Nqabara

Nqabara Eco River Lodge is sited on a remarkably beautiful promontory overlooking the confluence of the Nqabara and Nqabarana Rivers at their mouth, separated from the beach by a beautiful girdle of indigenous bush with the Indian Ocean beyond that.

Nqabara Eco River Lodge can comfortably accommodate 20 people in three cottages and the main house.

EACH COTTAGE HAS THE FOLLOWING:

• Two furnished en-suite bedrooms with two single beds
• A lounge area
• A fully equipped kitchen
• Lounge & Dining Area
• Ablution Facilities
• Large Deck

THE MAIN HOUSE FEATURES:

• A fully equipped kitchen
• Lounge, DSTV, Dining Area
• Ablutions
• Large Deck

As a low-impact eco-lodge, the entire place is run on solar technology and water is harvested and stored in tanks. 

The Nqabara area is pristine, one of the few places along the Wild Coast that has not been developed. It is designated “environmentally sensitive” and the Nqabara community proudly treasure this status. The people of the area are determined to preserve the beauty and natural heritage that they know is their greatest asset.

Nqabara Eco River Lodge is the perfect fishing and/or family holiday destination, a getaway for the leisure tourist, the volunteer traveller, a team-building experience, or for conferencing with a difference. Nqabara Eco River Lodge welcomes those wanting a quiet and beautiful “away-from-the-crowds-and-noise experience”.

Designed as a low-impact facility, Nqabara Eco River Lodge is fully off-the-grid. It harvests water from the heavens and innovative technology is used throughout the lodge to ensure that its environmental footprint is as small as possible.

The Xhosa months of the year are poetically named after stars and seasonal plants of Southern Africa. The Xhosa year traditionally began in June and ended in May, when Canopus, the brightest star visible in the Southern Hemisphere, signalled the time for harvesting. In urban areas today, anglicised versions of the months are used, especially by the younger generation. But in the rural areas of the Eastern Cape – the old names still stand.

• January - EyoMqungu (month of the Tambuki Grass)
• February - EyoMdumba (month of the swelling grain)
• March - EyoKwindla (month of the first fruits)
• April - uTshaz'iimpuzi (month of the withering pumpkins)
• May - EyeCanzibe (month of Canopus)
• June - EyeSilimela (month of the Pleiades)
• July - EyeKhala (month of the aloes)
• August - EyeThupha (month of the buds)
• September - EyoMsintsi (month of the coast coral tree)
• October - EyeDwarha (month of the tall yellow daisies)
• November - EyeNkanga (month of the small yellow daisies)
• December - EyoMnga - (month of the acacia^§ thorn tree)

^§ Update: December was listed incorrectly as the month of the mimosa thorn tree. But as mimosa is not indigenous to South Africa, and only would have arrived here a few hundred years ago from South America; December should actually be the "month of the acacia thorn tree". Oxford English-Xhosa Dictionary backs this up. 

~Jeff - Oct '16