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The Wild Coast's Mbotyi River Mouth is one heck of a beautiful place, with a heck of an interesting story to tell. David Bristow took his family to stay in the community camp site adjacent to the now-famous Mbotyi River Lodge, central to this story, and they had a heck of a time.
Prior to the early 1900s the Pondoland coast north of Port St Johns saw action only about every 50 years or so when a ship got wrecked. The story of these shipwrecks is a weird one and best left for another telling. But one thing we can take from this history is that the Mbotyi (pronounced 'mboytjie') River reputedly got its name from beans that were washed ashore after a wreck and flourished on the fertile banks upstream of the mouth. Hence Mbotyi, the place of beans.
When the Mbotyi River Mouth Trading Site opened its creaky door in 1922, it was just a corrugated iron hut, with a rough yellowwood counter. The two partners were Vic Kottich, a local trader and fanatical fisherman, and Jack Barber, who had washed up there from the trenches of the First World War. They paid one pound sterling annual rental to the magistrate at Lusikisiki. In a region still ruled by tribal law it was - and still is - one of a very few sites on the Wild Coast that confers freehold rights on its owners.
In 1928 Jack bought out Vic's share and traded till his death in the late 1950s... but that would be missing the best part of the story. Before the war Jack had played soccer for Scotland, then went and got himself wounded in the trenches in France (which was probably a good thing, because the odds on being killed were overwhelming). Nursing him back to health in a military hospital was Sally Barnes, a volunteer nurse from Boston, Massachusetts. They struck up a deep friendship and continued corresponding long after the war had ended.
Sometime in the early 1920s, Jack proposed, by post, and was accepted (somewhat surprisingly for a man who lived in a hut in a still wild part of Southern Africa). Arrangements were made for Sally to sail from Boston to Durban: Jack calculated when the ship would pass and built a large bonfire on Shark Point, the place that marked her new home in Africa.
In 1929 Sally arrived from Durban in an ox wagon and unloaded her trousseau at the hut that Jack built - where it remained unopened till long after her death. They said Sally was a saint, never once leaving Mbotyi but falling in love with the place and the people, whom she nursed and tended through good times and bad. Every day Jack - who never wore shoes - would go walking with his pack of dogs, or go fishing. Sally would go horse riding; the path from the hotel down to the river and across it to the beach is today called Sally's Alley.
When fishing fanatics started building cottages at Mbotyi, or came camping, Jack would send porters up through the forest to the plateau where the Magwa tea estate now thrives, to help carry all their katunda down the slippery clay path. In 1935 a rough road was constructed through the forest where leopards would occasionally be seen. The area is prone to severe seasonal flooding, and when cars occasionally got stuck down at Barber's Camp (as it was then called) oxen would be hired from the locals to help pull them back up the steep, slippery eightkilometre incline.
Jack and Sally never had children, but seemed more than content with each other and the wild Pondoland around them. In the late 1950s, when Sally died, Jack was devastated and took to the bottle in a big way. His downhill slide was rapid and he died soon afterwards. It is generally believed he committed suicide. Whatever, one night his shack caught alight and he and his dogs perished inside.
New days, new ways
There are other stories, such as the one about the famous herbalist Khotso Sethunsa, and the missing missionary children and, of course, ghosts. Or the one about the Stander gang who hid out here for a while in the Jessops' cottage. But we'll leave these for another telling.
When Jack died, the store and property was auctioned off, and bought by three Mount Frere traders, including Ian Jessop. Everyone thought Khotso, the wealthiest man in the region, would snap up this potential hotel site but, after putting in a good opening bid, he withdrew. No-one knew why, but as he left the auction it is said he put a curse on the place.
Nothing much happened for the next two decades or so, until a local medical man from Lusikisiki, Dr Mazwai, bought the place and established a small hotel. But his timing was unfortunate as political turmoil soon enveloped the region. One evening, during dinner, there was a skirmish and guests were evacuated by helicopter. The place was locked up, as is. One of the current owners recalls: "It remained untouched for eight years, until (we) took it over. Remarkably, it was never vandalised: with the table settings intact and grass overgrown, it stood empty for nearly a decade as a ghostly reminder of its former glory days."
