The long road, a time for reflection

Today is the third day of our long trip to Port Elizabeth. We have been on many a winding road, travelled through way too many gravel roads on our journey. I, the naive city girl, have now realised that for some or other reason there are many long roads in South Africa that have not been tarred. There may be many reasons for this it may be that there is not enough traffic on these roads to warrant them being tarred or it may simply be that no one has thought that these roads need tarring. The problem though, is that a lot of the small and quaint little towns can only be reached via these roads. Although they are beautiful in their own right and a lot of these towns do need the income generated from tourism, most people skip them as the roads tend to be difficult and gruelling. We have spent hours on these roads and at times been infuriated with the lead car of our convoy for choosing them, but if you think about it, we would not have been able to see these places and meet the interesting people that inhabit them.

The question comes to mind, do we really need to tar these less travelled paths in order to boost the tourism of these relatively secluded towns? Or is it simply a case of being the bearer of knowledge and informing people of these towns that will assist them. Then you have the other side of the river, do the inhabitants of all the small towns really want this attention. Sure, there are some who need the income in order for their town to survive, but there are also others who do not want or wish this. There are so many angles to this issue that I can probably go on all day about it.

Rather, I’m of the opinion that these small secluded places are part of our heritage. For this reason, and if only for this reason we need to visit them. Spend some time talking to these people as they have many stories to tell, find out why and how the particular town came about. Through this we may be able not only to promote these towns, but also to have more pride in this place we call our home.

~ Natasha