MET ALONG THE WAY

Mike Baker

Mike Baker, a lifelong adventureseeker and Wild Coast aficionado, is developing map.WildCoastZA .co.za, an interactive map that will

detail not only a waterfall and adventure route, but also connect travellers directly with guides,

homestay huts and hotels.

‘If we can bring the benefits of mainstream tourism directly into

the villages of the Wild Coast, then people there would have the

means to sustain themselves profitably – and be in a position to thrive,’ says Baker. ‘This, I believe, is how the Wild Coast will

remain wild.’

Mike has also been instrumental in getting some of the region’s guides qualified as abseil supervisors, and in 2022 will be setting

up abseil routes at some of the waterfalls. ‘Fraser Falls is brilliant. First you’ll abseil about 80m on to a ledge, then jump into a plunge

pool, swim across it, and then abseil down another waterfall. It’s a 200m abseil in total. As you reach the forest canopy, green parrots take off and everything is on an amazingly large scale – it’s

like Jurassic Park.’

Zanele Mbuthuma

Zanele Mbuthuma’s family has been welcoming guests into their

homestay in Sigidi village for more than a decade. ‘What makes me so proud about the Wild Coast is not only how safe our area is, but also the incredible beauty of the nature that surrounds us, the strength of our culture and the

organic food that we grow.’ Sigidi is a village renowned for the quality of sweet potatoes and madumbi (yams) grown there, and in true Wild Coast homestay

fashion, Zanele prepares an absolute feast of a meal for her guests, from produce she has grown in her organic garden. The

butternut, sweet potatoes, spinach, beetroot and potatoes she serves are all homegrown. ‘It’s only the rice I need to buy from the shops,’ she admits.

Tutani Mpunga

Tutani Mpunga is an exceptionally knowledgeable senior guide who

has always lived on the Wild Coast. ‘This is my home and I love

it,’ enthuses Tutani. who is a graduate of South Africa’s highly respected Tracker Academy. ‘All my life I have wanted to conserve and protect the Wild Coast; I would not choose to work

anywhere else.’ Tutani looked after his uncle’s cattle when he was a boy, and it was from him that he learnt a lot

about Pondoland’s trees and plants – and much of the information he so passionately shares is based on first-hand experience. When he’s not guiding, Tutani is farming and often spends time out with his cattle – and when he does he carries reference

books with him.

‘We Mpondo people have a saying: ingxiwa ayigcwali. It means, “the bag will never get full” and refers to a herbalist’s knowledge. It’s a saying I hold close to my heart,’ Tutani explains, ‘because

I will never stop learning.’