CONVERGENCE – volume five number three – page 130

Innovation in the Eastern Cape
Written by – Peter van der Merwe

Ten years ago, most tourists wouldn’t go near South Africa’s breathtakingly beautiful Wild Coast with a bargepole. Today, thanks to the efforts of two determined women, the region and its communities are soaring.

Business is booming on the Wild Coast right now. Most resorts are fully booked over the prime holiday periods, and the economy of the entire region is showing steady growth as tourists come flooding back in their droves. Local communities are thriving as the renewed demand for skills has created numerous jobs and opportunities for local entrepreneurs.

It wasn’t always this way. Ten years ago, a rash of rumours that the area was no longer safe for visitors saw the area’s critical tourism industry all but collapsing. Hotel occupancies averaged 10%.

Enter a feisty mother-and-daughter combination, Nita and Helen Ross. They’re far too modest to say so themselves, but the Wild Coast’s revival is in no small part due to an innovative initiative, the Wild Coast Meander, a hotel hiking trail which was developed and is marketed by the Rosses. Nita and Helen bought the privately-owned Wild Coast Holiday Reservations in 1996 at a time when the popular perception was that the Wild Coast was unsafe. Nita, an experienced hiker, was having none of it. Not only did she start a concerted marketing campaign to dispel the myth that the coast was dangerous, but she came up with the idea of the Wild Coast Meander, which dots luxury hotels and lodges along some of SA’s most picturesque hiking trails.

“I loved hiking and in the 1980s we camped and stayed un huts, only occasionally staying at one of the hotels,” remembers Nita. “Once I reached my 50s, though, I didn’t want to rough it on hiking trails anymore. The idea was to start a hotel trail for people with similar thoughts. On top of that, if we could manage to sell such a trail along this section of the coast, we’d also contribute enormously to the economy of the area.”

From these slow beginnings, Nita and Helen have built the Meander – and their burgeoning agency – into a major force in tourism in the Eastern Cape.

Wild Coast Holiday Reservations first became involved in booking hiking trails in the latter part of 1997. It started with the Strandloper Trail, but the major leap forward came with the 1998 launch of the Wild Coast Meander, which starts at Qora Mouth and runs to the Kei River.

Nita and Helen only booked one group on the Meander during the first year of operation, but since then the popularity of the trail has led to a need for more guides to accompany hikers.

It wasn’t easy. Roads were poor, making transfers in and out of the coast a nightmare. The drive to Kob Inn was totally impossible during the rainy season, and hikers had to be taken to Mazeppa and along the hills to Kob Inn. Abuse by 4x4 vehicles along the coast was rampant.

At last the Meander got the first of some key breaks: Getaway magazine published an extremely favourable article in September 1999, which helped greatly in getting the trail started. Then, during 2000, the Rosses invited the then Environmental Affairs and Tourism Minister, Valli Moosa and local tourism MEC, Enoch Godongwana, to walk the trail without their bodyguards. Finance Minister Trevor Manuel and his sons, as well as Maria Ramos, who’s currently CEO of Transnet, joined the trail, providing immense positive publicity.

Roads in the area are now much improved, 4x4s have been banned along the beaches, the old, thin plastic bags have been eradicated and programmes such as Coastal Care and Working for Water, which eradicate invasive plants, have been started.

The knock-on effects of the Meander’s success have been astonishing. Hotels have increased their occupancy levels and are able to permanently employ their staff again after the horror days of the early 90’s when they only hosted a smattering of visitors during summer weekends, Easter and December. And more importantly, say Nita, they’ve provided widespread employment for the communities – guides, porters, hotel staff, boat trips, horse-riding and local arts and crafts.

The Rosses agency has now expanded its coverage to include most of the Eastern Cape, game reserves, mountain retreats, permanent accommodation, conferences and all the popular Wild Coast getaways.

The Meander has proved to be so popular that Nita has devised a second trail to run further south. The Wild Coast Amble was started in 2001 and, although not as busy as the Meander, is bringing much-needed exposure to some of the lesser-known resorts.

The growth of the Meander hasn’t been without its problems. Making sure every community along the coast benefited was critical, and suitable guides from each area had to be found and trained. Much of the onsite training promised by local government and NGOs has yet to materialize and, although most of the guides are accredited, they still need more training. Nita believes each spot along the trail needs at least three trained guides. “They could be taken from the communities around the resorts, as they know the area and we’d ensure they knew the route at both low and high tides and escapes routes, in case of emergency.”

She also intends approaching the Business Trust, which backs tourism training. “The route could be made a much better experience if the bird and plant life, myths and history of the route were explained to the hikers,” she says.

Another challenge has been re-establishing crafting skills along the coast, which has never had a market. Nita and Helen’s greater vision is to have every single community along the coast benefiting from tourism. They’ve been trying for two years to build a luxury tented camp at Cebe, along the route from Mazeppa to Wavecrest, which would enable hikers to stay there for six nights and attract people currently put off by this long distance.

For more information, visit : wildcoastholidays.co.za

top | back