Sometimes, we are reminded that small people can do big things and that just by stepping out your front door, with the correct intention, you actually can make a difference. This is what the Philocaly Trail Walk, a coastal stage walk traversing 140 kilometres of the beautiful Kwa-Zulu Natal coastline from Durban to Mtunzini, is all about.
Organiser Nikki Williamson launched Philocaly, meaning the love of beauty, after floods in Durban emptied the detritus of the inland communities into the ocean, which spat it back out onto the local beaches earlier this year.
Nikki lives by the mantra: Stand for what you believe in. Don’t fight against what you don’t.
“I love the ocean, I love the KZN coast and all the beautiful beaches. I love them free of plastic and I believe that single use plastics are an abomination,” says Nikki.
“This walk is about standing up for that.”
We are half way to the Tugela River Mouth, having left Zinkwazi on a blue gold morning. Dolphins surf the backline. A turtle pops its head out the turbulent mid-break.
The walkers are spread out along the beach as far as the eye can see. Some walk in animated groups, some walk alone along the glistening sand.
The natural camaraderie between people on this walk is incredible. You just fall into step with someone and start chatting, and then fall out of step again and a little while later, perhaps, into step with someone else.
I am walking with Nikki and some mutual friends. We pass a fisherman, greet him and walk on by. Then we notice that Nikki has stopped.
She walks around him, to the recently extinguished cigarette stompie at his feet, picks it up, holds it in front of his eyes and asks politely if it is his. He admits that it is. She gives it back to him, and watches him put it in his shirt pocket, while asking him not to do it again on behalf of the fish he is hoping to catch and eat for dinner.
This is a woman who stands by her convictions.
The intertidal zone, that ever changing space where the ocean meets the land, is where participants walk.
Also known as the littoral zone, it is the area of the marine shoreline that is exposed to air at low tide and covered with seawater when the tide is high. It is a magical space of colourful starfish, striped periwinkles, black mussels, white oysters, sharp barnacles, jumping dog fish, ghost crabs, sea snails, mud sliders and sand plovers. Nowadays, this space can also be referred to as the litter zone, as it is here that the ocean spits up what rubbish it can.
Over seven days, 280 people from all walks and stages of life pick up litter along the magnificent coast, emptying bags in bins along the way and then carrying on, weaving their way up and down the beach and over the rocks. Mimicking the sand plover’s movements in their work, though with much slower legs.
Taking the concept of the water meeting the land a little further than most, local Durbanite Sarah Ferguson decided that she would swim the trail instead of walking it. Sarah, like Nikki, is passionate about the ocean and works tirelessly to safeguard it for future generations. Since 2012, she has been competing in and pioneering ocean swims in and around South Africa and abroad to help raise awareness of single-use plastic pollution.
“I use my swimming to create awareness about plastic in the oceans, and my main message is this: As I swim, one stroke at a time, to get to my destination; so one decision at a time, by single individuals, can make an accumulative difference.”
“The issue of plastic pollution is incredibly overwhelming. It is easy to feel like it is far too big for one person to make a difference. You do a beach clean-up and the next day there is just as much rubbish on the beach. Yet still, every time you go and pick something up, it does make a difference and every time you refuse a straw, a disposable coffee cup or a plastic packet – any of those single use products – it makes a difference.”
The weather is certainly a factor to consider. Walking along the coast for up to five hours a day, though stunning, is almost impossible into a 30-40 knot wind. On day six, at the prospect of walking into a howling north easterly, organisers flipped the route to go north to south just like Sarah. However even walking with a strong wind behind you makes for a wild day in the elements as the wind lifts your feet, lifts the sand and almost bowls you over.
“The best moment for me was on day five,” said Sarah.
“There was a massive south west wind and it was wild out there. That was my favourite day. I have never had such fun in a swim. Every single stroke I took, I was smiling and beaming. It was crazy, like absolutely insane conditions, but such fun.”
As the walkers were blown into Zinkwazi on day five there were also huge smiles. All cobwebs were blown away and the 14 kms were covered in record time.
It is estimated that by 2050 there will be more bits of plastic in the ocean than fish. Covering more than seven tenths of the earth, our oceans are among the earth’s most valuable natural resources. They must be treasured and protected. If it comes down to us, then the Philocaly Trail is the perfect example of what we as individuals can do to make a difference.
And what of 2020 for those who missed out?
Nikki and her team of helpers pulled the project together in less than three months, so the next trail, with a year to plan and experience under the belt, will have more logistics and transfers fine-tuned and it will be in the cooler months.
The proceeds from the walk will go to: KZN Beach Clean Up, Wild Oceans SA and Breathe Conservation.
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