Great Kei Adventures – A Small Company With Big Ideas

In this blog, we talk to Dylan and Dominique from Great Kei Adventures to find out what inspired them to create the business, what memorable experiences they’ve had to date, and what plans they have for the future. 

The Origins of Great Kei Adventures

Few people know the Kei Mouth area as intimately as Dylan of Great Kei Adventures. Long before he became a permanent resident, he was a frequent visitor, who started forming his earliest memories of the Wild Coast when he was smaller than some of the fish he now catches. 

It wasn’t until a little later in life that he developed what he calls a “big love of the area and the adventure opportunities that exist here.” After establishing himself as a tour guide in the Western Cape, Dylan and his partner Dominique “had the opportunity to take a fresh start and decided to dive in headfirst.”

As a born and bred Capetonian, Dominique didn’t have the opportunity to create childhood memories here but says “It wasn’t very difficult to fall in love with Kei Mouth and Morgan Bay. The natural wonder was an immediate sell for me, and the biggest part of my inspiration for starting Great Kei Adventures. 

The Friendly Province: A Warm Sun and Even Warmer People

It’s not just the immediate local area that inspired the pair but the Eastern Cape as a whole. As Dylan says, “As the adventure province, the offerings here are vast, from mountains to coastlines,  there are just so many different environments that lend themselves to adventure.”

The climate also helps, staying relatively mild throughout the year and lending itself to outdoor pursuits, such as those that Dylan and Dominique have built their lives around. It’s rare to find a day that Dylan doesn’t have a line in the water, whether he’s got guests accompanying him or not, and Dominique can often be seen exploring the coastline with one or two of her loyal dogs. 

Besides the natural wonder of the area, one of the greatest selling points of the Eastern Cape is the people, although you won’t necessarily see them everywhere. For Dylan, the balance between not seeing anyone at all and meeting people who you’ll stay friends with for years is part of the lure. 

“The sense of community in the Eastern Cape is something unique and special. You’ll probably make friends that will last a long time even just from a short visit,” he explains.

Making Memories on the Wild Coast

Over the past five years, everyone who’s been a part of the Great Kei Adventures crew has made friends and memories that will never be forgotten. 

In the early days, things didn’t always go smoothly and the pair laugh about their first multi-day adventure which ended with them stuck in mud and facing the first of several national lockdowns. 

With Covid on the horizon, Dylan and Dom were racing back to Kei Mouth with a group of American explorers when the terrain got the better of them and saw them turning to the guys at Bulungula for assistance. They didn’t have to wait long before a tractor arrived to pull them out – proving again how the Eastern Cape has earned its reputation as the Friendly Province!  

Since then, there have been so many memorable experiences that Dylan says, “It’s really hard to single out any specific one. Seeing little kids catching their first fish or having people on a kayak tour experiencing a wonderful sunset – there are so many times we get to create epic memories with what we’re doing.” 

Nevertheless, there are some trips that are more memorable than others, like the time Great Kei Adventures got a call from the Proteas cricket team who wanted to do some fishing while visiting the area. 

“Usually, our fishing tours are a maximum of four guests,” Dylan explains, “ and all of a sudden we had 32 cricket players and staff that we had to cater for so we quickly made things happen and did our biggest ever group on a fishing tour.” 

Nothing much fazes Dominique and Dylan – if you want an adventure on a shoestring, they can do it, but if you want to splurge on the adventure of a lifetime, they’ll make it happen with the same enthusiasm and attention to detail. 

As Dylan explains, “There are a lot of options and possibilities and by managing certain aspects of the cost, especially in terms of travel costs, it’s possible to create something that suits just about anyone as long as their expectations are realistic.”

An Eco-Friendly Mindset in a Place of Hidden Beauty

While the guests are the top priority, the environment comes a close second and everything done at Great Kei Adventures is done with an “eco-friendly mindset.” That means going beyond the old adage of leaving nothing but footprints and  instead “ trying to leave a place better than we found it.”

That’s quite a challenge when you’re exploring places as beautiful as Double Mouth Nature Reserve – a spot Dylan considers to be one of the area’s best-hidden gems. “The beauty that it offers from the spectacular estuary system to the protected beach, rock pools and shady campsite area – it’s a great place to explore and offers some excellent fishing opportunities.” 

The Challenge of Fishing for a Brighter Future

While Dylan and Dominique have some big plans for the future, first they want to “make sure that everything we run currently is operating as well as possible.” Nevertheless, they hope to put a few more multi-day packages together, offering both destination fishing trips and expanding into golf tourism, organizing golfing packages in the area. 

In recent months, Great Kei Adventures has also been dabbling with the idea of offering rock and surf fishing experiences and kayaking trips closer to East London, exploring the estuaries in the Jikileza area where their kayaking trips work very well.

We could also see some exciting developments closer to home, with Dylan and Dominique looking at launching some adventure and nature-based activities on a small game farm on the outskirts of Kei Mouth.

Another thing the pair is aiming to do is open up their activities to a more international market. “We’d like to put our area on the map a little bit more because we’ve certainly got everything on offer that’s required to create unforgettable experiences for the International traveller.  

No Guarantees, But Plenty of Surprises

While Dylan’s one of the most experienced fishing guides in the area, not even he can guarantee the bites. What he can guarantee, however, is an unforgettable, comfortable, and safe experience on the water’s edge. Even those with a host of experience under their rod holders will benefit from a day in Dylan’s company, learning about the fish species in the area, how they operate, and which to target on any given day. 

Even getting to Kei Mouth is an experience few can forget and Dominique smiles as shares stories of guests over-awed by the natural beauty visible from the N2, let alone the delight they experience when the numerous game farms reveal their colourful inhabitants. The variety of game is, she says, a mixed bag. One day you might see a giraffe, the next a wildebeest, zebra or eye-catching Nyala bull. There are no guarantees, but plenty of surprises!

Conclusion

And that brings us back to what brought Dominique and Dylan here in the first place – “the natural and untouched beauty of the Wild Coast.” While that’s one of the driving forces behind Great Kei Adventures, it’s by no means the only one. 

“For a long time, we felt that tourism done the right way is one of the best ways to create a positive economic impact in an area while having as little possible environmental footprint and that’s one of the reasons we’re in this industry and this specific area.”

Going forward, Great Kei Adventures will continue to grow, promoting and expanding tourism opportunities and creating value for that untouched natural beauty in the area, so the people who experience it and those who live around here can appreciate the beauty and the tourism possibilities the area has to offer, encouraging them to protect the Wild Coast for generations to come.