got quaint reading lounges with breathtaking views over the ocean where children are neither seen nor heard and silence is strictly enforced; or its own two pubs, one of which is incorporated into a bespoke-viewing deck that doubles as a restaurant above the wedding reception area below.
And therein lies its yin and yang, for between Monday and Friday you’ve basically got the entire Morgan Bay to yourself, sharing it with the 50 or 60 permanent residents.
At the weekend, the village – and in particular the Morgan Bay Hotel – fills up to with the sound of merriment as the wedding parties descend.
The hotel runs an incredibly slick wedding operation, including an ultra-modern spa, being able to serve plated multiple-course meals to 150-plus guests that would be the envy of many Joburg establishments, a success borne out by the fact that there’s a waiting list for prospective brides to book their nuptials.
And then there’s Christmas, when the pristine beach becomes home to about 6 000 holidaymakers, as the caravan park threatens to burst its seams.
To mangle the Eagles, that could be heaven or that could be hell. You’ll know which is which.
For me, there’s only one time to go to Morgan Bay; out of season; from Monday to Friday, when it feels like you’ve got the entire hotel to yourself, to say nothing of some of the most beautiful coastline in the country.
USEFUL WEBSITES
www.morganbay.co.za
www.morganbay.co.za/accommodation.html
www.morganbayhotel.co.za/
Saturday Star