Southern Africa - Clean Breaks: 500 New Ways to See the World - page 153

191 GO LOCAL ON THE WILD
COAST, SOuTH AfrICA

for those seeking a little more, the members of
Nqileni village - whose huts are scattered across
the hills behind the lodge - also run various
activities. You can watch malachite kingfishers
on a leisurely canoe trip along the Xhora River,
learn about traditional medicine on a forest walk
with a herbalist, or spend a few hours grinding
flour and building mud-bricks with one of the
local women. The Nqileni community owns forty
percent of the lodge, and several families have
members who work for it. The plan is that the
villagers will eventually own and manage it all.
A stay at Bulungula makes one think about
what is possible. This may be crime-ridden South
Africa, but there are no locks on any of the doors
and no thefts to report: the lodge and its guests are
treated as a part of the surrounding village. And if
you don't just visit as a guest, but arrange to work
in the garden or offer other skills that will make
a meaningful contribution to this community's
development, then your accommodation is free for
as long as you stay and help.

(From top) Canoeing with a
local guide on the Khora River;
Child in calamine face mask;
The view down to Bulungula's
huts and beach

So clear are the skies above Bulungula Lodge
that if you lie out at night and haven't seen a
shooting star within thirty minutes,
you're compensated with a free
night's accommodation. It's a pretty
safe gamble on the owners' part:
when the sun goes down, the depth
of the surrounding darkness makes
you realize why this remote region
is called the Wild Coast.
There's no road to the lodge, so the
staff collect you from Mthatha, three
hours' drive away. When you finally
get to the brightly coloured huts of
Bulungula, perched high above the
beach from which it takes its name,
the sense of isolation is total. The
only man-made sound at Bulungula
is the whirr of the small wind
turbine which, along with the solar
panels, provides power. Equipped
with compost toilets and paraffin-
fuelled showers, in one day the lodge
uses the same amount of electricity
as a toaster operating for one hour.
You could spend all your time here
on the wide white-sand beach, but

Need to know A shuttle bus to Bulungula Lodge
(ZAR60) collects from the Mthatha Shell Ultra City
petrol station at 3pm daily. You must call to book
your seat the day before. For more info on getting
to Mthatha, accommodation rates and details of
community projects see W www.bulungula.com;
T [phone].

192 STAy AT A
COmmuNITy-ruN CAmp
IN NAmIbIA

Scattered throughout Namibia's
vast wilderness are over thirty
lodges, camps and homesteads
supported by NACOBTA, a not-for-
profit organization that develops
community-based tourism. Many
are simple campsites with basic
facilities, but there are also several
joint ventures between communities
and private operators that offer