THE ISLAND AWAY F R OM T HE CROWD S A ND IN TO T H E B U S H, AN DR EW HAR R I SO N A N D H I S S O N RUA RI FI ND T H AT, I F YOU KNOW BOT H HOW TO PE R S E V E R E A ND WHE RE TO LOOK, T H E R E WA RD S JU ST I FY T H E E FFO RT. By Andrew Harrison
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f God ever gives the earth an enema, he will stick the tube in at Colenso in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN).
Once a thriving, sleepy village, site of one of the famous battles of the Anglo Boer War and recently supported by a decommissioned power station, it is a shit-hole of derelict buildings where goats and cattle feed on plastic and ‘dopping’ (drinking) is the town pastime. Fortunately, once clear of the trash heap and travelling thirty clicks down a dusty dirt road, one glimpses authentic rural KZN before you hit a ‘track’ - not for low-slung cars! The island is only an island when the Tugela River floods and then it is inaccessible except on foot. Even in the dry months it’s a difficult passage. A boulder-strewn, dongaridden track passes for a road that traverses a nature reserve to the chalky-grey river hemmed in by towering rocky cliffs to which stunted trees, aloes and baboons cling precariously. The river is also home to the iconic Natal scaly. After a number of forays on the Umkomaas River where the fish were feisty but of no great size, the fish of the Tugela were prize. American novelist and obsessive trout fisherman, Jim Harrison, once prospected the Yellowstone in Montana 92 days in succession. He observed; “If roosters lived in rivers, no one would ever fish for trout again.” The same can be said of this freshwater ‘bonefish’. No matter the size, the athletic ability of a Natal scaly outstrips that of any trout, wild or fat ‘stockie’ found in local KZN waters. Add some spectacular scenery and you are in fly-fishing paradise.
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