Bus collected me even earlier this morning, 07.00, and similar meandering basis as yesterday. First major stop was East London - beautiful beach. Crossed the river Kei into the Transkei (which is how this region got its name). The Transkei was a "bantustan tribal homeland" in the days of apartheid and this part of the Eastern Cape is still one of the poorest in SA. The Transkei is at anything from 5500 to 7500 feet (little old Ben Nevis is a mere 4409) and seems to be largely a vast plateau of rolling countryside / pasture with the mountains of the Drakensberg in the far distance.
We passed the house that was built for Nelson Mandela when he ended his term as president but no flag flying, so he was not at home to invite me in for refreshments.
After some 400k, we arrived through thick cloud at the Brookes Nek pass, which is the border between the Eastern Cape and the province of Kwa Zulu Natal. Now had to descend to the coast - by the time we were out of the cloud, it was pitch black so no views if any kind. Into Durban at 22.00 so, after 15 hours in the bus, it was another case of straight to bed. Journeys like this give an idea of the size of SA - as far as I can see from Google, Cape Town to Durban is a similar distance as Paris to Warsaw.
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