Tag Archives: Mtamvuna river

Mtamvuna River

Tom went fishing with Ryan – his first trip out of the house for ages! Ryan’s Dad Andy took them to The Old Pont on the Mtamvuna River, two hours south of home.

I joined them for a lovely braai – chuck, wors and garlic bread. Tom and Ryan braai’d the meat to perfection, but burnt the bread! Grrr!!

Overhead flocks of starlings and a flock of 22 Trumpeter Hornbills flew in the strong South-Westerly wind.

The next day they went to the coast at nearby Port Edward and Ryan sent pics of Tom on the rocks; and videos of dolphins in the breakers and a whale tail-sailing just behind backline.

– the spray shows the strong wind blowing –

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The Old Pont

There’s a lovely spot on the Mtumvuna that divides old Natal from old Transkei. We went with Sue and Mike Barnes in 2009. They own one of the unique semi-permanent ‘cottages’ or fixed tents there and arranged another for us to hire.

Old Pont collage 1The Old Pont collage 2

Before there was a bridge downstream, there was an old pont here. Nowadays there’s an informal do-it-yourself ferry.

The ferry - The Old Pont collage

Mike builds beautiful boats and had one of Mallards best there:

The Old Pont collage 3

Good people, lots of kids, lots of action.

The Old Pont collage 4

We did some mountain biking in the gorge overlooking the river upstream and visited Beaver Creek coffee farm.

The Old Pont collage 5

Mike taught Tom to wakeboard and he loved it. Took to it like a grebe to water. I set him off and Trish photographed him from the boat.

Tom's First Wakeboarding collage
Tom’s first shot at wakeboarding – chuffed!

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History:

heritage Old Pontheritage Old Pont_2

On our bikes we came across the sewage treatment plant. Acres of dried kak in interesting patterns. Sorta like chocolate. That’s what the kids have remembered longest about The Old Pont.

old pont sewage sludge.jpg