That is, of course, a rather romantic take on the situation, as it never really had "glory days". In fact, it is only since Mbotyi River Lodge opened in the late 1990s that it has enjoyed anything like glory days. What is remarkable about the lodge is that it has happened at all. For two outsiders - businessmen from Joburg who discovered the place as students (enough said) - to come into one of the most tumultuous areas of South Africa, build and run a top-class hotel is nothing less than remarkable. But then you've got to meet the two Peters, Peter G and Peter C, as they are aff ectionately known, to understand how it could have been done.
One of their secrets - apart from the special scenario of having freehold title to the land - was to engage the local community in a real way. And that's exactly how the camp site came to be. The two Peters (Gillespie and Christodoulou) had got to know the place as poor students, camping and generally mooching about the place, as students will.
While they knew they were going to run a first-rate lodge, with suitably upper-end prices for the region, they wanted to allow folk who were not in the hotel-income bracket to enjoy the place. is also presented the perfect opportunity to enable the local community to participate in and reap the benefi ts of tourism.
The result is the camp site, a joint venture between River Lodge and the Mbotyi community. It is run quite separately from the hotel, which means campers do not have access to the hotel or its facilities and must be self-sufficient.
The camp site is set in a semi-natural garden, with well tended lawns around the camping area. The sites all have electricity, braai places and plug points. There are three Pondo huts, which sleep up to six people each (equipped with cupboard, chest of drawers, fridge, table and chairs), as well as two two-sleeper rooms near the office and communal dining area (for when the weather turns bad). Eight kitchenette and washing-up areas are spaced around the generous, well shaded site, and there is one central ablution block (showers, basins and toilets).
Although you need to bring all your own equipment, the office does have some crockery, cutlery, linen, cookers and kettles, and even fans (great to keep the mozzies away) for hire. The site is securely fenced, with restricted access and a full-time security guard. While there's plenty to do in the area, Mbotyi is ultimately a place for enjoying an extremely off-beat and naturally bounteous little coastal resort in a place that just might be the most beautiful in all this splendid land. You'll have lost your beans if you don't think so.
Highs:
- The lovely beach and natural forest behind the mouth.
- One of the country's most guarded secrets.
- The camp site is fairly basic but very well kept and serviced.
- The fact that there is a rustic, attractive camp here at all.
Lows:
- Parts of the site are besieged by red ants.
- Mosquitoes are prolific in summer and could spoil your holiday if you are not prepared.
- Hot-water pressure is intermittent and generally below comfort level.
- Being situated behind the lodge, there are no open views of the beach and sea.
What to do at Mbotyi
- Nature walks of untold quality and variety; best is the short walk to Shark Point and the lovely beach beyond (25 minutes one way), or the longer one to Waterfall Bluff and Cathedral Rocks, which take all day (28 kilometres return).
- Mountain biking offers challenging options; anything longer than a 15-mintue ride will tend to the adventurous and hardcore. Cycle to one of the fine waterfalls, or set them all as your holiday goal.
- Swimming and hanging out on the beach will of course be your focus (although we recommend you don't swim in the river as it's used upstream by the villagers for washing and bathing).
- Fishing here is pretty legendary - still. Ask the office to organise a fishing gillie for you. You can also try a fly in the river mouth.
- Horse rides last from 30 minutes to eight hours, departing from the hotel gate, also arranged through the very helpful camp site office.
- Snorkeling in the pools and gullies on either side of the bay, but particularly so near Shark Point, can be outstanding on low tides. At spring lows it is fantastic.
- Guided canoe trail and forest walks are conducted by the local River Rangers, again organised by your friendly camp site officer.
- 4x4 and quad-bike trails operate on an 'honesty' basis, in that the whole community expects drivers to ride responsibly and stick to established tracks. You will be outcast should you transgress. Some of the numerous routes are fairly testing.
- Kite surfing - we tried but found the hills around the bay caused corridors of gusts and wind shadow that were unrideable.
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