South Africa: A hut above

"Do you know 'The Click Song'?" I asked Zithulele, the sea-fishing instructor, as we sat by the Bulungula river grilling two huge mussel-crackers which he had helped some Belgian tourists to catch earlier. Of course he did, because Miriam Makeba's popular hit of 1960 was actually based on a traditional song of the Transkei, "Igqira lendlela nguqongqothwane" ("The doctor of the road is the dung beetle"), sung by herd-boys to while away the time.

I listened with mingled delight - the song's ingenious wordplay makes you smile, even if you can't understand the meaning - and alarm at how far I had to go with learning the clicks which trip up the tongue of anyone learning Xhosa. Despite hours practising, I had mastered only one, and there are three - the dental, palatal, and lateral - as well as three different ways of pronouncing each one (aspirated, nasalised, or delayed).

But here, as elsewhere in the world, all attempts to speak the language are appreciated, however clumsy. And fortunately there are bilingual guides on hand to act as interpreters between visitors and local people on this remote stretch of South Africa's Wild Coast in the Eastern Cape. A pioneering community tourism project called Bulungula Lodge is giving tourists an eye-opening and life-affirming experience of African village life, while generating much-needed employment and income.

Guide Lindile Mthiyo takes visitors to meet villagers in their homes, the head man and igqira (traditional healer), and to the shebeen (pub), and teaches them some key Xhosa words: "Here we don't use money most of the time. We get food from the fields, not from the shop. We work hard and we help each other. If my family has no food and my neighbour does, we can go there. The word ubuntu means 'The things I have are for other people'."

Being a guide can be challenging. Lindile says. "Some questions from the tourists are difficult to translate. And sometimes I tell tourists about our traditions and they ask 'Why'? And sometimes I don't know... even the elders don't know why!" But the questioning is not all one-way. "Xhosa people ask tourists questions like 'Do you live in towns?' 'Do you plant maize?' 'Do you pay lobola (bride price) for your wives?'"

Bulungula offers many other activities, all run by local people. Visitors can hire a guide and horses and go for a gallop through the surf along deserted beaches, or take canoes for an expedition up the Xhora river. An hour's steady paddling brings you to untouched wilderness where you hear only the calls of monkeys and birds.

This contact with unspoiled nature came as a huge relief. I had been working in Cape Town, and as I left on the night bus my last impressions were of battered tin and plywood shacks crammed right to the edge of the motorway, new squatter camps encircled by latrines, and taxis packed with passengers. The townships were bursting at their seams and Table Mountain was blanketed by smog.

When I woke, hours later, Transkei seemed improbably calm and beautiful. Gentle grass-covered hills stretched to the horizon, each dotted with neat thatched rondavels plastered in pink or malachite green. The "Transkei Big Five" - cows, horses, donkeys, sheep, and goats - roamed everywhere; there were ponds full of geese, and fields of maize and sweet potatoes. Everyone had clean air, space, and a beautiful view. And there were no fences - another sharp contrast to city life lived behind bars.

Yet despite its bewitching appearance, Transkei is one of the poorest parts of South Africa. The apartheid regime designated it as a "homeland" for black Africans and neglected its infrastructure and services. Today many adults and children are dying needlessly, often because they just can't get to hospital in time. Schools are under-resourced, the few roads are in poor shape, and hardly anyone has mains electricity or a landline. Most people still live by subsistence agriculture, but need money to pay for medicines, school books, and other basics such as cooking oil. Many migrate to work in mines or on farms. Community-owned tourism may offer an alternative to this exodus.

From the main route linking the Western and Eastern Cape, an unmade road winds for two hours down to where the Bulungula river runs into the sea. Perched on a headland between the estuary and the breakers of the Wild Coast, sheltered by dunes, is Bulungula Lodge. The accommodation is in nine two- or four-bed rondavels and there are shared, spotless bathroom facilities with waterless compost toilets and "rocket" showers. You pour a tiny amount of paraffin into a wick at the bottom of a metal pipe and light it. This heats the cold water and gives you a seven-minute power shower, accompanied by some mildly alarming explosive sounds. Everything has been planned to minimise impact on the environment. Rainwater is collected in large tanks and grey water sustains a circle of papaya and banana trees. Photovoltaic cells provide electricity for lighting, battery chargers, computers, a satellite phone, and a sound system, while natural gas, the cleanest fossil fuel, powers the fridges and cooker.

You can self-cater or order meals. There is a large bar and eating area which doubles as a local community centre, and is a great place to get talking to residents and visitors. In the evenings children do their homework there, because there is electric light; on Saturday nights they come to dance.

In Transkei all land is owned in common, rather than by individuals, so the project is leasing the site from the community. Moreover, the community owns two-fifths of the business and thus receives 40 per cent of the lodge's profits. These funds are managed by 12 elected trustees: they are currently using them to improve education and agriculture.

Since Bulungula opened in two years ago, it has had about 1,750 visitors.Dave Martin, from Cape Town, initiated the venture and owns the remaining share of the business. As well as the economic benefits, he emphasises the venture's positive psychological impact.

"If you have always thought you were the most marginalised community, with the worst schools and the worst roads, and some of the richest people in the world are coming to your village and telling you that it's the best place they've ever seen... that creates a huge sense of pride."

TRAVELLER'S GUIDE

GETTING THERE

The writer travelled to Cape Town with Lufthansa (0845 773 7747; www.lufthansa.com), which flies from most UK airports via Frankfurt. Three airlines serve Cape Town direct from London Heathrow: British Airways (0870 850 9850; www.ba.com), South African Airways (0870 747 1111; www.flysaa.com), and Virgin Atlantic (08705 747 747; www.virgin-atlantic.com).

The nearest town to Bulungula is Mthatha (shown by its former name of Umtata on old maps). You can hire a car in Cape Town and drive (a journey of around 15 hours), or take a long-distance coach with Translux (00 27 11 774 3333; www.translux.co.za) which takes 20 hours or DMJ Transport (00 27 21 419 4368; www.dmjtransport.com) which takes 13 hours. Alternatively an internal flight to Port Elizabeth cuts driving time down to nine hours.

You cannot drive all the way to Bulungula but the lodge will make arrangements for you to leave your car safely, and offers a transport service from the parking place or, alternatively, from the coach stop in Mthatha.

STAYING THERE

Bulungula Lodge (00 27 47 577 8900; www.bulungula.com). Doubles start at R160 (£12), dorm beds R70 (£5) per person and camping R30 (£2), all room only. A canoe trip up the Xhora river costs R60 (£4.50).

MORE INFORMATION

Fair Trade in Tourism South Africa: 00 27 12 342 8307; www.fairtourismsa.org.za; South Africa Tourism: 0870 155 0044; www.southafrica.net

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