Somewhere along the Wild Coast, my phone stopped being useful and unexpectedly, that became the greatest luxury of the trip.

Doesn’t everyone, regardless of age, love the feeling of the sun warming your skin, the taste of salt on your lips after a swim in the ocean and the feeling of soft beach sand settling around your feet? Beach holidays are a fixed star in the holiday constellation.

My mother was born in the Eastern Cape and had holidayed at Port St John’s from around 1955 to 1970. These family holidays still have a very special place in her heart and memories. A holiday at the remote Msikaba River Mouth, further north from my mother’s childhood holiday spot, has been on my bucket list for years. Ever since my high school friend (and Leopard brand designer) Jess told me about it, I knew it was a place we would love.

To get to Msikaba required a long road trip from our home in Johannesburg, and we needed to hire a 4×4 to navigate the last 100 metres of dirt road to our lodging at Pondo Beach Camps. But once you’re there, it is worth all the effort! The beach is huge and we had it mostly to ourselves. The ocean’s waves are big, nothing like the Mediterranean sea of my husband’s childhood. It was a joy to watch my 8-year-old son battling them with such vitality, and the moment he caught his first wave on his bodyboard was pure magic.

Our whole stay at Msikaba was a delight. From simple joys like building intricate sandcastles to high-energy activities, each day brought something new. There was a huge sand dune on the opposite side of the river, which my daughter loved climbing up and bouncing down. She did this a few times every day and the view from the top was breathtaking.

We also kayaked up the Msikaba River, enveloped in the calming green of established trees and vibrant vegetation along the river banks, to the Cape vulture colony. Breeding pairs of vultures nest high on the southwest-facing cliffs of the Msikaba River and it’s an important conservation site. Another day it was windy so we packed a picnic and hiked along the rugged, wild coastline of the Mkhambathi Nature Reserve towards Gwe Gwe Lodge. The sea roared powerfully that day, crashing along the coastline and the sky, determined not to be outdone, was equally dramatic with stormy-looking clouds!

But the best part of the holiday for me was completely disconnecting from my everyday world and focusing only on my family and myself. As a business owner, it is rare for me to be uncontactable – part of our promise to our customers is that we will always be there to assist. This is a responsibility that I take seriously but with that responsibility comes the necessity of being connected online all the time, which can be draining. I now have an excellent team to back me up, so it felt more manageable to be out of contact for 5 days.

With no WiFi at our lodge, I was disconnected from the internet and the outside world, my phone became only a camera and I frequently left it behind on our excursions. Freed from the constant mental inventory of open tabs, pending decisions, emails and the current affairs cycle, I was able to be present and enjoy the holiday.

Somewhere between the empty beaches, the long walks and the absence of signal, I realised how rarely we allow ourselves to become unreachable. The Wild Coast reminded me that perhaps the greatest luxury isn’t access, but the escape from it.

I highly recommend “bricking” your phone on holiday if you want to step into mental quietude, creativity and connection! Allowing your phone to become little more than a camera may be one of the greatest luxuries left in modern travel.

Happy travelling,

Diana

P.S. Would you consider going on holiday to a place with little or no Wifi? What appeals to you and what are your concerns? I’d love to know.