The Magic of Hogsback

In the Amatola Mountains northwest of East London lies a very special place called Hogsback. It's a small and out-of-the-way spot known mostly to those pursuing peace of mind.

The name of the area derives from three high rocky ridges that soar high above the village. Vertical dolomite rock formations that have survived eons of erosion are said, when viewed up close, to look like the prickly hairs on the back of a hog.

The Hogsback area is unique in South Africa, a micro-climate of Afro-montane cloud forest which results in a very large and regular amount of rain. The unpredictable and often cool weather yields not only a moist and misty atmosphere a lot of the time but snow that can occur ten months of the year!
The famous writer J.R. Tolkien spent the first several years of his life in Hogsback. The locals claim that it was during these formative years that he developed the memories that led him to write The Hobbit. This idea is used heavily to promote business and tourism.

The backpackers' lodge in Hogsback is called Away with the Fairies. It has been decorated throughout with murals that match the image that Hogsback tries to promote.

Nancy and I stayed at a lovely chalet called Never Daunted. Found at the end of a lonesome and convoluted roadway, the scene was idyllic, like being in an English garden full of azaleas, rhododendrons, oak and walnut trees, hydrangeas and fuchsia. Needless to say, there are countless walks throughout the area and a buffet of lovely waterfalls. The first one shown below is called the Bridal Veil. The second is named the Madonna and Child because one is supposed to be able to see the faces of Mary and a child in the falls. When the picture is enlarged, these are clearly seen.

Each of the trails in the Hogsback area is meant to be indicated by a series of painted hogs. Such is not always the case. Many of them start off well but then seem to either change their mind or get caught up in the beauty of it all and forget their purpose. We got lost at some point during every one of our four days of hiking, but each time it seemed to matter less and less... Hiking through the mountains provided us with an unforgettable experience. There were pastures of lilies, glens alive with the sounds of exotic birds such as Cape parrots, butterflies, samango monkeys, as well as many other sights and sounds. Wild horses and worms that are six metres long even inhabit the area! Parts of the trails are through ancient indigenous forest with virgin vegetation. Tallest of the trees is the yellowood. The largest (simple referred to on the map as the great Big Tree) is approximately 800 years old, thirty-eight metres high with a girth of eight and one half metes. Hogsback actually has an army! These are the many volunteers who wage an ongoing battle against the waddle tree. It's a lovely species of tree but doesn't belong here (was imported from Australia long ago) that displaces much of the local vegetation.

One of the really interesting attractions at Hogsback is an eco-shrine built by Diane Graham. Diane is a deeply spiritual woman whose love of nature and art is very intense. She spends her days painting panels that she then exhibits in monuments surrounding a pool in her garden. On the front of each form is a painting connecting nature and humanity; inset on the back of each one is a traditional San (bushman) mosaic devoted to a similar theme.


Hogsback has some very quaint buildings, especially its church and the library shown below, which is located on a path leading towards Never Daunted.
Most of the people at Hogsback are Xhosa who work in forest or a related industry. They seem to be a friendly lot; the ones that we talked to were clearly very proud of the low crime rate in the village. Nancy and I were assured that walking home at night from one of the restaurants was perfectly safe. Even Hogsback, however, is not without its crime. Occasionally, people (black and white) are murdered. There was an elder in the black community who was highly respected by both his own people and the whites in the area. He often served as an mediator in any disputes that arose. One day he was attempting to resolve an argument outside of the post office and was stabbed to death...by his own son.

So many of the local people in Hogsback went out of their way to help us. When we arrived, our bags hadn't even left the driveway before a man named Mike took us for a one hour drive to show us as many of the trailheads and pathways as he could. A couple that we met named Ken and Sonaya spent an afternoon hiking with us and driving us up to the alpine meadows to look for wild horses and Jackal buzzards. We'll have a photo of them to share at a later date. The owners of Never Daunted were exceptionally kind and hospitable. Saying the traditional farewells ("Stay well" followed by "Travel well"") were very difficult for us. But what is life if not a complex chain of hellos and goodbyes?

