This special edition of the Bateleurs Newsletter focuses on the Pondoland Wild Coast.

COMMENTARY FROM NORA - April 2007

On 30th March 2007 The Mercury ran an article by Tony Carnie headlined  "CONTENTIOUS  MINING  APPLICATION  LODGED  -  An Australian mining company and a local black empowerment group have lodged a formal application to mine heavy  minerals from the coastal dunes at Xolobeni, just south of the Wild Coast Casino.  The controversial mining application was lodged yesterday with the Minerals and Energy Department in Port Elizabeth."  During the past few years, The Bateleurs have flown many leading environmentalists over the Pondoland Wild Coast in order for them to obtain a true picture of this stunning coastline and how it is being abused and trashed by illegal cottages, illegal logging, illegal sand-mining and so on.  But even more threatening to the peace and beauty of this spectacular area is the threat of mining and the proposed concomitant N2 highway to facilitate the movement of the mined titanium which would run slap through a biodiversity hotspot, Mkambati, which is in line for Park Status.  We have included here for you quotes from, together with photographs of, a few of these influential conservationists.  These are followed by an article titled Sinking Roots by Spreading Wings written for us by John G.I. Clarke, of the Sustaining the Wild Coast Association, resulting from his Bateleur flight over the area.

The photograph below shows Russ Mittemeier, President of Conservation International (left) and Vance Martin, President of Wild USA (centre), who were flown over the Wild Coast in 2003 by Paul Dutton (right) Ecologist and Bateleur pilot.

Russell Mittermeier, President of Conservation International :

"The mission we flew over the Pondoland/Wild Coast area was superb.  It gave Vance and me an extremely important overview of the area, its beauty and high biodiversity.  Most importantly, we also got an excellent perspective on the very imminent threats to this region, both from the proposed toll road and the mining.  As a result, in ensuing meetings during the World Parks Congress we were much better able to speak authoritatively on the need to protect and sustain this area."

Vance Martin, President of The WILD Foundation (centre in the photo below) :

"Flying along the wild Pondoland coast, and then over its heavily forested gorges while going inland to assess landscape features and local settlements, I had a visceral experience of an area unique to South Africa.  The Wild Coast bio-diversity, its wildlife and its human culture have co-evolved into a mosaic of singular importance to the world, the strength of which lies in the lively yet delicate intersection of each natural and human component.  Non-sustainable developmental interventions will do nothing except destroy this fragile web - to the detriment of all the parts,  human and natural.  Once the treasure is lost, it cannot be recovered."

Ulf Doerner, President, Wilderness Foundation, Germany :

"It takes courage and vision to stand up for what could become South Africa's next world heritage site - the Wild Coast!  While the proposed mining plans will benefit a few individuals, eco-tourism will benefit generations to come. I hope the South African Government understands the value of this internationally recognised hotspot of plant endemism."

Claus-Peter Hutter, President, Euronatur, (standing, far right) :

"The Wild Coast is internationally recognised as a unique natural heritage of unrivalled biodiversity.  South Africa owns this precious treasure and should safe-guard it so that future generations can benefit from it."

Ian Player and Keith Cooper

From the left:  Avroy Shlain (Bateleur pilot), Dr Ian Player, South Africa's Doyen of Conservation, Keith Cooper, a past Director of Conservation for the Wildlife & Environment Society of South Africa (WESSA), and Paul Dutton (Ecologist and Bateleur pilot).

Ian Player :   "I have been a miner in my life, and so have my father and my grandfather and my great-grandfather, and I know the value of mining.  But to mine coastal dunes is a desecration of our country."

Keith Cooper :   "From a conservation point of view the Pondoland Wild Coast must rank as one of the most important areas for biodiversity, both in South African and internationally.  But it is not as yet adequately protected from threats such as mining."

