South from Limpopo by Dervla Murphy

Author:Dervla Murphy [Dervla Murphy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781780601182
Publisher: Eland Publishing
Published: 2016-02-26T16:00:00+00:00

Underberg, 31 July

Today I broke a rule, arriving here an hour after sunset. Reason: a strong relentless headwind over the eighty-five hilly miles from Matatiele.

For hours commercial forestry frustrated me, completely concealing one of Africa’s most splendid mountain ranges. These pines and bluegums, covering the lower slopes of the Drakensberg like some disfiguring disease, retain the water that previously filled rivers and are an ecological and social disaster. Each tree’s roots reach down some sixty feet to groundwater level and each absorbs more than 100 litres a day. Largely because of the activities of SAPPI and MONDI, South Africa’s dwindling rivers have become an international problem, threatening the survival of countless peasant farmers in southern Mozambique.

In Underberg’s hotel bar a party of transplanted Rhodies gave me a heroine’s welcome.

‘From Matatiele today on that bike? Hey, you’re some woman!’ Wenwes like action and physical stamina and what they imagine to be daring deeds – like cycling through a very small area of the Transkei.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.