Umtata, or Mthatha

---

Today we were in Umtata, which had been the old capital of the Transkei, another Black homeland created during the apartheid period. This was also a community that was quite disadvantaged, near the childhood home of Nelson Mandela. In this ciy, there is a Nelson Mandela Road, a Nelson Mandela Drive, and a Nelson Mandela Street, all different - be careful when asking directions! There were piles of trash on many corners of the town, and the whole place appeared dirty and rundown. Umtata is the old spelling, and Mthatha is the new, corrected spelling. The place has a reputation for crime; the people at our hotel (the Windsor) were surprised to see whites there. In the morning we discovered the hotel didn’t have hot water, so after a quick cold shower, we set out to find the local Bahá’í Center. This task took us some time as most of the streets that have names do not have signs. We eventually found the center, which was quite nice and only about five years old. The community had recently had several families move away, so the space seemed large for the number of people present. At the morning devotions, there were many children and a few women; Bob was the only adult male present, as another meeting required the attendance of several community members at another location. Once again we had the treat of hearing many African Bahá’í songs, and we had a thoroughly enjoyable conversation with a woman who is a doctor in the community.

This afternoon we drove through the coastal mountains towards Durban. En route we were stopped at the province border between Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal by armed representatives of the veterinary department. They asked us if we were carrying an ice chest or any pork products. Apparently there had been an outbreak of a swine disease in Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal wanted to prevent it from entering. After assuring the guys carrying automatic weapons that we had neither, we crossed the border. Immediately we noticed a distinct change in the economic environment. Away from the coast, the economy of the Eastern Cape is based mostly on cattle, goat and sheep farming; in fact, we had stopped at least three times that day because of cattle on the highway. Cattle are permitted to graze wherever they want, including the middle of the highway (though there’s not much grass there!). All of the over-grazing was apparent as much of the land of the Eastern Cape is badly eroded. In KwaZulu-Natal, however, money crops of timber and sugar cane had replaced subsistence farming. These crops were being more carefully managed and made already spectacular landscape even better.

Because of the distance from Umtata to Durban we spent the night in the community of Port Shepstone at the Oslo Beach Lodge on the coast. In order to get there, however, we traveled over and along the rim of Oribi Gorge. The landscape was again breathtaking and I couldn’t help but envy the view that belonged to those whose small huts rested on the edge of the gorge. Since it is not yet vacation season, we found a small lodge on the ocean in Port Shepstone and stayed the night.

---