Protea Ridge

Be prepared to experience one of South Africa’s best community-based accommodations. Living and interacting with the locals on the Transkei Wild Coast of South Africa is an experience not to be missed with various activities to choose from. If you are looking for 100% cotton linen and matching cutlery and crockery this is perhaps not the accommodation for you.

Protea Ridge (or Elityeni, as the homestead is often referred to in the local isiXhosa language), is situated 40-odd kilometers from the nearest town of Lusikisiki on the infamous and winding, undulating R61, at the end of a dusty, bumpy and one-way gravel road, which threads its way through numerous valleys until it finally ends at the village of Ndengane at the mouth of the breathtaking Msikaba River on SA’s Wild Coast! Unless you are travelling on foot along the Wild Coast, or by helicopter, bicycle, or horseback perhaps, it’s a one way in /one way out destination! A road that goes no-where else. The closest airports, King Shaka International and Mthatha Airport are a 5 and 3 hour drive away respectively and a shuttle service can be arranged in advance. 90 km away to the South, the brave and adventurous can land or depart at the small mountain top landing strip on the top of Mount Thesiger overlooking the historical village of Port Saint John. Even closer at just 5km away, is the grass runway established during the 2nd World War for anti-U-Boat submarine missions, now known as Mkweni Airstrip and maintained by Legendary “old Transkei” family, The Goss’s, who have their home nearby. Old “depth charge” pillboxes or concrete bunkers the only sign of this flat hilltop area’s past connections to WW2!