Exploring the Wild Coast on horseback

Marianne Schwankhart takes an outback ride to Trennerys, a stalwart of the Wild Coast's family hotels, and shares a pontoon with her horse along the way

The best meal is always the one with some excitement leading up to it. So I booked a horse ride from Kei Mouth, crossed the river by pontoon with my horse and rode for 11km along the beach to have lunch at Trennerys.

Kei Mouth resident Andrew Baisley is one of the three locals who initiated the pontoon 20 years ago when the old Transkei was dissolved. Anyone living north of the Kei lived an isolated life with the barrier of the river. The drive around was 187km - now it takes five minutes with the pontoon. It changed the lives of everyone in this area.

The other two pontoons still in operation today are on the Breede River at Malgas and at Sendelingsdrift in the Richtersveld. We walked our horses onto the ferry with other locals who use it as their daily transport, and "sailed" across to the other side - the wild side. North of the Kei is the proper Wild Coast and you can immediately feel you're in another territory with stretches of beach populated by cows rather than sunbathers. Almost a century ago, Huberta, the famous travelling hippo from St Lucia, lived in the Kei River for a while before she was chased off.

Our guide Ashley Gower grew up around here and knows the people and horses well. When he's not guiding or working on the farm, he participates in endurance races with his horses, a quickly growing sport in South Africa.

Tic Tac is a 6-year-old horse and new to outrides but very responsive and keen to run. We immediately bonded and fell into the most comfortable canter along the beach. For beginners, soft sand is probably the best surface on which to canter or trot. It slows the movement down, allowing the rider to relax into the motion and find a rhythm. Also, if you fall off, the landing should be soft.

It took about two hours to get to Trennerys, a charming, old-fashioned family hotel named after its original owner. It's been there since 1928 and, though it's been repainted a few times, the essence of the place has remained over the years. While the horses grazed on lush grass, we had a fantastic lunch by the pool. The salads were big and delicious, the beer was cold, and the Cajun chicken wrap was a winner.

If you extend your day or arrange a second day at Trennerys, you can walk another 4.5km along the beach to see what's left of the Jacaranda shipwreck near the Qolora Mouth. The Wild Coast is known to have over 900 wrecks along the coastline.

Further up the Qolora River, you can take a boat ride up to the Gates Trail, which has big cliffs and swimming pools. It's a round-trip of about three hours.

On the ride back, for a change of scenery, we headed inland along cattle tracks and rolling hills, passing villages and groups of young boys home for the holidays. We crossed the Gxarha River, site of the 1856-1857 cattle massacre. Nongqawuse, a teenage girl from the village, had had a vision that all the cattle must be killed and the crops destroyed, and that the Xhosa would rise from the dead with new cattle coming from the sea.

All the cattle we passed looked healthy and must have recovered from the big blow in numbers over the years.

PLANNING YOUR TRIP

•  Wild Coast Horseback Adventures offers rides from R250 per hour to R650 for a full day. They also do overnight trails for experienced riders. Call 082-567-0972 or (043) 831-1087 or visit wildcoasthorsebackadventures.com

•  Rates at Trennerys start at R655pp, including dinner and breakfast. You can arrange a boat trip up the Qolora from here. Call (047) 498-0004 or visit trennerys.co.za

•  The pontoon operates every day, 7am to 6pm. People cross for 50 cents, cattle R30, cars R70 one way. Call (043) 841-1169 or visit keimouth.co.za