Forget about time for a few days and get involved with Africa at its most natural. Magwa Volunteers is a small permaculture project situated at one of the continent’s most breathtaking locations - Magwa Falls on South Africa’s Wild Coast. Whether you’re on a gap year, want to learn about African culture or sustainable living, or would just like to volunteer for a bit, Magwa’s a wonderful place for backpackers to make themselves useful, have some fun and experiece a completely different continent!
4th Night FREE!
(includes 3 meals)
Surrounded by lush Afromontane jungle on one side, and a 240m sheer-sided gorge on the other, the Xhosa village of Gwexintaba is a place where backpackers can get back to basics, and learn a lot of hands-on stuff about African culture and sustainable living.
This is as rural and traditional as you can get, and life goes on here pretty much as it did five centuries ago. The people are members of the mPondo tribe, a part of the Xhosa people; and chiefs, headmen, witchdoctors and traditional ceremonies are part and parcel of life.
So is an enormous waterfall, the mighty Magwa. It looks just like something out of the movies, and plunges over 140m to a jungle-lined river-bed, where backpackers have reported sighting Tarzan swinging through the 30-metre treetops...
Formerly called Joint Ventures, Magwa Volunteers started off as a tour company and has developed into a permaculture and community-projects centre. It's still in the making and needs your help! Thanks to volunteers from all over the world, great progress has been made, but it's still some way to the goal of sustainability through tourism. The aim is to establish an organic farm which is self-sufficient in every way, and which serves as a model to promote permaculture methods as a supplement to the traditional farming practices of the area, as well as being a source of a wider variety of fruits and vegetables than are available locally.
Magwa Volunteers founder, Louis, is an active member of the community, and is involved in projects such as brick-making and water-supply, and gardening classes for kids. One of the major benefits of the project is employment for local villagers, and the income from tourism is welcome in this, the remotest part of South Africa's poorest province, the Eastern Cape.
You're invited to spend a few days of your backpacking holiday in SA getting your hands dirty, in the process learning a lot of useful things such as how to plant a veggie garden, and about traditional African culture and the way that rural villagers actually live. It could easily be a life-changing experience!
So, here is Louis, in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by jungle. What have he and the volunteers and backpackers done so far, and how much more do they still have to do?
Learned
Making Fire
Making Food on the fire
Play Drum
Making gardens!
Xhosa, little bit :)
Respect Life
Making dream catchers
Working with my hands
Meditating
Think Do
Do something right first time
Chopping wood!
Grafting
You can be happy with nothing
Soil is not dirt
More appreciation for resources
Think Green
Xhosa culture
Be happy
To work with what you got
How to make a mud hut
To adapt my lifestyle
Smoke less
Think about life
Forget about time
Did
Made logo / stencil for signs + t-shirts
Planted trees
Planted tomatoes in eco circles
Glassbottled window
Community garden fence
Wooden fences between water tank / mud hut
Painted showers
Fireplace in/outside
Fence / waterhole (start)
Outside table
Flower boxes
Gardening comics (a lot)
Signs around house
Art corner
Blackboards
Tree swings
Front door
Fight the bugs with homemade pesticides
Table next to nursery
Poles tomato plants garden
Stairs backdoor to 2nd floor
Started tipi
Started toilet
Cut grass
Great progress with community project
Volunteers: ZAR 250 / day
Includes accommodation and 3 meals/day!
Usual limit of 10 visitors - bigger groups please
book well in advance.
4th night FREE!
Drive via Port St Johns or take local
transport & shuttle from Mthatha / Port St Johns
OR By light aircraft from KwaZulu-Natal South Coast.
Special Backpacker rate: ZAR 500!
(More...)
Hello! = Molo!
If you’re backpacking through South Africa and want to stay just ONE OR TWO DAYS: help in establishing and maintaining the permaculture project or any community projects that are going on. This could include working in the organic gardens, making bricks, sports training, helping children with their gardening projects or any number of other tasks.
If you’re STAYING LONGER: you’re welcome to stay for months! The project can always do with your help, and you may want to get involved with the local community if you have any relevant skills.
Please CONTACT LOUIS for more info.
"Thanks for the opportunity to volunteer in this amazing village.
All the people are super friendly and the kids are so sweet and amazing. I highly recommend future guests and volunteers to spend some time at the school. It was a very satisfying and enjoyable experience. Pam and his jam session was great as well and movie night - wow. I'll be excited to hear about all the projects happening and future ones. Please keep me updated on the farm and the tomato project. Thanks for all the delicious meals. My time spent here was absolutely needed and refreshing." - Hung Tran (More...)
Backpacking and Volunteering Resources: Lonely Planet | Google Maps | Hostelworld
Vision & Mission | A Wild Coast Community | The Magwa Upliftment Project | Volunteering | Volunteering and Backpackers links
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