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Meet the Prices

Those who like to backpack tend to like it a lot. Witness Shaun and Sal Price who after travelling the world have turned a struggling family enterprise into one of the best hostels in South Africa. Visitors here really get the feeling that the place was built with their interests and enjoyment in mind. More than just a business, generosity and kindness are evident in just about everything that goes on around here. For example, here they are helping to prepare the free breakfast that is offered to all of the guests every Sunday morning. Make no mistake, this is not some simple continental breakfast but a hot and cold buffet that includes fresh baked goods and a variety of fruit. One of the more useful bits of knowledge that we have acquired on our trip concerns the nutritional value of the papaya, which is good treatment for a number of ailments. Buccaneers began as a pretty simple establishment built upon little more than a reinforced sand dune at a village called Cintsa, 25 km north of the bustling city of East London. It was originally a series of family cottages built above a river mouth on the Indian Ocean. When apartheid ended and South Africa became a democracy in 1994 there was a degree of hysteria among affluent whites based upon a perception that their wealth and security would inevitably erode. This proved to be disasterous for tourism, particularly in areas such as this which are predominantly black; people stopped coming and the business was in trouble.
One of the reason that Buccaneers has done so well as a backpackers is that the quality of the room is very high, mostly ensuite cottages overlooking the mouth of the river and the sea. The view from our little deck was wonderful - a great place to relax and just watch the waves roll in. Buccanneers is also famous on the South African backpackers' scene because of the range of experiences it offers. Pay-as-you-go activities include surfing school, horseback riding, cliff-climbing, guided hikes, quad biking, climbing wall, and excursions into a local game park. There is also a weekly trip to a rural school project that the Prices help to sponsor. Daily activities that are free are canoeing on the river and an afternoon fun group event such as a swimming pool game or volleyball...all of which come with complimentary wine for each participant!

Cintsa marks the beginning of a new phase in our trip as we begin to move north through the province known as East Cape, situated in the south-east of the country. A key feature of the eastern cape is the largely undeveloped region of rolling hills, lush forest and seemingly endless beaches known as the Wild Coast. The coastline is notorious for its raging surf, strong undertow, and treacherous offshore rocks which have claimed many victims. The Wild Coast is billed as South Africa's best-kept secret eventhough it extends for some two hundred kilometres along the Indian Ocean. No coastal road exists: isolated sea-side communities are located at the termination of long and winding gravel roads. The comfortable Mediterranean climate of the southern coast has turned quite humid and a few degrees warmer. The sub-tropical climate lends itself to new varieties of flora. We took great delight in the purple flowering vines that fringed many of the sand dunes along the beach, and the bird-of-paradise that grew abundantly throughout the property.
Cintsa is about a thirty minute drive past East London, one of South Africa's largest cities. We are now in an area that fell under British control during the colonial era. The Boers (farmers of Dutch descent) had much earlier spread eastward from Cape Town then began to head north in search of new lands to inhabit. One of the reasons that they had not progressed much past the Fish River was that the land was extensively occupied by the Xhosa, one of the two main black nations of people living in South Africa.

The Xhosa live mostly in the Transkei, an area of land that was designated as one of the Black Homelands during the apartheid era. Blacks were confined to what the government perceived to be their ancestral territory and were not permitted to leave without a pass...which was usually only granted in order to come and work for the white people when needed. Despite the fact that South Africa's first two presidents (Thabo Mbeki and Nelson Mandela) are both from the Transkei, it is one of the poorest areas in South Africa.

The discrepancies between the whites and blacks living in South Africa are monumental and well-documented. On the edge of every town and city are the townships, collections of very basic housing that by western standards are deplorable. The picture below shows a typical house for the millions of blacks living in townships throughout the country. Such a dwelling must sometimes accommodate more than one family - as many as fifteen people! Nancy and I are both looking forward to having more contact with the black people of South Africa as we move north along the east coast. It was a real pleasure to meet Omnatee and Melanie, two of the receptionists at Buccaneers. Both women were very friendly, helpful, enthusiastic, and very articulate.

