CHEERS! to a bizarre year

My family and I once hiked the rugged coastline from Port St Johns to Hole-in-the-Wall near Coffee Bay over the festive season. We were six, plus our guide Jimmy Selani who helped navigate the many river mouths (filled with sharks) that span the 60km stretch. It was a five-day endeavour with every night spent with a different local family, each as excited as the next to share their colourful rondavel home and dining table with us. Idyllic.

We suspected nothing when the taxi driver who drove us from Coffee Bay to Port St Johns questioned our timing. 'Most people can't walk these hills in summer,' he laughed. He shook his head, handed my