Bittu Saghal (below), amongst India's foremost conservationists and editor of India's most prestigious wild life magazine, "Sanctuary" :

"To put it simply, India has decided to sell its family jewels to some of the most predatory financial forces in the world.  Thus Orissa's water-stocked forests and turtle-populated seas are hostage to iron ore companies;  Gujarat's pristine coastline is being pillaged by petroleum interests;  Andhra Pradesh's thick forests are being mined for uranium;  Karnataka's Western Ghats are under assault by dam builders;  Madhya Pradesh's tigers are being forced to retreat before invading industrialists;  and fragile Himalayan glaciers, together with earth ice everywhere, are in advanced stages of melt."

So - South Africa did not sell St Lucia, but will our decision-makers sell our own national treasure, the Pondoland Wild Coast?

Do we want our Wild Coast to look like this ...

... or like this ...

... or like THIS?

SINKING ROOTS BY SPREADING WINGS

Flying the Falling Waters of the Wild Coast
by John G.I. Clarke 

How many places are there on all the coastlines of the world where rivers plunge straight into the sea as waterfalls?  If this question was put to AmaMpondo children on the Wild Coast the clever kids would probably guess “thousands”.  Because along the 5.5 km stretch of Wild Coast coastline known as Waterfall Bluff they can count, in the rainy season, two to three waterfalls.  Given that the total length of coastline of all continents and islands of the Earth added together comes to 783,724 kms, they would have thought 5,000 was probably the right order of magnitude.  But if The Bateleurs were able to fly three AmaMpondo youngsters around the coasts of all the continents and islands of the world, to count the real number of ocean-plunging waterfalls, they would find only about nine other ocean-plunging waterfalls worldwide.  Older and presumably wiser, they would return after two years of flying to tell their classmates that such natural wonders are in fact extremely rare, and hopefully implore those born within sight and sound of Waterfall Bluff to treasure the wonderful coastline which created them. 
A Bateleur pilot, Barry de Groot, recently took three youth leaders from the Wild Coast, Nonhle Mbuthuma, Zeka Mnyamana and Mzamo Dlamini (pictured below) on an expedition, not around the planet, but around the particular world that they love - the stretch of the Wild Coast known as the Amadiba Tribal Area between Port Edward in the north and the Mntentu River in the south.  All from the Sigidi community, which is the northern most of five coastal communities that fall under the Amadiba Tribal area, they had already graduated from Wild Coast high schools some years ago, and as young adults facing the challenges of trying to create a future, were working to revive and develop community based eco-tourism initiatives where desperately few job opportunities exist.  Mzamo and Zeka had worked for Amadiba Adventures, one such initiative which was now struggling due to plans to mine the coastal dunes area for rich pickings of titanium and heavy minerals.  But undeterred Mzamo was courageously spearheading a new proposal, the Phakamisisizwe Tourism Project.

Nonhle Mbuthuma

When Nonhle finally plucked up courage, took her hands from her face, and looked down, she saw her country and remarked how beautiful and peaceful it looked from the air.  This is in contrast to a paragraph written by Stephan Hofstatter in his article published in the Financial Mail of 06 April 2007, which reads:  "But there is no doubt this land-use battle, orchestrated by outside forces, is creating deep divisions and fuelling violent conflict among the coastal Pondo communities collectively known as the Amadiba."
  

Zeka Mnyamana

Zeka - who thought he knew the area better than most, having been a guide for Amadiba Adventures for many years - made another suprising discovery.  "I have never seen that beautiful waterfall down there.  I didn't even know it existed!" 

Mzamo Dlamini

Mzamo will have another first!  A bird's eye view of his own home. 
  

My own agenda

My own agenda was to get a ‘bird's eye view’ of the area, to enrich the ‘worm's eye view’ picture I had formed after six months of meetings and interactions with community members.  The meetings aimed to assist them in my professional capacity as a social worker, with community development initiatives and gaining access to social services. The exploration activities and interference of the mining company in the dynamics of the community was proving highly contentious however, and increasingly I had found myself called upon to ensure the community received reliable information about the proposed dune mining and to challenge injustices – a role that professional social workers are expected to perform in terms of our code of ethics and values, when circumstances require it.
Phakamisisizwe roughly translates as ‘we lift up the community’.  The Bateleurs had come to ‘lift up’ three of the community members, in both spirit and body, so that they could better represent the project to potential investors.
Mzamo explains: “We have approval for our plan to build six ‘rondavels’ (round huts with thatch roofs) for tourist accommodation on the Mnyameni estuary, so that the community can generate income from hosting tourists”.
When operational this project would offer holiday-makers an exclusive opportunity for horse riding, hiking, canoeing and fishing while they experience the rural hospitality and kindness of the AmaMpondo villagers.

