We are appealing to enthusiastic volunteers to assist rural schools and promote literacy, computer skills, extramural activities, arts and sports development.

Experience the magic of Africa and play a vital role in education and bridging the digital divide, while exploring and integrating with the ancient local customs and culture of the Xhosa people.

The Mentoring Volunteer Project is based on the Wild Coast, and works with junior secondary schools located in and around Hole in the Wall and nearby Coffee Bay.

Please see:
Mentor-ring Volunteer Project for more info.

You may also be interested in these other Wild Coast Volunteer projects:

Tucked along South Africa's breathtaking Wild Coast, Inkwenkwezi is a world-class big five game reserve with an emphasis on luxury and thoughtful details.

Inkwenkwezi's prime location in the malaria-free Eastern Cape of South Africa offers many unique opportunities, as it encompasses five different regional ecosystems (biomes) and a tidal estuary.

This rich diversity of landscape offers unparalleled wildlife viewing.

The reserve is just five minutes from magnificent beaches and a short, convenient drive from the East London airport

Inkwenkwezi offers spacious and well-appointed luxury tented accommodation to guests in our Valley and Bush Camps; nestled in intimate, leafy settings on the incomparable Wild Coast.

Snuggle down into an easy chair to watch the wildlife from the comfortable perch of your own timber viewing deck at Inkwenkwezi Private game Reserve.

ACTIVITIES:
Inkwenkwezi offers a variety of activities to guests, such as guided safaris, hiking trails, horse trails, canoeing, quad biking, mountain biking, elephant interactions and elephant back safaris.

Conference and team building facilities are also offered at Inkwenkwezi. Feel free to email us at pgr@inkwenkwezi.co.za and we will gladly assist you.

Weddings at the Inkwenkwezi Private Game Reserve are as romantic and unique as the love that brings you here. Have your dreams come true at our beautiful Wild Coast wedding venue.

CONTACT:

"The only real and sustainable industry that can uplift and feed the communities in the areas of Pondoland and Transkei, is Tourism. All the natural assets are there to be managed correctly. The surest and quickest way to destroy a world renowned wilderness area is to cut a highway through its heart." -Fred Orban

For those interested, the attached N2_petition-email.pdf was submitted and officially accepted by the department yesterday. (This "public" version attached herewith has had the email addresses stripped out for obvious reasons.)

As at 19 May 2010 - 9:00AM - 1711 people had signed the Petition at www.wildcoast.co.za/ict4d/petition.

Click here for more information, or to purchase from: Impact Video. (Price R279)

Winner of two SAFTA Awards:

From: Africa Calling

Several times during the course of my wanderings in Oulu I saw beautiful posters of dolphins. They said Villi Meri…couldn’t figure out if it was one of those aquariums like Deep Sea World in Edinburgh or was it a movie.

Google and Google translator to the rescue – Villi Meri means Wild Ocean. It was a film being screened at Tietomaa Science Center in Oulu, with special screenings in English on request! Tag line for the movie – Africa meets the Sea.

Africa...has been on my wish list for as long as I can remember. Even as a young girl in school I remember seeing photographs of my cousins who had visited Mombasa in East Africa, and thinking …gosh I do so want to be there too!!!!

The centre boasts of a magnificent super screen theatre. Believe you me, it not one of those kahli peeli boasts. The screen was super-duper.

The movie overall was a documentary to raise awareness of the effects of pirate fishing and global warming on the marine life. It lays stress on the fact that only 1/100th part of a percent of the seas is protected and the need for marine reserves.

Humpback WhaleBut it was based around a place called the Wild Coast on the coast of South Africa, where shoals of sardines head towards the coast in June/July every year. They are followed by all kinds of predators – various species of Dolphins, Sharks, Whales, Seals and Gannets.

The Gannets can plunge midflight to depths as deep as 10 mts to catch the fish!

The next 21.1km "White Clay Cross Country Challenge" is on the 28 August 2010.

