| Umkomaas | |
|---|---|
| Country | South Africa |
| Province | KwaZulu-Natal |
| District/ Council | eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality |
| Municipal ward | Ward 99 |
| Established | c.1861 |
| Time zone | SAST (UTC+2) |
| Postal code | 4170 |
| Area code(s) | 039 |
Umkomaas, a small coastal town on the subtropical south coast of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa was formed when a harbour was built in 1861 to export sugar. The town rests beside the mouth of the navigable Mkhomazi River. With the successful dredging of Durban harbour's sandbar and the arrival of the railway, the town suffered and like Port Shepstone the harbour fell into disuse.
A large number of whales once used the estuary as a nursery, giving birth in the shallows. The Zulus named the river after this spectacle (uMkhomazi means the place of cow whales). The settlement was originally known as South Barrow, with its suburb known today as Ilfracombe then called North Barrow.
The town is located 48 km south of central Durban and is accessible by rail and by roads including the N2 Freeway and the coastal R102 or "Old Main Road."
The South African Navy mine countermeasures vessel SAS Umkomaas is named in honour of the river and town.
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In the late 1950s an Italian consortium developed the large Saiccor industrial cellulose plant beside the river a short distance inland from the town. A large number of Italian immigrants and workers, mostly from the region of Udine, followed suit, and the result is that today Umkomaas probably has the largest Italian community relative to its total population of any town in Southern Africa.
Saiccor has for some time been a controversial plant. It was purchased by international Pulp giant Sappi in the 1990s, and while it continues to provide jobs for thousands of workers, and a livelihood for their dependents, concerns were raised as early as the 1990s over the widespread asthma and other health conditions afflicting children at the nearby Umkomaas Drift School.
Additionally, a large amount of effluent is pumped out to sea, and major extensions of this effluent pipe were carried out in the late 1990s, though Saiccor maintained for many years that the effluent was largely harmless. A well-known act of protest against Saiccor occurred in the 1990s when a local man gatecrashed a Saiccor function and challenged company executives to drink a glass of effluent.
Saiccor is today the world's largest producer of chemical cellulose, and directly employs slightly over 1000 people, its pulp being used largely for products such as acetate and cellophane.
Quarrying and furniture assembly industries are also carried out in the area. Additional infrastructure includes the roads and railways built by and for Saiccor's operations, together with a stretch of Spoornet-owned coastal track, on which the steam locomotive "Banana Express" used to travel.
There are exotic pine plantations in the area, many of which were established for Saiccor. Farming in the area is mostly of cane sugar and sugar plantations are a prominent feature of the local landscape.
The Umkomaas or Mkomazi River is a dominant feature of the area, being the largest river on the South Coast. The river is 298 kilometes long, from its source just south of Giant's Castle in the uKhahlamba / Drakensberg Park World Heritage Site to its mouth on the Indian Ocean. The river begins its journey at an altitude of over 3,000 metres.
Occasionally, raft races, canoeing, and other sporting events are held on the river. The river is a popular white-water rafting destination. During the winter dry season, the river mouth often silts up, but after heavy rains it carries large amounts of brown sediment into the Indian Ocean. Some of this sedimentation is due to anthropogenic (human-made) pressures on the local ecosystem. These pressures include soil erosion caused by over-grazing, intensive cultivation, sewage disposal, industrial effluent from plants like Saiccor,[1] informal farming and settlements, timber plantations, and the removal of sand or topsoil from the river's basin.[2]
The Umkomaas river valley is mentioned in an early chapter of Alan Paton's 1948 novel Cry, The Beloved Country. Probably derived from the Zulu word uMkhamazi, the name relates to the sighting of a whale in the river estuary at some point in history.[3] The river's tributaries include the Madoba, Mkhomazana, Mtungwane, Nhlatimbe and Nhlavini.