Our Bateleur pilot

Barry de Groot’s reputation for precision flying preceded him.  While awaiting his arrival at Margate airport another Cessna happened to land.  I warmly welcomed the pilot as he entered the terminus, with an outstretched hand and a “Hi…  Barry?” 
The pilot responded with a somewhat bemused smile ‘Hi… Tony.  I think we have met before” he said politely. 
“Not that I recall” I replied “My name is John”. 
“Oh I thought you said your name was Barry”. 
“No” I replied “I am waiting for Barry de Groot from The Bateleurs.  I thought you were Barry.”
“No, I am Tony Gooch, but I know Barry, and am flattered to be mistaken for him.  Do you know he has his Springbok colours for precision flying?”
To finally resolve our confusion of mistaken identities the real Barry de Groot arrived in his Cessna ten minutes later to meet me, the Sigidi three and two other expectant passengers who had come along for the ride - Stephan Hofstatter (a journalist) and Richard Spoor (an attorney from White River). 
Old acquaintances renewed and new friendships forged, the first group of three passengers, Mzamo, Stephan and Richard, climbed into Barry’s Cessna and took off into a strong north easterly headwind.

The Red Desert

Our collective mission was to get an aerial perspective of a phenomenon known as the ‘Red Desert’, for, besides hosting three ocean-plunging waterfalls, the Wild Coast also happens to contain “the tenth largest known deposit of titanium and heavy minerals in the world” according to John Barnes, who is a geologist with the Australian Mining Exploration company Mineral Commodities Ltd (MRC).  MRC is hoping to receive a mineral licence for what it calls the Xolobeni Mineral Sands Project, which takes its name from one of the five villages associated with five large coastal dunes which lie exposed along a 22km stretch of coastline between Port Edward and the Mntentu River Estuary.  Stephan was on an assignment for the Financial Mail to report on the contentious issue, and Richard, a human rights attorney, had been invited by the Sigidi community to advise them on their legal rights and options as occupiers of the contested land.
Barry was eager to please his passengers and proudly showed what his 1965 Cessna 172 was capable of, with sharp turns and returns for his passengers to study the scenes below, and facilitate the best possible angle for Stephan to capture images of the Red Desert in the context of exceptional scenic beauty.  “It’s an old plane, but upgraded with a 180 hp motor, which accounts for its good performance” Barry told me, modestly giving credit to the machine rather than his skills as a pilot.
When Barry returned with his first load of passengers I went to meet Mzamo, Richard and Stephan as they stumbled out of the plane with mixed expressions:  relief to be safely back on the ground, but regret that it was all over.

Following publication of his article published in the Financial Mail, Stephan commented:  "The flight I took over Xolobeni, courtesy of The Bateleurs, was useful while writing my article on the mining controversy - in two respects.  First, it gave me a bird's eye view of the affected coastal area, and the likely impact that secondary mining activities such as transporting concentrate would have on its character.  Secondly, discussions with MRC director Mark Caruso were more meaningful because the flyover meant that I had actually seen the proposed mining sites he referred to." 

For the full text of Stephan's article, "Mining vs Environment:  Lines drawn in the sand, which presents the case both for and against mining on the Pondoland Wild Coast, please go to  http://free.financialmail.co.za/07/0406/features/afeat.htm

The article will be available at this url for the next three weeks only. 

To continue with John Clarke's story ... 

