Southern Africa - Clean Breaks: 500 New Ways to See the World - page 175

Need to know Knysna is on the N2, the main
road along South Africa's Southern Cape, about
six hours' drive from Cape Town. For more info
and contact details see W www.openafrica.org/
participant/house-of-judah-rastafarian-community;
T Brother Paul [phone] or Brother
Maxi [phone].

232 WALk WITH
rASTAS IN kNySNA
fOrEST, SOuTH
AfrICA

From the moment your
dreadlocked host greets you
with a gentle knock of his
clenched fist against yours
and an exclamation of “Irie”
(roughly meaning “respect”), you
know this isn't going to be your
typical township tour. While the
representatives of the House of
Judah, the local church, come
and introduce themselves, you
notice that all the houses are
painted in striking tones of
crimson, yellow and emerald.
One thing's for sure: you're in Rasta territory.
In 2003, tired of being perceived as dope-
smoking outcasts, the Rastafarian community in
Khayalethu - a township between the outskirts of
Knysna and the surrounding forest - went to the
local tourism board with a proposal. They wanted
to show tourists what their life was really like, and
to protect to the richness of their local forest. It
worked. Guests now make visits to people's homes
and are led on guided nature tours through the
surrounding fynbos ecosystem, a complex ground-
level array of succulents and heathers, most seen
nowhere else in the world. Those keen to hang
around a little longer than a few hours can stay in
one of the families' homes.
For most people in Khayalethu, the forest
represents an easy - and unfortunately rapidly
depleting - source of firewood and building
materials. One of the aims of the tourist trail
is to show that the forest can be a long-term
source of income if preserved in its natural state.
And while guiding guests on these walks, it also
gives the Rastas the chance to explain about the
arcane roots of their religious beliefs, leaving
you assured that there's far more to their culture
than dope and reggae.

233 SEE THE rArE SITATuNGA
DEEr, ZAmbIA

The best time and place to spot a sitatunga,
Africa's elusive swamp-dwelling deer, is at dawn
and up a tree. Eighteen metres up a mahogany,
to be exact, since the Fibwe tree hide in Zambia's
Kasanka Park offers an unbeatable vantage
point, from where you might also see the equally
endangered roan and sable deer. As the morning
mists clear across the papyrus swamps below
the hide, sitatunga take to the water to avoid
leopards and other predators, though the water
also has its dangers: visitors to the hide can
occasionally spot the snouts of crocodiles floating
loglike amid the reeds.
The park is privately owned by the UK/
Zambian charity the Kasanka Trust, which
spends its profits from tourist fees on
conservation and community projects, from
controlled timber production to local vegetable
gardens, as well as providing employment as
guides on walking safaris and canoe trips.
Accommodation is in two solar-powered lodges
and three campsites.
All of these efforts have greatly reduced
poaching in the area, making your prospects of
seeing sitatunga all the better. And for those
with more than a few weeks to spare, they're
always after volunteers keen to help this
flagship scheme in its efforts.

Exploring the fynbos with a
Rastafarian guide

Need to know Kasanka Park is around five hours'
drive from Lusaka. The best time to come is June
to September, although in November the park
witnesses the nightly spectacle of five million bats
taking to the sky to feed. For more info see W www.
kasanka.com; T [phone].