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The wild KwaZulu Natal

North KwaZulu Natal remains almost untouched since the first Mozambique fisherman tribes settled in this area few hundred years ago. Their method of fishing has been passed down the generations. Still today, the fisherman collect mangrove wood to make the sticks out of them and build their spiral fish traps in the lakes of Greater St Lucia Wetlands. It looks like a primitive method of fishing but it is the most sustainable system they have developed between the tribes and the nature that they live in.

Once the fish reach their reproduction years, they swim from the Indian Ocean, through the whole lake system of St Lucia Wetlands and finally reach the last lake to reproduce in. When the fish swim back from the lake towards the ocean, the spiral fish traps catch only the mature fish and the small fish manage to swim out through the spaces between the sticks to have a full life and start a whole new cycle. In this way the fishing villages in North KwaZulu Natal have lived for hundreds of years in harmony with nature.

This story told to us by one of the locals made me think about how the civilisation views the world and what its treasures are. The above Discovery Channel video on You Tube, was made locally, in Cape Town by “Fly on the Wall” collective. It captures 8 artists expressing their view on “The fate of the Earth”.

Find Accommodation Kosi Forest Lodge / Isimangaliso Wetland Park

More about the film and art making collective: Fly on the Wall