Located in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, the aptly named Wild Coast is a an area that is undeveloped, wild and of unparalleled beauty. The Northern part of this region – from the border of the Eastern Cape at the Mtamvuna River stretching down the rugged and unspoilt Indian Ocean coastline to Port St Johns - is home to the Pondo people (Pondoland). The Mkambati Nature Reserve lies in this region between the Mtentu & Mkambati Rivers, including a marine protected area, and in my humble opinion is the most untouched and pristine part of our country.
As someone who has a keen interest in plants, I was amazed and blown away by the plants in the area. There are over 200 species of endemic plants in the area (endemic in the plant world means plants that do not grow anywhere else in the world), and over 2,000 species of indigenous plant species (more than all the plant species occurring in the United Kingdom). One that we were particularly interested in seeing was the Pondo Coconut Palm - a plant that grows only on the Northern Bank of the rivers in the region. The banks are dripping with these palms, which taste and look exactly like the coconut we are all used to, only in miniature form… gourmet coconuts if you will! Just north of the reserve is another natural wonder known as the Red Dunes. Aptly named, these dunes are bright red and lie right along the coastline, punctuated with crystal clean rivers, making the landscape surreal and beautiful. The region is known as Xolobeni and is also very rich in fossil deposits from the Cretaceous period (some 145 to 65 million years ago).
Needless to say, the area is a natural wonder and a visit there will be nothing short of life-changing for many people (certainly for myself). The Red Dunes, however, are of particular interest to those who make an income from the raping of third world resources, in that they are rich in Ilmenite which is the main ingredient in Titanium production. The Australian mining company, Mineral Commodities, was granted a licence to open cast mine the area along the coastal dunes, extending into the current Mkambati Reserve. The application, which was wrought with illegal and dodgy activities of every imagination, was lodged in 2005 and the legal battle that has ensued between the South African government and the local people has resulted in the destruction the various eco-tourism initiatives that were run by the local community (very well I may add). After ten years of litigation and other means of resistance from the local community and those aiding them, there is still no answer from our government on the revocation of the open-ended open cast mining licence that they granted to a foreign firm.
Once again we are faced with a most apparent lack of concern for both human rights and our natural heritage by our government… proving yet again that, in South Africa, life is cheap and cash is god.
The Mineral Commodities plans for the area.
The comments from our Mineral Department.
For the latest updates on the calamity visit the SWC. The guys that have been fighting the good fight.
