Page 269 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - South Africa

THE EAST C O AST AND INTERIOR  267

THE WILD COAST,

DRAKENSBERG

AND MIDLANDS

The Zulus call the jagged peaks of the Drakensberg,
southern Africa’s highest mountains, uKhahlamba, “a barrier
of spears”. Where the lofty summits of the Drakensberg slope
down towards the coastline, the unspoiled Wild Coast
promises excellent fishing and hiking.

Some 1,000 years ago the lush, become the frontier line between the
well-watered valleys of the Drakensberg British and Xhosa, while to the north,
were home to the hunter-gatherer the territory between the Mzimkhulu
San who stalked antelope with their bows and Tugela rivers was declared the Colony
and arrows. The colonizing vanguards of Natal. Over the centuries, countless
of Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaner and British territorial wars raged in this fertile
soon drove them from the region, and, region now known as the Midlands,
apart from the delicate paintings that and many of the old battle sites can
survive under overhangs and in caves, be visited today.
the diminutive hunters left no evidence of In 1976, under apartheid, the Xhosa
their presence. territory of Transkei was officially declared
At the beginning of the 19th century, “independent”, but was reincorporated
the Xhosa’s heartland was part of the into South Africa in 1994. This is an area of
expanding Cape Colony, while the centre immense natural beauty and splendour.
of the Zulu kingdom stretched north of The enchanted coastline, too remote for
the Tugela River. Facing attacks on several modern development, has remained
fronts, the Basotho tribe sought refuge virtually unspoiled and offers secluded
in the high mountains that would bays and beaches, rocky headlands and
eventually become the kingdom of some of the best fishing to be found
Lesotho. By 1848, the Kei River had anywhere along the coast.

The sandstone buildings at the Rorke’s Drift battle site
Traditional round stone-and-thatch hut, or rondavel, in eastern Lesotho

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