The Wild Coast is a section of the coast of the

Eastern Cape The Eastern Cape ( ; ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. Its capital is Bhisho, and its largest city is Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth). Due to its climate and nineteenth-century towns, it is a common location for tourists. It is also kno ...

, a

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. The region stretches from

East London East London is the part of London, England, east of the ancient City of London and north of the River Thames as it begins to widen. East London developed as London Docklands, London's docklands and the primary industrial centre. The expansion of ...

in the south to the border of

KwaZulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN) is a Provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the government merged the Zulu people, Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu language, Zulu) and ...

in the north. It is the traditional home of the

Xhosa Xhosa may refer to: * Xhosa people, a nation, and ethnic group, who live in south-central and southeasterly region of South Africa * Xhosa language, one of the 11 official languages of South Africa, principally spoken by the Xhosa people See als ...

Thembu people The Thembu () are a Xhosa Nation who inhabited the Kingdom of Thembuland. They were established around the 16th century as one of the Xhosa federations in the Transkeian territories. The federation was later annexed by British Empire shortly ...

, and the

Mpondo The Mpondo People, or simply Ama-Mpondo, is a kingdom in what is now the Eastern Cape.Mpondo people
Encycl ...

people, and the birthplace of many prominent South Africans, including

Nelson Mandela Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela ( , ; born Rolihlahla Mandela; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African Internal resistance to apartheid, anti-apartheid activist and politician who served as the first president of South Africa f ...

Winnie Mandela Winnie Nomzamo Madikizela-Mandela (born Nomzamo Winifred Zanyiwe Madikizela; 26 September 1936 – 2 April 2018), also known as Winnie Mandela, was a South African politician and anti-apartheid activist, second wife of Nelson Mandela. During ...

, Zwelonke Sigcawu, Xolilizwe Sigcawu,

Thabo Mbeki Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki (; born 18 June 1942) is a South African politician who served as the 2nd democratic president of South Africa from 14 June 1999 to 24 September 2008, when he resigned at the request of his party, the African National Cong ...

. The Wild Coast is crossed by the N2 National Road.

History

The Wild Coast from the

Great Kei River The Great Kei River is a river in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is formed by the confluence of the Black Kei River and White Kei River, northeast of Cathcart. It flows for and ends in the Great Kei Estuary at the Indian Ocean ...

to the Mtamvuna River was part of the former homeland of the

Transkei Transkei ( , meaning ''the area beyond Great Kei River,

he river The He River is a tributary of the Xi River in Guangxi and Guangdong provinces in China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it ...

Kei''), officially the Republic of Transkei (), was an list of historical unrecognized states and dependencies, unrecognised state in the southeastern region of South Africa f ...

during the

Apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...

era. In 1986, a bombing occurred at Wild Coast Casino in

Mbizana Local Municipality Winnie Madikizela-Mandela Municipality (), formerly Mbizana Municipality, is a Local municipality (South Africa), local municipality within the Alfred Nzo District Municipality, in the Wild Coast Region, Eastern Cape, Wild Coast Region of the Ea ...

Geography

Many rivers empty into the sea along the Wild Coast. In the southernmost parts of the region, where the hills are lower, the rivers tend to be mature and are characterized by wide floodplains. But in the rugged north, where young rivers find their path to the sea blocked by massive cliffs, many, like Waterfall Bluff, leap over the rocky crags into the surf below. Small sandy bays and long stretches of open beaches are often found near the mouths of large rivers, such as the Kei, Mthatha, Mbashe and Mzimvuba. There are also many smaller rivers which, owing to their protected sources in the coastal forests, have much less siltation than the larger rivers, which drain vast tracts of land where poor farming practices are in place. Estuaries, bays and headlands are plentiful, whilst rocky shores predominate, be they smooth wave-cut platforms with jagged and un-even surfaces or precipitous cliffs that plunge into the sea. About half the coastline comprises indigenous forest and many forest species that were previously unknown to science have been discovered in places such as Umtamvuna and Mkambati. About 900 forest and grassland species from the Wild Coast region have been identified as having commercial, traditional or homeopathic value.

Climate

The average daily temperatures along the coast vary from 17 °C to 28 °C in January and 9 °C to 21 °C in July

Tourism

The scenic beauty of the Wild Coast, coupled with its rich cultural heritage, make the region ideal for the development of a strong tourism industry. In fact, tourism has been identified as one of the cornerstones of the proposed Wild Coast Spatial Development Initiative. But the virtual collapse of local administrations and environmental threats like the proposed

Xolobeni mine The Xolobeni mine is a proposed titanium mine located in the Wild Coast region of the Eastern Cape of South Africa. The proposed mine has reserves amounting to 348.7 million tonnes of ore grading 5% titanium. The government decision to support ...

dune mining project and the proposed N2 Wild Coast Toll Road are some of the major issues that will have to be tackled by this initiative. The challenge will be to bring about much-needed investment and development that will benefit local communities and the region as a whole without compromising the rich natural resource base. The controversy over the titanium mine project, one opposed by many of the area's indigenous tribal people, is explored in the prize-winning 2014 documentary "The Shore Break" by South African filmmaker Ryley Grunenwald. The Wild Coast Jikeleza Route near

is host to the 100 km² Inkwenkwezi Private Game Reserve. The nearby coastal village of Cintsa is also a popular tourist destination. Other popular tourist towns and villages along the Wild Coast include Port St Johns, Coffee Bay,

Hole-in-the-Wall Hole-in-the-Wall is a remote pass in the Big Horn Mountains of Johnson County, Wyoming. In the late 19th and the early 20th centuries, the Hole-in-the-Wall Gang and Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch gang met at the log cabin, which is now preserved ...

, Qolora Mouth, Kei Mouth, Morgan Bay, and Haga Haga. The region also hosted the 8th season of the reality game show '' Survivor South Africa'', subtitled '' Immunity Island'', and the adjoining Sunshine Coast hosted the 9th, '' Return of the Outcasts'', due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

preventing international production.

References

External links