Wild Coast - Bulungula
Bulungula is a small and remote village on the Wild Coast accessible by a bumpy gravel road that is annoying to drive. Once at the destination, we were very happy to have reached the place since the landscape is very nice.
The campsite is located at the junction of the river and the ocean (to the right of the river on the photo). It's a backpacker lodge managed by people of the local Xhosa community. The Xhosa is the main tribal group of the area; Xhosa is pronounced by replacing the 'X' with a click of the tongue... Look it up on Google for fun.
Being a woman
An interesting activity was to spend a few hours with women of a family and to experience their daily routine by doing some of the most common tasks of a woman.
Here I am, ready to spend some time as a woman. Several women cover their face with clay early in the morning. This allows the skin to be protected from the bad effect of the sun. It is possible to add some colour to the clay; red and white are the most common colours. In this case, it was only clay without any colourant. On the photo, a part of the clay is not yet dry.
The main activities are fetching water and wood for cooking. Women take care of the house, they wash the clothes and also take care of the animals around the house. In this case, there was no man living under this roof. Women with a child, but without a husband, are quite common in the area.
Horse riding
With Anik, we went horse riding for about two hours around Bulungula. It was the second time I did horse riding. The first time, it was in 2005 in Bolivia. Then, I did a three-day excursion and I remember having found the experience quite tough. Now, for only two hours, I thought it would not be that difficult.
The landscapes during the ride were magnificent. However, even if everything is nice, if one gets its balls beaten on the saddle, nature's beauty kind of fades away a little bit. It was fun, but it is probably the last time I went horse riding... it hurts too much.
