Directions to the Donald Woods Centre at Hobeni

The Donald Woods Centre is 90 minutes by road from Mthatha (Umtata) Airport (MTA).

All tarred road unless otherwise stated. (* from East London Airport (ELS) – 3.5 hours)

Come out of Mthatha Airport and turn left (east) towards Mthatha.

After a few kilometres, turn right (south) towards ‘Shell Ultra City’ and ‘N2 to East London’.

After a few minutes, you will come to a major junction with the Shell Gas Station on your right. Here, turn right (south-west) onto the N2, heading towards East London / Dutywa.

After 15 minutes or so you will see a sign indicating ‘left to Coffee Bay’ or ‘Mqanduli’. Here, take the off-ramp and turn left (south) at Viedgesville, heading for Mqanduli / Coffee Bay [you will drive over some railway tracks].

*  (from East London Airport, head north-east up the N2 towards Mthatha, going through Kei Bridge (1 hr), Butterworth (75 mins) and Dutywa (95 mins). After 2 hours, you will reach a junction saying ‘Coffee Bay / Mqanduli’ right. Take the slip road on the left and turn right heading for Coffee Bay).

After roughly 7-8 kilometres, you will come to the town of Mqanduli – go straight through (some minor speed bumps going through town and one or two kms afterwards as well).

Important: This next turn is important not to miss, as it is a little insignificant in appearance:

After 7-8 more kilometres, turn right at a sign marked either: Madwaleni Hospital / Elliotdale / The Haven (all still tarred road).

After 20 minutes or so, you will come down the valley into Elliotdale town. Go over the bridge and pass one or two fuel stations on your left. Go through the middle of the town driving uphill all the way to the top of the hill on the other side of the town.

At the top of the hill, you will see a very large road-building site-works. Here you will turn left onto a dirt road, marked with either: ‘The Haven’ or ‘Madwaleni Hospital’.

As the road is being graded for tarring, you may have some detours, but best to stay on what appears the most used part of the road. One detour involves an ‘S’-shape. If in doubt, stay right. This section of the road is about 15-20 minutes and includes passing a turning to the right marked Soga Clinic / Miller Mission.

After a further 10 minutes along this road, the road becomes tar again just for a couple of kilometres. At the first fork, ignore the ‘left’ dirt road option, and stay on the tar.

Important: No more than 1 km further on, take the next right turn onto dirt road, marked ‘The Havern’ [incorrectly spelt]. i.e. do not stay on the tar towards Madwaleni Hospital.

After 8-10 minutes, you will pass Ganizulu School and Bomvana Clinic on your right (blue rooves).

After another 8-10 minutes or so, you will pass Mt Pleasant Trading Store on your left (there is a high radio mast there). Here, go straight on (staying right).

After several minutes, you will pass Hobeni Clinic on your right. One kilometre past Hobeni Clinic down the hill is the Donald Woods Centre on your left.