It was now our turn

Never having had the opportunity to fly in a small plane, Nonhle and Zeka climbed nervously with me into Barry’s four-seater Cessna to be taken aloft to get a Bateleurs-eye view of their homes, cropfields, pastures and beaches.
“It looks so beautiful and peaceful from above” Nonhle remarked after she had finally yielded to Zeka’s prodding to overcome her nervousness, open her eyes, and look down to see if she could pick out her own homestead.  She knew that, in sharp contrast to the serene beauty when flying over the area, inside the scattered homes below there was bound to be much perturbed – perhaps even angry - conversation taking place.
The previous morning 75 residents of her village had crammed together in a classroom at the local school to hear Richard Spoor explain to them what they could expect if the planned dune mining was allowed to go ahead.
Based on his experience as an attorney representing mining affected communities in the platinum-rich areas of Limpopo and North West Provinces, Richard had explained that mining, even though it produced some benefits and jobs, could also be extremely destructive to the traditional way of life. “The influx of outsiders and destruction of the traditional means of subsistence and industrialisation may have damaging and irreversible consequences for traditional communities,” he had warned.
Flying over the large expanses of exposed red earth we could see why they were dubbed the Red Desert.  Two opposing theories exist as to how it came to be.  The one favoured by the mining company is that the exposed sand is due to wind erosion following overgrazing by too many cattle - some say this dates back to the time of the Mfecane when numbers of cattle were herded together to hide them from Shaka’s marauding armies.  The mining company argues that its interventions will in fact rehabilitate the pre-existing ‘degraded environment’ once they have exhausted the sands of their mineral wealth, after the estimated 22 year ‘lifespan’ of the deposit.
But Tony Abbott, a local farmer and amateur botanist, believes the exposed sands are an entirely natural phenomenon resulting from a combination of wind, drought and erosion.  “The sands are after all coastal dunes, with heavy deposits of minerals which, in such concentrations are not exactly favourable to organic processes of growth. We should appreciate why it is that alien species, only, have been successful invaders.  Few indigenous species manage to survive there."
Tony has five rare endemic plant species named for him which he found in the ravines and gorges of the Wild Coast.  He explains that the incredible botanical biodiversity found in the river gorges is due paradoxically in part to the relatively stressful natural environmental conditions of poor soils, strong wind and unusual geology.  “Nature is marvellously adaptive.  When the environment is harsh it produces greater diversity to increase the evolutionary options available for life to prevail through the process of natural selection.”  He argues that given enough time and left to itself, nature will eventually find a way of returning indigenous vegetation to the Red Desert.
With a perhaps intuitive sense of this process, local villagers had expressed fears that if the ‘heavy minerals’ were taken out of the sand, this would turn their land into nothing but dust, to be blown away by the strong north westerly winds, such as the gale Barry was having to contend with during our flight.

Stone age artefacts

Whatever the outcome of this debate, there is an indisputable fact that all agree upon:  the dunes are pregnant with other signs of life – human life dating back some 300,000 years.
Dr Kathleen Kuman of the University of the Witwatersrand School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies, has confirmed findings of significant samples of stone-age tools and artefacts in the Red Desert. She has identified them as stone picks, core-axes and choppers used by pre-historical humans from the Sangoan era which she describes as “a late development of the Earlier Stone Age which ended about 200,000 years ago”. 
Kuman explains that “Only during the late phase of the Earlier Stone Age did humans begin to make more specialised toolkits and inhabit new, more challenging environments”.
A question that occurred to my Bateleurs-enhanced perception was, "perhaps it wasn’t the threat of Shaka’s marauding army that was responsible for overgrazing, but Sangoan settlers deforesting pre-existing forests with stone tools?"  This thought was prompted by Jared Diamond's book  Collapse: How Societies choose to fail or survive  which tells how the Easter Islanders, the Mayans and many other ancient societies caused their own demise. 
Although my theory may be highly speculative, Kuman believes there is definitely research and educational value in making a systematic collection of artefacts.  “The more interesting and diagnostic artefacts could then be used to create educational displays on the Stone Age heritage of the era, and this would undoubtedly add value to the eco-tourism potential for the region.  The richest concentration of artefacts could also be preserved as a national monument, and hiking and horseback trails to see the dunes archaeology at such sites could provide employment to community members and guides and curators,” she recommends.

This story continues at the top of the right-hand column