Dispatch 18 - Usuthu Gorge
Usuthu Gorge is located in northern KwaZulu Natal at the confluence of the Swaziland, Mozambique and South African borders. To the east, Usuthu Gorge borders on Ndumo and Tembe Elephant Parks; to the west it is flanked by Hlane Wildlife sanctuary, Mlawula Nature Reserve and Ndzinda Nature Reserve in Swaziland.
The Usuthu-Tembe-Futi Transfrontier Conservation and Resource Area bridges the land borders of Swaziland, South Africa and Mozambique. It is one of five such areas that fall within the larger Lubombo Transfrontier Conservation Area. As with the other Transfrontier Conservation Areas in southern Africa, this one aspires to advance biodiversity conservation and socio-economic development in a marginalized area.
Perestrello, the first European explorer to set foot on this area, christened it the Land of Fire, referring to the local 'slash-and-burn' agricultural technique. The Portuguese and British, who colonized this area in the late 1800, called it Maputaland after the Mabudu or Tembe-Thonga people who inhabited the land. Portugal and Britain divided the Mabudu kingdom between themselves in 1875, thus drawing an artificial border that came to divide a once unified people.
The colonial border of 1875, which later became the border between Mozambique and South Africa, cut straight across an ecological system running from Maputo in the north to Lake St. Lucia in the south. This area, still referred to as Maputaland, is bordered in the west by the Lubombo Mountains and in the east by the Indian Ocean. It is made up by six distinct ecological zones, running from west to east. These are the Lubombo Mountains, the Pongola floodplains, the sandforest, the muzi or futi palmveld, the coastal dune forest and the coastal zones. Each zone is markedly different from the other, with unique vegetation communities.
We can't believe the pristine beauty of the Usuthu Gorge, the hills and valleys, the beautiful trees, open grassland and the willingness in which the local community is prepared to get involved in conserving this vast piece of Africa. Speeches are made, the Boundless Scroll is endorsed, we add a little water to the calabash from the Usuthu where the three countries meet at a place once called Abecorn Drift, where young men were recruited from Maputaland and were pulled across the river on a pontoon to go and work on the South African mines. The pontoon no longer exists but the place is unimaginably beautiful and will one day make one of the most exquisite National Parks. Back on the top of the Lubombo Range we pick up the chit-chat between the other expedition Landies who ve gone ahead to cross back into KZN s Tembeland. I get hold of Johan Louw. You can t believe the welcome," he says, "we're at the Pongola River, Chief Tembe and his Indunas are here to meet us, there's traditional dancing and singing, sticks, shields and drums we must go and pay our respects, we'll see you tonight at Tembe Elephant Lodge there's quite a buzz Over and out."