Contact:
For more info please phone Roy or Karen at White Clay on 047-575 0008 or 083-979 4499. (Email: whiteclay@vodamail.co.za)

White Clay Resort is situated 1,5 km south of Coffee Bay on the “Hole in the Wall” road on the Wild Coast, nestled between the cliffs and only 100 m from its own private beach and bay. The setting is unrivaled with vast, rolling hills and rocky cliffs shearing off into the ocean. All accommodation is sea-facing offering guests fabulous vistas. The bay and private beach below is ideal for fishing and swimming at low tide.

The resort offers self-catering, a Guest House with B&B and DB&B, camping, and a pub, curio shop and restaurant with full sea view specializing in seafood. Attractions in the area include fabulous rock, surf and river fishing, deep sea boat charter, hiking trails between the magnificent “Hole in the Wall” in the south and Mdumbi Beach in the north.

Experience a wild ocean adventure and be one of the few lucky people to explore our beautiful wild coastline from the ocean.

COASTAL WALKS

The Gap and Blow Hole
Exploration includes : River Launch - View Port St Johns, Lighthouse & Gap from the Ocean
Drop off by boat on beach then Walk from beach to Gap & back to Port St Johns. Brunch included

Noqhekwana Village Beach & Cave
Exploration includes : River Launch - View Port St Johns, Lighthouse & Noqhekwana Cliffs from the Ocean
Drop off on beach, Walk from beach to Cavem swim in lagoon, walk back through Noqhekwana village with its beautiful views of Ocean, forest & Beach. Brunch included

Isinuka Springs
Exploration includes : Boat cruise up River - View the Old Pont, drop off at Banana Point, walk to Isinuka Springs to experience an old Pondo tradition, boat pickup back to Port St Johns. Brunch included

Dolphin & Whale Spotting
The Wild Coast waters have very rich and well established feeding and breeding Marine systems. Included in these are Dolphins all year round, but tons during Sardine season - May - Aug. Humpback Whales migrating to Madagascar: they cruise up the coast in pods around April to July and return to the Southern Ocean about August to December.

3 Day & 6 Day Coastal Beach Backpacker to Backpacker & Christian Youth Outreach Trips.

Come dressed to get wet / Dry hatch onboard for Cameras

For Bookings and further Info, contact the Skipper - Michael:

Cob and Adobe Building workshops

ADOBE & COB
Cob is one of the oldest and most eco-friendly ways of building, and is accessible to people of all ages, abilities, means or backgrounds.

Cob Homes have seen a renaissance as a financially viable, relaxing, and enjoyable building-method where you get your hands and feet in touch with the Earth. It's also about the sheer beauty and infinite creative potential of building with cob.

A natural thermal insulator, cob is excellent at regulating temperatures; whether storing heat or keeping the building cool relative to outside temperatures.

People experience psychological well-being from living in natural structures. The natural tones and aromas of materials such as stone, wood, straw and earth affect us on a very basic instinctive level, and are life enhancing.

Earthworx will host a 5 day natural building materials workshop.

Making a difference!

During completion of each workshop, a structure will be built within the community to promote self-sustainability and reinforce the benefits of environmentally conscious building methods.

These workshops are designed to create a deeper understanding and knowledge of Cob and Adobe building methods, with plenty of hands-on practical experience to give you the confidence to design and construct your own Earth buildings and projects.

A 5 day workshop will include:

Space limited! Bookings essential!

Next workshop COMING SOON!

Workshop and Accommodation package available at the retreat.

For more details:

This is important information if you are planning on going on holiday, day trip or fishing along the Transkei Wild Coast:

You will need a permit to travel to cottages that are not on proclaimed or designated roads. (E.g. the road to the Jacaranda.) If you do not have a permit for these routes you may be charged by the Green Scorpions and given a spot fine of R2500.

If you are a cottage owner and your cottage is not on a proclaimed road you will need to present your PTO (Permission To Occupy) at the Environmental office and acquire a permit to travel on the track to your cottage. No permits will be awarded to anyone without a valid PTO. Cottage owner permits are valid for one year.

