The Reef Cafe

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The Reef Cafe

It was a hot day in 1964 when the two municipal workers decided to eat their lunch in the shade of Bat’s Cave close to Nahoon Reef East London where they were inspecting the sewerage system. That’s when they noticed what looked like tracks and footprints on the roof of the cave.

The two men had the foresight to report this to the East London Museum and its exceptional curator, Marjorie Courtenay-Latimer (of coelacanth fame), who confirmed that what they had discovered were indeed fossil footprints.

The tracks were later identified as those of two antelopes, a bird and a human child, probably under the age of 10 and recently dated to 124 000 years ago, making them the oldest human footprints of their kind.

Today the 2.6km stretch of pristine coast is part of the Nahoon Point Nature Reserve and a network of boardwalks protects the fragile duneveld and leads you to a lookout point where you can see Bats Cave, where the footprints were discovered.

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Directions

Head northeast on N E Expy/R72 toward Exit M 4. Use the left 2 lanes to take exit M 4 for Gleneagles Road/Pearce Street toward Nahoon. Use the right 2 lanes to turn right onto Pearce Street and then turn left onto Old Transkei Road. At the traffic, take the 3rd exit onto Epsom Road and continue for about 1.4 km. Turn right and continue straight ahead for about 1.6 km. The Reef Café will be on the left.