Kwamhlabuyalingana

In my line of work I do a lot of travelling. This time my travels have brought me to a mythical and mysterious place that is famous in Xhosa folklore called Umhlabuyalingana. Mhlabuyalingana, the place, is in northern KwaZulu-Natal bordering Swaziland and Mozambique. Mhlabuyalingana, the myth, is famous as the one place where you can find a solution for any problem, where the best traditional healers and strongest muthi are found. When someone threatens you with going to Mhlabuyalingana to deal with you, the threat is not taken lightly. I was so excited when I discovered that the small village I was coming to, was located in this area. In honesty I never thought it was real even though there were stories about it. I just assumed it to be one of those places that old people talk about in a symbolic manner. I did not realise that I was at Mhlabuyalingana until I saw the "welcome to Mhlabuyalingana" sign.

So there I was going out of my head with excitement because I was actually here and I was going to be here for an entire month! I saw this as an opportunity for me to do my own digging into the mysteries of this place. The area is so far removed from civilization that I was surprised that there was even cellphone reception. Its remoteness is part of its charm in my opinion. It has some of the most dense forests I have ever come across in all my travels in South Africa.

When talking to the locals it really surprised me to find out that they were aware of the reputation and did not like it. They blame outsiders for the it and are adamant that there is no truth to it. I'm not so convinced though, I think that the locals might be downplaying this but I will be doing some digging of my own. The truth of the matter is that the area has some of the most beautiful and untouched forest ecosystems in the country. The place is amazing, they have sandy soil but they are able to grow a myriad of fruits and vegetables.

At the place I'm staying they have avocado, peanuts, paw-paw, lime, banana, sweet potato, etc growing. Their area is so beautiful and pristine that it should be declared a national park and earmarked for conservation. I do believe though that their untouched forests have a lot to do with their reputation. South Africa has 10% of the world's medicinal plants, this is huge and is one of the reasons why the traditional medicine industry is 3 billion per year. More than 80% of Africans still use traditional healers and traditional medicine and this is no different in South Africa. The vastness of this industry has led to over-harvesting, endangerment and extinction of some species. I think that Mhlabuyalingana is one of those places where you can still get most of these medicines but at a price because their forests are overflowing with deadly snakes. In a way the snakes are mother nature's security guards. I still have two more weeks to spend here, in that time I will look further into some of my theories and maybe get an opportunity to explore the forests.