If you are traveling to a cottage that is not on a proclaimed road you will need a letter from the PTO holder which you can present at the offices to acquire a temporary permit. There is no charge for the permit. The permit is valid for one month.

This applies to anywhere within 1km from the high-water mark along the Wild Coast from Kei Mouth up to Port Edward. You may not drive a motor vehicle in this exclusion zone without a permit. This includes quad and motor bikes, etc. If a proclaimed road goes all the way down to the sea you can then walk left or right to your angling spots from that point. If the road stops 1km before the sea and a bush path carries on towards the sea, you will have to walk from where the proclaimed road ends. You may not ride these trails.

Contact details to aquire a permit are:

edwina.oates@deaet.ecape.gov.za

Tel: Edwina Oates - 043 740 4068

Fax: 086 519 3200

Thanks to www.fishingec.co.za for the information.

Active Escapes offer unique mountain bike and guided hiking trail tours along the Wild Coast.

For more information about cycling or hiking the Wild Coast, please see www.wildcoast.com/active-escapes or check their website.

Contact: Sarah Drew (Active Escapes)
Tel: 084 2407277 or 033 2344367
Email: sarah@active-escapes.co.za
Website: www.active-escapes.co.za

For the past 3 years DEAT SRPP (Social Responsibility, Policy & Projects) has funded the Mussel Rehabilitation Project (MRP) which has been implemented by Walter Sisulu University along the Wild Coast between Umtata Mouth and Hole in the Wall.

Download the video: Mussel Harvest

The initiative has, without a doubt, been one of the most successful and effective social responsibility projects in the Eastern Cape. It has not only proven that rehabilitation and controlled harvesting of mussel beds is sustainable, but has literally produced tons of protein rich mussels for the benefit of the local community, while also contributing employment, skills training, environmental awareness, resource monitoring, catch-data collation, and many other vital linkages and benefits.

Operating since 2000 under the care and guidance of Zoology lecturer, Dr. Calvo-Ugarteburu (affectionately known by all as “Gugu”),Gugu & Tuse the Mussel Rehabilitation & Food Production Project has been funded variously by Marine & Coastal Management (MCM), WWF, and DEAT SRPP.

Self catering lodge in Port St Johns area, offering rooms or whole lodge rental. Rates, facilities, property images, and location map included in website.

Web: www.khululeka.co.za

Email: stay@khululeka.co.za

Mobile: +27 (0)72 1943644 Fax: +27 (0)86 6724096

Paradise. Right Here, Right Now.

If you want to get off the beaten track to a place that is unique for its beauty and unspoilt surroundings, you will love Khululeka Retreat. Set in an Indigenous State Forest high on the hills with an awesome 180-degree view of the sea and estuary, Khululeka Retreat is just that. Peaceful, private and remote.

by Trevor Gothan
14 October 2009

The Fisherman

As a teenager we often spent the holidays on the Wild Coast, where my father loved fishing for steenbras off his favourite rocks. On one blustery day, I chose not to fish alongside him in the cold salt spray and rather joined a Xhosa fisherman at a more sheltered spot, some distance away.

Both hoping for a few bream for lunch, we stared at our lines in fruitless expectation for the first hour. Thereafter, we engaged in a more interesting, but somewhat difficult conversation, for his mastery of English was about as limited as my abilities in isiXhosa.

After some formalities about weather, bait and fish, our conversation turned to our lives. Zamuxolo pointed out his kraal on a green hill across the bay, and then asked where I was from and what I did.

I enthusiastically explained that I was studying to be an engineer at Wits and finding it quite tough.

"Why are you doing that?" he responded.

"To get a good qualification and hopefully a well paying job," I replied.

"What for?" he queried. This required some thought.

"To earn enough to educate my kids, pay for a nice home and retire comfortably one day when I'm old," I confided.

"And then what will you do?" Zamuxolo probed.

