I love Hout Bay for its magnificent mountains and sparkling blue sea views, its vibrant cosmopolitan restaurant life as well as its eclectic “village” lifestyle and diverse mix of people.
Deidre and Carlo share the same love for this quaint little bay and recently got engaged while driving on Chapmans Peak Drive. They allowed me to take their photos at the habour in Hout Bay.
I love nature and decided to dedicate this blog space to a short history of Hout Bay, our planet’s most valuable natural resource, water, and to our role as human beings to conserve and respect our environment.
“Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it. ” – G. Santayana
Travelling through time:
The Hout Bay region has been occupied since the stone age by the Khoi San and Hottentots.17th century Dutch creativity named the sleepy hollows in prestine indigenous forest landscape ” hout-baaitjien” upon their arrival, which means “Treebay”. Sadly most of the trees have long since disappeared due to the felling of timber for ships and houses with the establishment of settlers colony in the Cape. Over the years the valley was cleared and water canalized for economic expansion and agriculture.
Not too long ago, trees were viewed as obstacles to development, even home to evil spirits, witches and savages! Opposing the mind frame of the 17th century settler we now view the forest as the last and most important haven of unspoilt nature and share similar ideals in conserving the biological diversity of our planet to enhance our quality of life. Still, our ambiguous relationship/attitude towards nature seems to oscillate between two opposite conflicting poles: urbanization and conservation.
It is simply amazing to know that so many animals were encountered in the Cape Peninsula by the early settlers. Cape Buffalo, Elephant, Hippo, Black Rhino, Leopard, and Cape Lion to name a few. Today only a bronze statue remains to commemorate the majestic animals who once hunted and lived in this area. It is the labour and love of a local sculptor Ivan Mitford who wanted to salute the lonely leopard of this area.
Hout Bay actually falls in the “Cape Floral Kingdom” area, making it one of the richest botanical wonders in the world, but due to development and consumerism, even bird life is no longer seen in any great numbers and small mammals and reptiles, once adding to the diversity of existing fauna are rapidly declining.
Today Hout Bay is an international tourist attraction, but even this industry is at risk as environmental threats to the ocean and it’s biodiversity emerge. We use words like conservation and sustainable, but without any action, a brand new modern- mind make-over with evergreen labels and ideals cannot be a solution. Each person must feel a responsibility , a deep passion and drive to do what they can to make a difference, because it can make a difference!!
The Disa River in Hout Bay is the only one left that rises in the slopes of Table Mountain that has not been canalized by concrete. This makes the river and its wetland a viable wild life reserve. Unfortunately it’s being flooded by sewerage drains full of E-Coli and discharge and has become heavily polluted and a serious threat to the environment due to expanding squatter camps and inadequate sanitation. This poses serious health and environmental concerns for the tourists and residents of Hout Bay.
Carte Blanche has recently investigated this crisis, but it seems that if there is not political motivation there is no action.
So when you take a drive out to Hout Bay take a moment and travel back in time. Only as time travelers and historians can we truely observe our relationship with the earth, the forest, its animals and our oceans. We are free to participate in our world with enough knowledge and understanding to make better choices. This “stepping into history” exercise surely gives me perspective on the impact we have had on nature and hopefully it can facilitate a change in others to become committed to mend their relationship with nature and cherish the Earth’s natural rescources. We must replace our addiction to consumerism by building a relationship with nature and our own inner nature. Change must come from within! Always!
In positive phsychology the human-nature connection focuses on how wellness is associated with living a less materialistic and consumptive lifestyle .Psychologists who have studied consumerism and materialism have generally found that a materialistic values orientation is negatively correlated with subjective well-being.
Money can’t buy happiness…
http://www.capewatersolutions.co.za/
