This place is probably the Africa a lot of foreigners expect when visiting South Africa, maybe not to this extreme but in some form or another. You hop off the plane in Cape Town (or Johannesburg) and find yourself in a fully functioning City full of life and purpose and for most it is somewhat surprising, people live in houses, mansions even, situated in structured residential areas and with fully functioning services. Not exactly what everybody comes to expect when visiting Africa. Sure, you drive for a few km’s and you find the poorer less fortunate living in slum like informal settlements, masses of people crammed together, mostly in half the space they actually require with very little or no services at all, all in search of jobs, wealth and prosperity. A bit closer to the Africa expected? Maybe. Before masses of the indigenous people of South Africa moved to these formal/informal settlements near major cities in search of a better quality of life they lived the way their people have lived for 100’s of years in their homelands, a place we travelled 100’s of km to experience, the Transkei. Home of the Xhosa people.
The average household in the Transkei
We were based in a region known as Coffee Bay, lets not forget that we’re on a surf trip and the region is riddled with ridiculously good waves that have potentially never been ridden. The place is a gold mine for surfers on the search, surfers like John John Florence who frequents the region when he can, There is a whole section dedicated to it and its waves in his latest surf movie ‘View From a Blue Moon’ which has revolutionised the surf film industry. We wont name spots or point out locations but if you’re on the search of great waves the Transkei is one place that wont disappoint (4×4 necessary). Hiking in the region it seems almost every time you summit a hill you find a new point or bay and can only imagine how it might light up with the right swell, wind and tide. It feels like timing is everything, one day you might see the perfect wave and the next you’ll see a washing machine. In the vastness of the Transkei there must be 100’s of hidden gems, exploring the region leaves so much to the imagination.
The people living in the Transkei don’t have easy access to anything really and for the most part live off of the land, It’s a part of the country that even has its own traditional methods of living that don’t abide to the western way of thinking. Something like land-ownership is very different to that of the rest of South Africa, you’d have to request land from the Chief of the village who inherently has rights to all the land of that village. Currency is Cattle and often goods and services are exchanged and paid for using Cows and Goats, everything from land to wive’s can be exchanged this way. The cattle are all free range of course, and what a range they have.. I am still clueless as to how a herdsman keeps track of his stock and how it doesn’t get mixed up with his neighbours. They’re everywhere, always.
Our travels have taken us all over South Africa and we’ve seen quite a few things that really illustrate how culturally diverse and unique South Africa is. I’ve spent my whole life living in Cape Town and through these trips I’ve learn’t so much about my own country and people. No matter where you are in the world you’ll hear stories of places like these but once you’re there experiencing it for yourself you really can’t believe it. We have a group of people from first world nations and if this place can touch me the way it has over the past two years I can only imagine how wonderful it must be for the group. Like I said, growing up in a City as lovely and well run as Cape Town my whole life it is also a bit of a culture shock for me, but I really love this place and it is somewhere I will always return. As a privileged South African or even a first world citizen I think coming here is an enlightening experience and no matter where I go and what I do I can always reflect on this place and remain humble knowing that even here, we are. As ‘simple’ and as ‘backwards’ life may be here, I have found in it an infinite joy and pleasure.
Football anyone?
I’ve put a few clips together in an edit to try and show you how incredible it is here, I don’t quite think i’ve done it justice but I hope you get the picture. Thank you to Roos from the SA Navy for giving me some of his personal footage from the Navy Helicopter.
Till next time
Shakka’s
Luke