Matatiele, Drakensberg

Situated in the lesser explored southern Drakensberg, the quaint little town of Matatiele lies 70 kilometres from Kokstad, at the junction of the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu Natal and southern Lesotho.

The village is situated in the shadow of the Matatiele Mountain in the former ‘no man’s land’ that during the latter part of the 19th century was the home of horse thieves, gun runners and smugglers - something like an African version of the Wild West.

The name Matatiele comes from the Sotho words ‘matata’, meaning wild ducks, and ‘ile’, meaning gone and taken together this conveys a message that the ducks have flown - not hard to believe as once this was a place where pools, marshes, vleis, pans, lions and elephant roamed freely alongside a host of waterfowl. Some 40 to 60 bird species are still in evidence, but most of these are high altitude birds atop Matatiele Mountain.

Today the town is essentially a farming community, the museum located in what was initially a garage, an auction room, a Dutch Reformed Church and finally a telephone exchange, before becoming a national monument.

Local communities, in an initiative to develop tourism as a source of income, accommodate travellers in traditional African guest houses, and include cultural village tours and hiking trails as part of the package. Two nature reserves in the area include the Wilfred Bauer Nature Reserve where the Zedonk (a cross between a donkey and zebra) is in residence and the Mountain Lake Reserve where a beautiful lake covers a surface area of about 30 hectares when full.