Wild
July found me slackpacking with a few close friends along the Pondo Trail, a breathtaking stretch of South Africa’s famed Wild Coast - absolutely one of the highlights of my year thus far.
For fives days, we hugged the spectacular coastline, humpback whales cavorting endlessly as we scrambled along cliffsides, beaches, mini-savannahs and tropical hillside, one incredible landscape morphing into the other. We plunged into the clear pools set among majestic boulders and encountered (to my eyes) enormous freshwater eels. We canoed alongside waterfalls, at the periphery of one of the most significant microclimates in the world.
When, at one ill-timed crossing, thunderous waves threatened to wash us off of a cliff, I felt again the little thrill I had in Antarctica: Nature doesn’t care if we’re here and has no time to even consider us. And again, I found that thought not merely humbling but somehow a relief. And, in a gorgeous work-life symbiosis, although we booked this trip before I had ever heard of (much less worked for) Global Greengrants Fund, I found out that GGF partners have long been fighting to protect the unmatched biodiversity of this exact area!
It was stunning, calming, rejuvenating, joyful. And, like so many things in life, belied a darker history.
Mpondoland was at one time part of the erstwhile Transkei “homeland,” also known as a Bantustan (Bantu or Black homeland). Between 1951 and 1985, the apartheid government created ten homelands, comprising 13% of the country, and turned them into “independent” states in order to make Whites the demographic majority and thus retain control over South Africa.
stripped black South Africans of their citizenship, depriving them of their few remaining political and civil rights, and declared them to be citizens of these homelands…[the] black population was subjected to a massive programme of forced relocation [with an estimated] 3.5 million people forced from their homes…[although] the allocation of individuals to specific homelands was often quite arbitrary. Many individuals were assigned to homelands they did not originate from, and the designation of an individual as part of a particular ethnic group was often arbitrary, especially for individuals with mixed ancestry…
The government made clear that its ultimate aim was the total removal of the black population from South Africa.
While nominally sovereign, homelands were not recognized by any government except South Africa’s and remained heavily reliant on subsidies from the apartheid regime. As a result, they were generally poor, with little in the way of education or infrastructure and few employment opportunities, which forced residents to work as “guest laborers” in South Africa proper, where they had no rights or political representation.
"Separate development" as a principle remained in force, and the apartheid regime went on to rely on the Bantustans as one of the main pillars of its policy in dealing with the black population. Until 1990, attempts continued to urge self-governing homelands to opt for independence.
Homelands were only reincorporated into the Republic of SA in 1994, when apartheid ended and the first democratic elections took place. And, while the above is a vast oversimplification of a complex, racist policy consolidated over decades, the main thing I took away over our splendid walk is that the effects of 40+ years of neglect, underfunding, and corruption, particularly on education and the economy, linger.
So, while those five days were magical ones of immersion in nature, quiet reflection, and fireside G&Ts with dear friends, they were also a reminder, they also came at a very real, human cost. A price that is still being paid today, as tourists like myself traipse and marvel at long horned cows on beaches and pristine waterfalls.