"Probably live at the coast in a place like this, where I can fish and relax all year round," I said, trying to think of what else I might do.

He stared at me for about a minute and then lit his pipe, as if to try and understand my thought processes a little better. "You mean to do what I have been doing all my life here at Qora? Why must you wait until you are an old man?"

I had no easy answer.

I still chose to complete my engineering studies and, while working in Germany a few years later, I received another lesson in the philosophy of life. I had just spent a year working in the UK, which I had found difficult. It was during Harold Wilson's premiership when unions ran amok and companies were battling to keep afloat. My German colleague explained the problem.

"The Germans," he said, "work very hard to accumulate the trappings of material success, for which they are proud and they would gladly take you to their fancy home in their Mercedes to show it off."

"The French," he added, "love the 'joie de vivre' and prefer to entertain you at their favourite bistro with their friends - even if it costs them their full day's pay. Their home is not usually for showing off.

"Then there are the Spanish. They prefer to work less in their heat and would happily earn less, provided they still get their siesta in the afternoon.

"The British, however, want to work as hard as the Spanish, but enjoy life like the French and have the accoutrements of the Germans."

For me, these two encounters summed up the choices we have. None of the above philosophies is "better" than another, just different in priorities.

What I know, however, is that one cannot have it all, except the few that are able to cheat the system and do so at somebody else's expense. I chose what I got; accept what I missed and I'm happy.

Port Elizabeth – 2 October 2009

Sheltam Aviation (www.sheltamaviation.com), one of the country's leading air charter providers with offices in Port Elizabeth and Durban, has launched a dynamic new website, with a special focus on promoting tourism in the remote yet spectacular Wild Coast.

The Wild Coast is one of the fastest growing tourist destinations, offering unspoilt natural beauty set in a tropical adventure paradise – and is best experienced from the air in a scenic low-level flight with Sheltam Aviation, from our Port Elizabeth or Durban branches, or from anywhere in South Africa.

See www.sheltamaviation.com/wild coast fly-in for more info.

Flying with Sheltam Aviation to any of the Wild Coast's abundant attractions reveals the region's fantastic scenery, offers ultimate convenience by landing at your lodge of choice and eliminates the lengthy drives on the area's less-than-perfect roads – all of which ensures that you get the very best out of your Wild Coast holiday.

www.xhosadictionary.com
Best online Xhosa - English dictionary. Translates individual words from/to English/Xhosa.

From their "Links" page:

Xhosa Translator
For translating whole sentences. Doesn't work well with individual words.

English/Xhosa/English Dictionary
Large database and easy to use search engine. No grammatical explanations, and some entries are inaccurate. Better suited for Xhosa speakers learning English, as many entries contain one English word with long Xhosa descriptions.

Webster's Online Dictionary
A list of Xhosa words (and some random phrases) that have been translated from English. Not very extensive.

And these resources:

Make a date, or set your PVR to record SABC2 at 7:30PM on Monday 14 September and Monday 21 September for a spectacular glimpse of the Wild Coast.

Shoreline is a South African documentary series commissioned by SABC 2. It is a multidisciplinary showcase of all the unique and diverse features along our coastline – geology, paleontology, history, settlement patterns, marine biology, ecology etc.

One of the main features of this series is that it is presented by a team of specialist presenters – archaeologist Gavin Whitelaw, historian Nomalanga Mkhize and marine biologist Eleanor Yeld. Anchor presenter Peter Butler and his dog Nujack guide our experts on the journey around the coast.

Shoreline consists of 13 episodes and in each episode we visit a stretch of coastline to get a sense of its character and stories to help build a picture of our unique coastline. We reveal how natural wonders and historic events have shaped the lives of coastal communities.’

The Shoreline DVD box set will be available after the series ends on 12 October 2009. SABC will also be giving away several DVD box sets of the series. See www.ourshoreline.co.za for competition details.

Episode Ten of Shoreline, on Monday the 14'th, features the Wild Coast from Cove Rock (East London) to Port Grosvenor. Click here: Episode Ten for an overview.

