HOW many cities in the world can say they get their water from a World Heritage Site? Very few, I bet. Yet, that’s the case with Port Elizabeth and the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality and in fact the Gamtoos River Valley vege farmers. All of the water for these farmers and most of our water in the metro comes from the Kouga Dam, which is the catchment for the Baviaanskloof and Kouga rivers – which both arise in the mighty Baviaanskloof Wilderness Area.
The Baviaanskloof Wilderness Area is the heartland of the legendary “valley of the baboons” which received world recognition when it was named, exactly seven years ago, the fynbos jewel of the Eastern Cape, and part of the Cape Floral Kingdom World Heritage Site.
And one of the chief reasons that led the authorities to establish the Baviaanskloof Mega-Reserve, now the flagship of the Eastern Cape Parks and Tourism Agency, is its value as a water catchment.
I was reminded of these facts this week by Colyn Scheltema, who knows the kloof about as well as anyone and who compiled the wonderful book Baviaanskloof Stories. The book reveals the tales of the kloof through the words of the hardy residents themselves, most of whom have lived their whole lives there.
One of the major events described in the book is the flood of 1916, which followed on 18 months’ drought. On the night of May 4, there was a cloudburst and 350mm of rain fell in the top end of the kloof. Surging down, the flood waters carried six people to their deaths. Fruit orchards, potato and bean crops were smashed and 5000 bags of maize were washed away.
Telephone communication (yes it did exist in those days) was severed and savage erosion occurred. Tons of the kloof’s rich earth was washed away, and the farmers were left with “rocks and more rocks”.
Two weeks ago, there were big rains in the kloof. There were no fatalities or terrible crop damage, thank goodness – but some things don’t change. The telephone lines went dead and it was not until Tuesday night that I was able to speak to Piet Kruger on the farm Zandvlakte.
Piet is one of the most successful farmers in the kloof in terms of how he has managed his predator problem and made the transition to eco-tourism. Last year, he made more money with his eco-tourism operation than he did from his cattle.
He and his family are busy developing a picnic site and hiking trail but even without those attractions established yet, and the terrible kloof road, the visitor demand for the accommodation he offers is good and growing.
His cattle are not being targeted by leopard but even if he still had sheep, which are more vulnerable to leopard and caracal, the approach must surely be to manage grazing better rather than constantly battling with these predators, he says. By guarding against over-grazing, small game remain on the land – and that means more natural prey for the predators to enjoy.
Farmers in the kloof must realise they are on the edge of a wilderness, and seeking to control the incursions of wild marauders is a hopeless job, he says. Rather, together with his growing stream of human visitors, he is celebrating a less antagonistic and more successful relationship with his wild neighbour.
Not far from Zandvlakte, a complementary project is unfolding in the communities of Zaaymanshoek and Sewenfontein, home to about 250 people. Seventy bee hives have been established there with the help of a R350000 grant from the World Bank.
The hope is to up-scale slowly and eventually duplicate the project in the east of the kloof where there is also lots of unemployment.
The unbeatable marketing argument for the honey, when it is ready to sell – one that money just could not buy – is that it will be the product of bees who feed exclusively on indigenous vegetation, the pollen in the flowers that bloom in one of South Africa’s last great wildernesses.
In these days of collapsing bee colonies and pure honey harder and harder to come by, this could turn out to be a lucrative venture. Beyond that, like with our water – it’s something to be really proud about.