The river's basin covers about 4,315km2, annual discharge is approximately 1 x 106m3 and sediment load is an estimated 900 000 tons per year.[4] Some parts of the river basin are vulnerable to flooding due to the steep topography and weather systems, such as intense thunderstorms and cut-off lows. This is exacerbated by land degradation and impervious urban areas. Some floods have resulted in loss of life, destruction of properties where development has encroached on floodplains in densely populated areas, and damage to roads and bridges.[5][6]
Additional tourist attractions include the Umkomaas Golf Course, home of Tim Clark and widely regarded as being one of the best in KwaZulu-Natal, and the beautiful Empisini Nature Reserve, a forested area that features a delightful waterfall and a number of bush walks. The nearby settlement of Clansthal was the home of Conservationist Tony Pooley in the 1980s and 1990s. Swedish tennis player Mats Wilander was a regular visitor in the 1990s, and is rumoured to have been the owner of a large hotel on the corner of Moodie and Reynolds Street.
Umkomaas is most renowned for the superb diving opportunities created by the Aliwal Shoal, a coral reef about 5 kilometres offshore. Ragged-tooth sharks, Rock Cod, and a number of other species can be found in the shoal.
Growth in diving-related tourism has grown dramatically in the past decade, although the Shoal features two especially fine shipwrecks, the Nebo and the Produce, that long predate the Shoal's current surge in popularity. The Aliwal Shoal was formed about 80 000 years ago. Diving and accommodation information is available in the town and online.
A co-educational primary school, founded in 1913, is found in the centre of the village.
Suburbs of Umkomaas include Widenham, known for its colossal bush-covered sand dune known as "Sand City", and the planned community of Saiccor Village, built for Saiccor workers in the 1950s and 1960s. Beaches are found at Widenham and the Mkhomanzi north bank near Ilfracombe, which is the launching point for many boat excursions and diving trips to the Aliwal Shoal.
The population of the neighbourhood, if including Widenham, Saiccor Village, and Ilfracombe, is about 4,500.
Also within the neighbouring area are the towns of Roseneath, Clansthal, Magabeni, Craigieburn,Sunpark and Newhaven
Umkomaas' official animal is the Whale, representations of which can be found throughout the town, in the form of everything from colourful murals to the uniform of the local school. Humpback Whales are seen in the vicinity of Aliwal Shoal between June and October, whilst Ragged-Tooth, and Zambezi sharks have been sighted at the river mouth, particularly in the wake of the September 1987 storms and the enormous Cyclone Demoina.
Other wildlife seen in the area include a multitude of snakes, virtually all of them harmless varieties like the Red-Lipped Herald and the Brown House Snake. Monkeys here are less common than in Scottburgh, but the birdlife is abundant, with the gregarious and friendly Hadeda Ibis perhaps the most intriguing. Small wild cats like the Genet and Civet have also been reported, though only on very rare occasions. The crocodiles found in the vicinity of Freeland Park and the lower Amahlongwa, 8 kilometres south, are not present in Umkomaas. Duiker abound and can be seen in Empisini, while the much larger and very beautiful Bushbuck is also seen in the vicinity.
A major spectacle occurring almost every year is the fabled Sardine Run, the annual courtship migration (contingent on climatic conditions) of sardines from the Wild Coast and other southern locales to the warmer waters of KwaZulu-Natal. Usually occurring in July, it is a spectacular sight, recently covered by Jeff Corwin on the Animal Planet television channel, and the sardines lure a large variety of predatory fish, seabirds, and sharks, on a scale rarely seen anywhere else on Earth.
Umkomaas was one of the coastal towns recently affected by the inclement weather conditions, high winds, and freak waves generated by the storms of late March 2007. The beachfront areas and complex formerly known as 'The Whaler' were some of the regions affected by the storm.
A notable event in the town's history was the fatal air crash involving a Kitty Hawk Air Force plane during the Second World War. The aeroplane is believed to have sunk into quicksand on the south bank of the river between the village and the present-day location of Saiccor. A local group made numerous attempts to recover the wreckage of the craft in the 1980s, but as the precise location of the plane is still not decisively known, it has never been recovered. Subsequently much speculation exists as to where exactly the plane is buried.