|
THE
WILD COAST
The Wild Coast, situated
in the far corner of South Africa's Eastern Province, is an undiscovered
jewel where natural beauty and cultural heritage come together for a unique travel
experience. This part of South Africa is also referred to as frontier country
on account of the many wars fought by Europeans against the proud amaXhosa
that inhabit the region. Historically the amaXhosa were cattle herders
and subsistence farmers. Indeed little has changed along the wild coast as mud-hut
homesteads and Nguni cattle still dot the rolling green hillsides between the
mighty Drakensberg Mountains and the warm Indian Ocean. In recent
times the region in and around the Wild Coast has produced a handful of
great South African leaders like Oliver Tambo, the current president Thabo
Mbeki and South Africa's greatest hero, Nelson Mandela.
Previously
known during the apartheid times as the Transkei, the
name has been replaced by the more descriptive "Wild
Coast", a testament to the many ships wrecked off
it's treacherous shore. During the fifteenth and sixteenth
centuries the early Portuguese explorers lost dozens of ships
on the rocky cliffs of the Wild Coast as they sailed
the strong trade winds back from the east. The survivors,
often without any hope of ever making it back home, were assimilated
into the Xhosa tribes leaving behind legendary tales
and myths among that people that still linger today in the
story-lines of the elderly. One such wreck, the St. Jao (or
St. John), a Portuguese galleon laden with jewels and gold,
was wrecked in the area. The main wreck was never found and
the handful of survivors trekked 2000kms north enduring much
hardship until they reached the small Portuguese outpost somewhere
in present-day Mozambique where the last stragglers were picked
up and sent home. The wreck however has since given its name
to the small town of Port St Johns at the mouth of
the Umzimvubu River.
 | |
|
