South Africa Garden Route

The Wild Coast

In the modern world, ‘wild’ as far as nature is concerned is a relative concept. It is enough, perhaps, that an area of natural beauty is not utterly trampled by urban development, or destroyed by irresponsible land use, for it to deserve the term ‘wild’. Certainly this is the case in the developing world, and most particularly along the earth’s tropical coastlines. The Wild Coast of South Africa’s KwaZulu/Natal, although hardly wild, is by comparison to the KNZ South Coast in a different world altogether. It is a gorgeous natural environment, comprising the signature open grasslands and hill country of the south coast, with deep cut ravines peppered with groves of aloe, and deep tidal estuaries cloaked on either bank with rich and unsullied riparian forest. There is no sign anywhere of mock Tuscan gated developments, of strip malls or the blanket sugar estates so ubiquitous throughout the region. It is moreover an environment fiercely protected by both a large cohort of outside environmentalists and significant numbers of local community members. The latter, almost uniquely, have successfully resisted the temptation to climb into bed with property developers and sell the long term integrity of their landscape for short term profit.

The Environmental Frontline

Currently, however, the issue is less property development and more highway construction and strip mining. The controversy in the first instances involves the extension of the ubiquitous toll road system, that is the pride of the South African transport infrastructure, through the Transkei, and secondly whether to grant Australian mining conglomerate, Minerals Commodities Limited, and Local Black Economic Empowerment group Xolobeni Empowerment Company, license to dune mine substantial base metal reserves along the coast. While the intricacies of this contest are beyond the scope of this narrative, they do broadly pit local concerns against central and international financial interests. At the core is the question of land ownership, which, in the case of the wild coast, is land owned by the state and held in trust for the people.

Date: March 24th, 2008 | No Comments

Garden Route: Victoria Bay

The fantastic fishing spot we found on our trip to Wilderness was the Jetty at Victoria Bay, and what lovely little place it is too.

You often hear about Vic Bay in surfing circles as they have annual comp here, but this was the first time I had been. The surf break is a killer right hander with a lovely long ride. It breaks from the point so you can basically walk along the “little promenade” to the back line (short paddle out), what a pleasure.

Date: May 3rd, 2007 | No Comments

Fishing in Wilderness: Part 2

The path to the spot starts and the Kaaimans river estuary, where you scramble (with cooler boxes full of beer, bait, rods etc) up the embankment and on to the now defunct Outeniqua choo-Tjoe railway tracks, along the tracks for about a Kilometre, through the now pitch dark tunnel and then down on to the rocks.

Parts of the mountain have slid down onto the tracks which have to be carefully climbed over in the dark, and with only 2 torches between us, good fun was had by all. None of us thought of bringing a camera along, so the photo is from the lagoon, where we wet tested out chemically sharpened hooks… (ie: caught nothing)

Date: April 25th, 2007 | No Comments

Into the Wilderness: The heart of the garden route.

This weekend (well Friday-Tuesday) we are driving up to Wilderness for a little break away.

We intend to do as much or as little as we feel like, but on the cards are some fishing (perhaps in my new little inflatable), some surfing and maybe even some golf. There will likely be some cards to be played, karaoke to be “sung”. I may well just sit and read a book, glorious.

Date: April 19th, 2007 | 2 comments

Kaaimans River Pass Ready to Kiss World Goodbye

Alert! In one of the more disturbing developments to come out of last week’s flooding in the Garden Route, the Kaaimans River pass - which connects the towns of Knysna and George, and is part of the region’s main N2 thoroughfare - looks set to slide into the sea at any given moment.

Needless to say, roads have been closed, and certain towns are now dead ends, as engineers watch for the moment when the hill on which the pass was constructed, currently sliding downwards at about 2 milimeters an hour, gathers speed, smashes through a …

Date: August 29th, 2006 | 2 comments