People and Country

slides & text

The Fort Cox / Alice area is very rural. The area is very dry in the summer and the vegetation speaks volumes about the impending ecological problems already underway. This area is dominated by the Xhosa ('kosa') culture. Goats, cows, and sheep are wealth in this rural agrarian economy. Small villages are scattered everywhere among the hills where the people share communal grazing lands and forests. It is common to see more and more shacks put up along the edges of the villages.

In an ideal world I suppose the concept of communal lands is supposed to work, but in this real world the land is being grazed into extinction! The forests are under extreme pressure to supply wood for construction and cooking. The goats have eaten the grass down to the red earth in many places. The lost of trees and grass above some villages has resulted in erosion, soil slumping, and even short landslides.

In the 'west' we love to talk about "sustainable ecosystems". Well, this place is far from sustainable without major efforts in land reform and the planting of forests. I would think that range management would be a prime concern here, but I did not have the feeling it was a concern. As I would drive through the various areas I could see from a distance what this place will look like in time. The villages are already creeping together and the land is deteriorating at an exponential rate.