By Buziwe Nocuze
- Noxolo Nkonjane and her Indonie Travel and Tours partner organised the Mount Ayliff hike using their own savings, with no outside budget.
- Community leader Wezeka Njawuza says the area is usually known for bad things, and the hikers gave locals a reason to feel proud.
Twelve strangers walked into the mountains outside Mount Ayliff on a cold day and came home talking about waterfalls.
Noxolo Nkonjane, 36, and her business partner at Indonie Travel and Tours organised the hike at Sigidini village in Mount Ayliff in the Eastern Cape.
They planned it for months, expected fifteen people and got twelve. They funded it themselves.
Each participant paid R550, which covered transport from Kokstad, snacks, coffee and lunch. Before setting off, every hiker took a pledge: respect nature, protect wildlife, leave no trace.
Mount Ayliff, officially known as eMaxesibeni, sits near the KwaZulu-Natal border and is surrounded by Southern Drakensberg mountain scenery, waterfalls and Afro-montane forests. It is the traditional home of the Xesibe people.
Most South Africans have never been there and would not know it from its name alone.
The group that made the trip was mixed in age, race and gender. Most did not know each other before the day. Nkonjane says that was the point.
“We taught each other the different understandings we have about nature, teamwork, and fun,” she said.
Inam Madiya, 33, came alone. She says the cold did not matter once the conversations started.
“It was more like therapy,” Madiya said.
“I would participate in their next hike.”
The town has made national headlines for harder reasons: a Christmas Day massacre that left seven people dead, residents digging trenches into a highway in protest, and boys as young as 12 rescued from illegal initiation schools in those same mountains.
Community leader Wezeka Njawuza says that is why this day mattered.
“Our area is known for bad things, so to hear about people who chose our area to hike gives us hope and is putting our area on the map for something good,” Njawuza said.
“We have a lot of beautiful places here with mountains and bushes.”
Nkonjane wants more working-class South Africans to know that hiking is within reach. She is already planning the next one.
Pictured above: Hikers at Sigidini village in Mount Ayliff, organised by Indonie Travel and Tours.
Image source: Noxolo Nkonjane
