The Garden Route - an optimal coastal destination

An investment, to take a plain version from an ordinary dictionary, is the act of applying capital productively. An asset, also simply stated, is an item regarded as useful and/or valuable to a person or a group. Let us link these concepts to our coastal resources. Biodiversity refers to the total complexity of all life. It includes the great variety of organisms, but also their varying behaviour and interactions. More than 11 000 marine species have been recorded around the South African coasts, representing 5% of the global total. The coastal waters of the Garden Route are also productive and support a diversity of life. Putting a monetary value to biodiversity is difficult. The national White Paper on Coastal Development did put the direct benefits from coastal goods and services at an estimated R168 billion annually. There are many indirect but related activities that easily add a further R134 billion annually. Biodiversity should never be measured in economic terms only. How does one calculate aesthetic, cultural, educational, recreational, spiritual and other benefits? These are aspects that many people put high on the list of reasons for visiting the coast. Many coastal assets are also not well known. For example, coastal resources have the potential to yield natural products with medical value. Worldwide bio-prospecting tries to develop antibiotics, pain suppressors, anti-inflammatory agents, molecular probes, skin care products and anti-cancer agents. The success to develop a new pharmaceutical from a natural resource may, however, cost in excess of US$ 300 million and may take 10 to 30 years to develop. POPULATION PRESSURES Currently about two-thirds of the world population live at, or within 200 km of the coast. This figure has been much influenced by trends in the 'Developed World'. Contrastingly Africa has a much lower coastal concentration, but South Africa already has one of the highest coastal concentrations on the continent - 81 persons per square km compared to the average coastal density of 55 per square km for Africa. In addition, South African urban coastal population is growing rapidly, specifically in the Garden Route. UNIQUE COAST South Africa's varied coastline covers a distance of more than 3 000 km, second in length only to Somali on the African continent. The Garden Route coast extends for 225 km, starting in the west at the Gouritz River with the Blaauwkrantz River marking the eastern boundary. South Africa's legendary Garden Route has a unique location between the impressive Outeniqua mountains and the wonderland beauty of the South Cape coast with its beaches, estuaries, forests and lakes. The warm Agulhas current produces average sea temperatures between 17ºC and 23ºC which may be drastically reduced by the up-welling of cold water. (By the way and surprisingly, up-welling occurs ten to fifteen times more along the South African coast than along the Californian and Chilean coasts.) The Garden Route coastline has 44% rocky headlands, 18% wave-cut platforms and 38% sandy beaches. These sandy beaches of the Garden Route represent a relatively scarce resource - the South African coastline has 70% sandy beaches and dunes. There are five major bays: Visbaai, Vleesbaai, Mossel Bay, Buffalo Bay and Plettenberg Bay. The exceptionally calm Munro's Bay (at Mossel Bay), a sheltered cove, might well be the reason why Bartholomew Dias came ashore there some 500 years ago, as opposed to another potential landing site. The Wilderness Lakes are the best known of only a few coastal lake systems in South Africa. It comprises a lagoon and the floodplain of the Touw River which is linked by a natural channel to the lakes. In a recent presentation on Swartvlei, Professor Brian Allanson declared that the lake remained essentially the same as it was in the seventies and eighties, warning however that the balance was most delicate. Indigenous high forests cover only 360 000 ha of South Africa with the largest single area, comprising 10% of the national total, being in the Garden Route. Only a few visitors realise how diverse these forests are - in a typical one hectare patch, 50 to 60 different species may occur. OTHER COASTAL ASSETS Nowhere is the abundance of animal, bird and plant life more vividly illustrated than within the Tsitsikamma National Park. This protected area plays a vital role in sustaining our 'Squid' industry (Squid becoming more and more sought after since the early 80s as a restaurant delicacy, namely calamari), with Tsitsikamma representing an important squid spawning ground, safeguarding an annual catch of anything between 2 000 and 10 000 tons. Most of the catch goes for export, fetching such high prices that squid has been dubbed "white gold". Another success story is that of 'Oyster' farming in the Knysna lagoon. This delicacy is prized for its salty, succulent flesh. Oysters are extraordinarily prolific where one can produce at least a million eggs in a season. They also grow rapidly and attain sexual maturity within a year, although they may live for as many as 25 years. With their long snouts, curly tails and upright posture some people do not even think of 'Seahorses' as fish. The Knysna seahorse is under threat, although protected by law from the intensification of human settlement, with all the associated developments, around the four estuaries where the seahorse has been recorded. A growing trade in seahorses also poses a threat where live seahorses are highly prized. Dried seahorses are sold as curios, also for use in traditional Chinese medicines - from asthma and incontinence to baldness and impotence. HUMAN FOOTPRINTS Nelson Bay Cave on the Robberg Peninsula at Plettenberg Bay offers a good example. In the 1960s and 1970s, scientific, fully-recorded archeological excavations were done here by experts from the Universities of Cape Town, Chicago and Louvain (Belgium), where deposits were found to contain over a million fish remains, as well as the bones of seals, seabirds, antelope, wild pig and buffalo. At deeper levels relics of now-extinct species (giant buffalo, giant hartebeest and quagga) were found, together with the skeleton of a child whose radiocarbon dated back to 700 BC. This cave may have been occupied as early as 70 000 years ago, but the bulk of the remains come from between 800 to 3 000 years ago. During the great Ice Age the sea was probably about 80 km further offshore from Robberg with the cave being surrounded by grassland. The last inhabitants of Nelson Bay Cave were possibly the same people who traded with the Portuguese survivors of the wreck of the Sao Goncalo at Plettenberg Bay in 1630, whilst they spent a year building up two small boats in which to sail away in. BLUE FLAG BEACHES The Blue Flag is an international annual (thus only valid for one year) award to beaches that generally meet 'excellence' in amenities, cleanliness, environmental standards and safety. There are all-in-all 27 Blue Flag criteria. These include ablution, parking, access for the disabled, environmental education and information, safety, services, and water quality. Some local leaders recognise the value of this system. They report definite advantages: an increase in visitors to their beaches, improved behaviour by beach-goers (vandalism drops significantly), local businesses use the Blue Flag status for promotion, property prices have risen adjacent to Blue Flag beaches and visitors are happy to visit an award-winning beach. There was great excitement when Deputy-Minister Mabudafasi (National Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism) recently announced the names of the South African Blue Flag Beaches for this season. Of the 20 successes, Kwazulu-Natal leads with ten, the Eastern Cape follows with five, and there is a cluster of four around Cape Town. What about the much proclaimed Garden Route? Well to date Lappiesbaai (at Stilbaai) is the only award-winning beach between Hermanus and Jeffreys Bay. This has greatly excited local leadership who have as a result put up a notice at George Airport confirming this particular beach's status. Perhaps it is time to fully realise the potential of all the other stunning beaches which are to be found adorning the Garden Route coastline. IN CONCLUSION Whatever your reason for being in the Garden Route, whether a local or a visitor, and whatever your role in the region as either a citizen or a local leader, it is hoped that all parties will closely consider the strengths and weaknesses of the region and as a result realise what a unique destination the Garden Route represents and act accordingly in protecting its' very being.