WHAT IS THE GEOGRAPHY OF MPONDOLAND?

Pondoland or Mpondoland (which is sometimes referred to as EmaMpondweni in Xhosa) is located in the coastal belt of the Eastern Cape province.

The Eastern Cape province, is south central of South Africa. It is bordered by Western Cape province to the west, Northern Cape province to the northwest, Free State province and Lesotho to the north, Kwazulu-Natal province to the northeast, and the Indian Ocean to the southeast and south.

Mpondoland stretches between the Mthatha River, whose mouth is it’s southernmost point, and the Mtamvuna River in the north along a coastal strip that is no more than 50km wide. The Mzimvubu River divides Mpondoland into an Eastern and a Western region.

MINERALS AND RESOURCES

The Pondoland landscape is home to an emmense diversity of endemic plants and many species found nowhere else in the world, with consistent intact and connected landscapes of high topographical diversity, gorges and steep valleys, and south facing slopes. The Coastal vegetation in Pondoland is main substropical evergreens. The interior Pondoland is rich in cattle and has fertile farmlands; corn(maize), tobacco, sugarcane, tea, coffee, beans, cotton and tropical fruits are grown.

The land emerges with rivers, valleys, waterfalls and pools that provide habitats for freshwater and marine fish spawning.

Important minerals on the Wild Coast which occur in the dune sands containing a mineral called titanium which is one of the group of metals. These occur at Nxaxo, Kobonqaba, Sandy Point, and between the Mzamba and Mtentu Rivers. Some deposit of the mineral occur at the Mngazana River estuary.