Seaside Trad Climbing on Dolerite rock.
 
Overall Rating 
Season: Winter
Rock: Dolerite
Gear: Trad Rack & a 50m rope
The climbing: Morgan Bay is home to the only established sea cliff climbing in South Africa. The climbing is on Dolerite and is charachterised by an abundance of vertical cracks. It is one of excellent quality and has a very rough texture. The routes are widley scattered over several faces, pinnacles and buttresses that are located at different levels above the ocean. Most of the routes are vertical or just on-balance. The routes are generally faily short (about 10-15m) and tend to follow crack lines. They range in grade from 11 to 26 with a majority being between grades 17 and 22. All but two of the routes are trad lines and most of them can be toproped if necessary.
Getting there: Morgan Bay is situated about 50 km north-east of East London and about 5km south of the Kei River mouth. After turning off the N2 there is about 40km of good gravel road to negotiate before reaching the town. The turn off to Kei Mouth and then to Morgan Bay are well sign posted and any respectable road map will show you how to get there.
Food and accommodation: If you turn left at the beachfront T-junction, you will find a campsite on the right within about 50m. This pleasant campsite on the banks of the Inchara Lagoon has all the usual facilities but tends to be failry crowded in Season. Alternativly you can turn right at the beachfront T-Junction and follow the road to the crags. When you get to the gate across the road carry straight on until you wind downhill to the Double Mouth Campsite, which is about 4km from the village. This is a much more secluded site within 50m of the beach and very close to another lagoon. Otherwise, stay the Morgan Bay Hotel, if you dont feel like camping. You can buy petrol and provisions (food & beer) in the village.
References: Information & Photographs by: Gavin Peckham, Steve Cooke, A. Van Tonder. The Journal of the Mountain Club of South Africa 2001
Morgan Bay Website: www.morganbay.co.za For route descriptions visit the MCSA KZN website kzn.mcsa.org.za/morgan/mb-menu.html
Notes: Morgan Bay is an ideal family holiday venue offering numerous activities such as hiking, bird watching, swimming, snorkeling, canoeing. The area is renowned for its surf fishing. There is a large game ranch and several othe tourist orientated venues nearby.
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