Morgan Bay

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Geography and History

Morgan Bay is a lovely seaside village on the Wild Coast of the Eastern Cape province in South Africa. Morgan Bay is situated 90km (about 1 hours drive) north of East London on the newly tarred N2 toward Mthatha.

Morgan Bay was named in 1822 after A.F. Morgan, who was master of the royal naval survey ship Barracouta. She was part of a number of ships on an expedition, under Captain W.F.W Owen R.N, sent out by the British Admiralty to survey the coast from Maputo southwards to the mouth of the Keiskamma River.

The Cape Morgan Nature Reserve takes its name from the automatic lighthouse, which peeks out above the trees of the indigenous forest that lines the beach. The ruins of the old Titanium mine, started by Trev Miller in 1958, lie within this reserve and can be accessed from the Kei Mouth Golf Course road.

Activities

Activities in Morgan Bay include swimming, fishing, kite flying, body boarding, surfing, beach soccer, dog walking, sand castle building, horse riding, shell collecting and beach combing.

Morgan Bay is ideal for canoeing, wind surfing and dinghy sailing.

For surfers there is a point break that produces perfect right hand barrels that funnel into the bay.

Anglers can catch kob, garrick, white steenbras and an array of smaller fish from the beach. There is also an estuary at the Double Mouth Nature Reserve, 4km from Morgan Bay, which is one of the only places on the Eastern Cape where there has been a recorded catch of a river snapper. This makes the estuary a perfect place for light-tackle and saltwater fly-fishermen. Good fishing is also to be had in the Kei River, just 7km away. You can also charter a deep-sea ski boat or launch your own from the Kei River mouth.