(Water)falling in love with Mbotyi

There was a time many years ago when the “Transkei” Wild Coast was a popular playground for vacationers from Gauteng and names such as Morgans Bay, Mazeppa, Coffee Bay, and Port St Johns were as familiar in Johannesburg and Pretoria as Margate and Plettenberg Bay.

Families – sometimes successive generations – would travel to the same spot at the end of every year and resume their friendships with people with whom, more often than not, they’d had little or no contact for the intervening 11 months.

Changes to the South African socio-economic climate in the ’90s almost killed this tradition and several of the more remote resort towns deteriorated so badly that they have been consigned to historical obscurity.

Others, however, cling stubbornly to life despite degraded infrastructure – especially roads – or even show signs of a return to their former charm.

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Where is Mbotyi located?

Mbotyi (the “Place of Beans”) is one of these. Where? Mbotyi – population about 350 people, according to the 2011 census – has always been one of the secret gems of Pondoland, until recently only reached by road via southern KwaZulu-Natal, East London or Kokstad, through Lusikisiki.

Much is made of driving through the erstwhile Transkei – the “homeland republic” was reincorporated into South Africa in 1994 and is part of the Eastern Cape – but generally it’s not the roads that are the problem but their users.

The distance from Port St Johns to Mbotyi is a mere 65km (the last 25km of which is dirt) but my bakkie’s satnav system indicated it would take nearly two hours to cover.

This conjured a picture of an execrable road after crossing the Umsimvubu River but, to my surprise, it was pretty good except for the last part.

What slows you down on the first stretch are the 133 bends between “PSJ” and Lusikisiki, some of which are very tight indeed.

That took care of the first hour, the cratered gravel road from Lusikisiki to Mbotyi accounted for the second and it was nearly as bad as I’d envisaged.

The good news is that this section is now being upgraded. Still, if you go by vehicle, I’d recommend one with high ground clearance.

Agriculture and commercial development in Mbotyi

Mbotyi gets its name from the fertility of its soil. Few people know that the Wild Coast has its own coffee roaster, Beaver Creek, at Port Edward or that the 1800ha Magwa Tea Estate is the last in South Africa. Magwa, I believe, is one of the teas in the Five Roses blend.

Lusikisiki-Mbotyi’s other wellknown crop, marijuana, continues to flourish and farmers are attempting to “go legit” by cultivating it on a commercial scale for medical purposes.

There are safety and quality control issues but, contacts tell me, the people at Magwa Tea are offering under-utilised production facilities for warehousing, processing, and packaging.

They have also opened the plantation’s well-maintained airstrip to charter flights from Durban’s Virginia Airport.

There has always been little more to Mbotyi than peace and solitude, great fishing, beautiful beaches with lifeguards, hikes through indigenous forests (in which leopards still prowl), and a preponderance of waterfalls… two of which cascade directly into the Indian Ocean. Mbotyi’s remoteness and natural beauty are what constitutes its charm.

As a tourist destination, Mbotyi has considerable history. One chapter, says retired longtime head of the Eastern Cape’s Green Scorpions network of environmental enforcement officials Dr Div de Villiers, involved the so-called “brandy houses” of the ’90s.

“The Transkei Environmental Conservation Decree promulgated by the homeland government in 1992, prohibited people from building houses within one kilometre of the shoreline without a permit.

“With the re-absorption of the homelands into South Africa in 1994, some people thought the decree would be repealed and a landgrab began,” recalls De Villiers.

“They bribed local headmen with a couple of hundred rands and, in some cases, just a few bottles of brandy to grant them coastal properties – some as close as 100m to the sea – and on these they built houses.

“South African courts, however, later ruled that provisions of the decree remained in force and more than 150 houses were demolished… quite a few in Mbotyi.”

The murder in April 1993 of Transkei-born Chris Hani, heroworshipped in Pondoland for his part in uMkhonto we Sizwe operations in the ’70s, triggered savage faction fighting in the area.

Guests at what is now Mbotyi River Lodge had to be airlifted to safety, leaving even their cars behind.

“When we returned eight years later,” De Villiers remembers, “nothing had been touched. Even place settings in the dining room remained intact.”

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Mbotyi River Lodge: A modern retreat with historical roots

The lodge (www.mbotyi.co.za) was built on the land of the Mbotyi River Mouth Trading Site, created by deed of grant in 1922. It remains one of few sites along the Wild Coast where freehold title has been conferred upon its owners.

A few huts were erected for intrepid travellers and, though these increased in number over the years and as the property changed hands, it was only after it was bought by Dr Liso Mazwai of Lusikisiki in 1985 that its transformation first to resort and ultimately hotel began.

Construction of the Mbotyi River Bungalows was funded by the USAid international development agency, says current general manager Alex Brett, who has been overseeing major refurbishment and modernisation for the past two years.

While Mazwai retains an interest in the lodge, the principal shareholders since 2001 have been Johannesburg businessmen Peter Gillespie and Peter Christodoulou.

In addition to the original 12 thatched huts, the three-star lodge comprises 36 log cabin-style en suite rooms (24 of which have inter-leading doors) with king-size beds that can be separated and a two-bedroomed self-catering house. Rooms overlook the sea or lagoon at the mouth of the Mbotyi River.

Amenities include a swimming pool, restaurant, bar, games room, and conference facilities.

Like most Wild Coast establishments, the focus is on families though – due to Mbotyi’s isolation and rugged terrain – predominantly those of more adventurous ilk (there is also a campsite).

Hiking and mountain biking are popular guest activities.

It is for this reason that the owners recently acquired a game viewing vehicle to ferry guests to and from the Magwa airstrip and to conduct guided tours for those wishing to see the 39 waterfalls that are the area’s main attraction.

Some are accessible by 4×4 but others can only be reached on foot; reasonable levels of hiking experience and fitness are required for these.

Two of the falls, Mlambomkhulu and Mfihlelo, are close to the lodge in an area known as Waterfall Bluff and disgorge directly into the ocean.

They are separated by a spectacular formation known as Cathedral Rock that juts out of the sea.

I had been lucky the week before visiting Mbotyi to see these, as well the eye-catching Magwa Falls, a cascade similar in appearance though on nothing like the same scale as Zimbabwe’s Victoria Falls, from the cockpit of a tiny aircraft.

It was a magical experience but one that left me sad that I no longer have the agility to enjoy them up close or frolic in the streams that feed them.

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