Magwa Volunteers is run by Louis Fourie, the South African guy on the left. It started as a simple tour company, and has developed into a volunteer-driven permaculture and community-projects centre.
Magwa Falls is a spectacular place, and there's no better place to experience unaffected African culture than here - it's a completely different world to those which the backpackers come from, guaranteed to boggle tourist minds with its back-to-basics reality and dramatic African scenery. But it was an unexplored wonderland, the most remote part of an inaccessible area, until a few adventurous backpackers started coming here - those wanting to go off the beaten track and get a real, raw taste of Africa.
Through coming here, Louis developed a relationship with the community, one thing led to another and now he lives here! Lucky guy. The result has been the establishment of a volunteering project which strives to benefit the community through tourism, employment, better water supply and alternative approaches to vegetable-growing, amongst other things.
Starting with nothing but a rocky piece of land with a great view of the Wild Coast, the volunteer project has grown into a large house which provides basic accommodation and facilities to the backpackers passing through - equipped with electric lights and internet access thanks to solar panels, hot solar and rocket showers, and running water thanks to rainwater collection and water piped from one of the waterfalls via a ram pump (proudly constructed by Louis out of bits 'n pieces). An organic vegetable garden has been started. The centre is involved in numerous projects, including assisting a group of local builders to establish a brick-making buisiness, plans for improving the water supply by ram-pumping water to the centre of the village, gardening classes for kids, leather-work training, as well as helping to organise football games between the local children's team and those sponsored by other backpackers on the Wild Coast.
This has been done thanks to the involvement of backpackers from abroad who spent sometimes just a few days, and often a few months, of their holidays getting involved with Real Mama Africa. They all learned a great deal about African culture and sustainable living, with each taking away great memories and a slightly altered point of view, and leaving behind a lasting contribution. Volunteering is a win-win thing, and Magwa Volunteers provides an opportunity for backpackers to experience what life in rural, jungley, tribal, villagey Africa is all about, while actively helping to improve conditions. Not to mention having some fun and excitement along the way, while spending less on average than they would on a normal backpacking stop.
Lots still needs to be done - the objective is to establish the permaculture project as a food security program, capable of being completely self-sustaining, and serving as a model to promote the benefits of permaculture. The people in the area earn their livings mainly through subsistence agriculture, with little variation in their diet. Magwa Volunteers hopes to become a steady source of a wider variety of fruits and vegetables than are locally available.
There's always something going on at Magwa Volunteers, with villagers dropping in throughout the day. Backpackers might be working in the gardens, helping to build a new mud hut, learning to speak Xhosa or making bricks for a community project. Maybe they've gone on an adventure-hike to the bottom of the gorge, or if they're not into feeling a sense of achievement that day, they might be in a hammock reading a book.
Accommodation and facilities are simple, with everyone sleeping either in the project's large house, in tents or huts. Hot showers in the wilderness are a luxury from heaven. There is no refrigeration, and as a result most meals are vegetarian.
Evenings are spent around the fire, talking, cooking, fire-dancing and drumming. This is all done in surroundings where time seems to have no meaning, where no cars can be heard, and where the night skies are crystal clear. If there were only a few more shooting stars, it'd look like a fireworks display.
Local kids often come around after dark to entertain and be entertained by the backpackers who come from another world. Unfortunately the volunteers all go back to their own countries at some stage. Some of them who stay for months become popular characters in the village. Hopefully they've had a great time, and an excellent and unusual experience. This is tourism at its best, the volunteers have had a definite and positive effect, and not only have they had an enjoyable holiday in a spectacular location, but they've taken home a new awareness of what life is like at it's most basic.
"Look for the bare necessities, it's Mother Nature's recipe, the simple bare neccessities of life." That song seems very apt here.
| SITE MAP |