One of the highlights of our stay in Cintsa was our impromptu visit to the Inkwenkwezi Nature Reserve where we experienced our very first "elephant interaction" session! The owners of this private reserve first bought a bit of land in the Cintsa area as a cattle farm. Planning ahead for retirement, they slowly added land and animals and now own 10,000 sq. hectares with which to help protect wildlife and at the same time, to educate the public.

Two young bull elephants (age 9 & 16) had been rescued from a cull in Kruger Park and transported to Inkwenkwezi to be the first elephants in this private reserve. It has become necessary to cull whole elephant herd groups as the elephant population increases and the competition for food wreaks its havoc on the natural environment in Kruger. A few years ago there were 120 big trees per sq. km in the national park. Now only 5 per sq. km remain! We watched as the grooms led the two beautiful bulls in from the jungle. Each offered his greeting with a loud trunk trumpet!

We were invited to feed the gentle giants a handful of prepared pellets (Elly treats!), first through their trunks and then by placing our hands directly into their mouths! The animals love the attention and enjoy having their tongues rubbed. Then, providing us with an opportunity to get even more "up close and personal", the younger bull got down on the ground, enabling us to stroke its back and ears! AHHHHHH!
Here's some interesting elephant trivia to leave you with. Elephants: live up to 70 year of age; have poor eyesight but excellent hearing. They can communicate messages (to other elephants 8 km away) by stomping their feet. The elephants are right or left tusk dominant and consume 250 kg of vegetation daily; can take 8 litres of water into their trunk at a time; cannot breathe through their mouth. Like humans, they do have food preferences and DO have an incredible power of memory. We heard stories of elephants remembering a trainer and specific commands after 16 years of separation! I can't speak for the elephants but I know this was one amazing experience that I will NEVER FORGET!

The Otter Trail

Many people would consider the highlight of any trip along the Garden Route to be a visit to the long stretch of coastal forest and marine preserve that forms Tsitsikamma National Park. The villages of Storm's River and Nature's Valley sit like sentinels at either end of the park. Storm's River is famous for bungy jumps and a roaring canyon while Nature's Valley (seen below) is a a very peaceful tourist enclave nestled into the forest, sandwiched between the ocean and a large lagoon. The fresh air, tranquility and quaint wooden homes reminded us of the Sunshine Coast in British Columbia. Prior to our trip to the Otter Trail we stayed at a place called Hiker's Haven. It's a family home that gets rented out part of the year to help pay the bills. Nearly all of the houses in Nature's Valley are guesthouses of some sort. People told us that they come every year - that it is one of the few places in South Africa where they feel that they can let their kids play more or less unsupervised. Indeed, Jacques (one of the owners) told us that they hadn't locked the doors during twenty years of living there. The doors to the rooms are traditional Dutch - split into a lower and upper half. The upper half is usually left wide open to allow air to circulate but does little to prevent a rogue baboon from making the rounds every few days and stealing all of the sugar, coffee and anything else available on a complimentary tea and food tray. The owners get mad but don't solve the problem, continuing to leave the doors open! I guess old habits are hard to break.

The Otter Trail is unidirectional so it's necessary to get a shuttle to drive the thirty minutes to Storm's River. The entire area is quite spectacular - never a dull view!

The Otter Trail is about a 42 kilometer hike - not very far but with little flat terrain - lots of climbs up and down. The clawless cape otter inhabits the area although there are only 33 in total in the waters throughout the park that empty into the ocean. You have to be pretty lucky to see one. Prior to beginning the hike we were required to watch a 53 minute long video that inspired and frightened us. There are only fixed stopping points (huts) along the trail and you have to time your river crossings with low tide. When somebody tells you that you may have to hike some sections in the dark where there are leopards, potentially dangerous wild pigs and other beasts, it gets your attention. The video also showed a group of four that barely crossed the Bloukrans River without drowning - a harrowing experience that I suppose was meant as a warning to those who didn't take the river crossings too seriously.

