Español     Italiano

Kosi Bay – Paradise Lost

The district of Kosi Bay comprises the northern most edge of South Africa’s KwaZulu/Natal Province, bordering on to Mozambique to its north, and Swaziland to the east. It is an area of breathtaking natural beauty. The undulating coastal savanna is dotted with pockets of dense indigenous forest. A chain of crystal clear lakes is separated from the sea by the world’s highest vegetated sand dunes. The warm sub tropical ocean teems with dolphins and, during the spring, whales. Pristine beaches play host to marine turtles, that return to the same spot every year to lay eggs.

It is the traditional land of the Tonga’s – a gentle, smiling nation of ebony-skinned people. Their land extends all the way to the estuary of the Umbeluzi River, on which the city of Maputo (Mozambique’s capital) is situated. In fact, the border between South Africa and Mozambique is an entirely artificial creation of the colonial era. Until the late 1960’s, there were virtually no border controls.

Following the independence of Mozambique in 1974, the Apartheid state perceived a threat of ANC guerillas infiltrating the country from Mozambique through Kosi Bay. Border fences were erected, and the area was declared off limits to anybody who did not live there. For the next 20 years, Apartheid soldiers wreaked havoc in the rural villages. For the first time, the Tonga people were torn apart and separated by hostilities between the two countries.