"This untamed wilderness is filled with rolling green hills and unspoilt beaches, secluded bays fringed with wild banana trees, tranquil lagoons and dense coastal forests, deeply carved valleys and precipitous cliffs where waterfalls plummet into the sea.

Violent storms and monstrous waves sometimes batter the coast, and many ships have met an untimely end here. Ancient myths and legends are rife, and the diverse peoples represent a rich cultural heritage. This is a shoreline truly deserving of its name – the Wild Coast."

Red Sands of XolobeniEpisode Eleven, On Monday the 21'st, will explore Mkambati to Amanzimtoti, including the Pondoland Centre of Endemism and the threatened Xolobeni area. See Episode Eleven for more info.

"A recent study of the flora of four sites in the PC has revealed 2253 different species, of which 196 were endemic to the PC. This level of floral diversity is truly impressive, considering that the whole of Great Britain contains only about 1400 species. Species density in the PC is also exceptionally high, with about 2500 species in 1900 km2 – compared to about 9 000 species in 90 000 km2 in the Cape Flora. Scientifically, the PC has been comparatively poorly surveyed, and new plant species are continually being discovered. The region is particularly rich in woody endemics, and contains more than 30 endemic species of robust creepers, shrubs and trees – the highest count for endemic tree species in South Africa. The PC contains many rare and unusual plants, and some are so rare that no local names are known, such as the so-called Pondo Bushman’s tea (Lydenburgia abbottii). This is the rarest forest tree endemic to South Africa, with only about 200-500 specimens in existence. The entire population occurs between the Amphitheatre in the Umtamvuna Nature Reserve and the Msikaba River – a total range of only 40 kilometres. It is estimated that many of the trees could be as old as 1000 years."

(c) Neels Botma

To see more of Neels Botma's beautiful photography, go here: www.outdoorphoto.co.za

Scientists in South Africa discover 18 new spider, snail and worm species

From www.guardian.co.uk
By David Smith in Johannesburg
Tuesday 18 August 2009

Scientists surveying a nature reserve in South Africa have discovered 18 previously unrecorded species of invertebrates, including spiders, snails, millipedes, earthworms and centipedes.

The trove of creatures was uncovered in eight days by researchers and volunteers working for the environmental charity Earthwatch at the Mkhambathi nature reserve on the spectacular Wild Coast in the Eastern Cape.

However, scientists warned that planned developments in the area could threaten the ecosystem and deny them the chance to identify further species.

Jan Venter, an ecologist working for Eastern Cape Parks, which manages the reserve, said that the 29 square mile area had previously attracted only ad hoc surveys and butterfly collectors.

"To get so many species in one survey shows the importance of the reserve. It's a very special area, conservation-wise. If we do another survey, we'll find just as many." The team suspects that another 18 species might be discovered.

From www.iol.co.za

August 16 2009 at 06:51PM

The dispute over community consent for Xolobeni Mineral Sands Project is hotting up as Minerals and Energy Minister Susan Shabangu considers granting the final go-ahead.

The plans are to excavate 346 million tons of titanium and other heavy minerals along a 22m stretch of the Wild Coast below Port Edward.

Mining it will generate R560-million yearly, with R42m to be spent on local salaries each year and R2,9-billion going to the government.

But conservationists are protesting because the mineral area lies in a vast, unspoilt wilderness region that offers considerable ecotourism potential.

This article was originally published on page 6 of Cape Argus on August 16, 2009

Comment:
Important to note that not just environmentalists, but hundreds of members of the community attended the protest march last year, including many elders, the headman, and other prominent community leaders. As if more proof was needed, even King Mpondomise and the Royal House are against the proposed strip mining.

Daily Sun - 17 September 2008: Click on the pic to view the article.

See also: Minister admits consultation process ‘flawed’

and Questions hover over Wild Coast mining deal amongst other updates and info at www.wildcoast.com/xolobeni.