The views along the trail are simply gorgeous. The surf churns, foams and crashes relentlessly

upon huge formations of striated rock that seems to have been turned onto its side and pushed upward. In many places the dark rock appears like the leaves of a burnt book.

Most of the days we hiked for hours without encountering another soul. Relaxing over a snack, a slurp, and some leisurely conversation we soaked up the views and appreciated the moment as we looked upon the southern coast of Africa and outwards towards the bottom of Earth.

There are countless caves to explore along the way...

and plenty of waterfalls that tumble over the sides of the cliffs.
The water in the rivers were a welcome relief from the heat. The brown colouration is tannin, a nature pigment from dissolved vegetation. The water is pure and fit to drink. Large pinnacles of rock provide fantastic vistas along the coast...

and are sometimes the homes of a cute little species of rodent-like animal called the rock dassie. The locals don't pay them much respect but we found them to be quite curious and cute. They are also the closest living relative, believe it or not, of the elephant. They have two teeth that look like incisors that are actually remnants of tusks!

Surprisingly, very little of the hike actually takes place a long the beach itself. There were only a few sandy spots at river mouths to provide some relief for our muscles.

South African Parks seem to have very high quality facilities that are cared for well. Only twelve people are permitted on each leg of the trail per day. There are two cabins at each rest spot, each sleeping six people. We were fortunate that five people had cancelled their reservation. A group of five South Africans took one hut each night and we had the other all to ourselves. Each of the spots provided spectacular views.

We witnessed dolphins breaching and some pretty exotic species of birds but most of the wildlife that we saw along the trail was a variety of sea birds like cormorants and oyster catchers. Our most constant companions were large (4-5 inch) colourful grasshoppers that seemed to be everywhere. They tried to avoid us for the most part but Nancy did get quite anxious when she found one of these "babies" as well as "mom" (even larger) crawling along her arm! Needless to say we observed many spectacular varieties of wild flower that we had never previously encountered. The most unique species was one that was growing near the station near the entrance to the gateway to the park. The rivers that we had to cross became increasingly difficult. Two in particular seemed rather impossible to contemplate at mid or high tide. Strong tides met the flowing rivers in a pretty impressive two-punch made even more intimidating by the high rocky cliffs on either shore.

Our fellow hikers had something called a survival bag into which they could pack their knapsack and all other gear. The idea is to tie all of the bags together with rope, wait for low tide, then swim to the slip of a landing on the far shore. Its recommended that at least person in your group is a strong swimmer. If you can't swim you simply hang on for dear life. The South Africans (currently living in Pretoria and Swaziland) told us all kinds of interesting stories about natural dangers (snakes) as well as human (crime) from South Africa and further afield. Perhaps the strangest (which they swear is true) comes from a hospital in Swaziland. The hospital officials noticed that someone was dieing every Friday in the intensive care unit. Upon investigation they discovered that Friday was the day in which the room was fully cleaned. An employee was pulling the plug out of the life support system to plug in a vacuum! Perhaps they were pulling our leg but we have read lots of strange stories in the news during the past month.

Fortunately, we were able to find a spot that we could cross where the water was at most the height of our ribs...some distance from the beach head. We then managed to scramble up and over some of the rocks. No photo of that - we were far too busy! Here's a shot of Nancy crossing the Lottering River at low tide. It does look like much...but we didn't think that we were going to be able to do it when we looked down from the cliffs some hours before! We finished the Otter Trail in good spirits and not too much discomfort. The tradition for hikers is to head immediately to the only local restaurant where you have the option of leaving one or both of your worn-out boots in the tree located within the courtyard.

The closest that we got to experiencing a clawless otter was when Nancy took the plunge and followed another custom: drinking a shot called an otter's a--hole. It tastes like a combination of cough syrup and mustard.

Thanks for taking the time to read the blog. We hope that all friends, family and colleagues are well and looking forward to the arrival of spring in the Great White North.