Up and Away In The Amatolas

A burgeoning settlement of people enjoys the good life among the mountains, mists and forests of Hogsback

- Fiona Mcintosh

“I will buy a beer for the first person to guess what caused those dips,” teases Dan Cornick as he shuttles us up to the Eastern Cape village of Hogsback. We eagerly study the ten-foot-wide, two-foot deep dips by the roadside. “Meteor craters?” I suggest. Aliens, trenches from the Frontier Wars, elephants and dinosaurs are among the other increasingly absurd proposals.

Dan shakes his head. “I’ll give you a clue. It’s an animal, but it’s not a mammal. It’s not a reptile. It’s not an insect. It’s not a bird or fish.” Another clue ten minutes later should solve the puzzle. “The biggest specimen in the world was found crossing this road. It was 3.2 metres long, reaching a whopping six metres when stretched.”

“Millipedes,” someone blurts out. “Nope. They are made by the world’s biggest earthworms, members of the Microchaetus rappi family,” gloats Dan. “By eating in one place and pooing in another, the worms create that distinctive dip and mound landscape.”

The journey passes quickly as Dan gives us a running commentary on the history and attractions of the area. JRR Tolkien never lived in the village, we learn, but his nanny was from Hogsback, and she told him of the legendary serpent Inkanyamba, which was the inspiration for Smaug. “There was no such thing as flying snakes in the UK (to where Tolkein moved from South Africa aged four) but there were dragons,” Dan explains.

His summary of the Frontier Wars includes the story of the Burnshill Wagon Disaster, when a five-kilometer British wagon train, armed at the front and the rear, was attacked in the middle by the Xhosa. Apparently, the raiders got away with a year’s supply of guns, ammunition, medical supplies and, “most horrifyingly”, the officers’ wine store.