The war appears to be over, and the forces of progress have won. The N2 Wild Coast toll highway looks very much like a fait accompli.  For almost ten years, various groups have fought tooth and nail to keep the Wild Coast wild and our last proper wilderness pristine but it was really only a matter of time before the highway became a reality. There is nothing that is untouchable when money is at stake. And the future of the Wild Coast, unfortunately, is all about money. I started working with a coalition called Save the Wild Coast about ten years ago. Their position was absolute: our remaining wilderness must be kept pristine as there is so little of it left. Just as you can’t be a little bit pregnant, you either have wilderness or you don’t. And once you have sacrificed that wilderness, there is no going back. You cannot undevelop something that has been developed.  The Wild Coast is a globally recognised bio-diversity hotspot, with several unique, endangered and rare endemic species of plant. Port Edward botanist Tony Abbot has discovered many new species all on his own. Several are named after him (he lives on a sprawling mini-reserve and so uncovers new plant species on his afternoon strolls).  The Wild Coast also has a unique wild beauty, with waterfalls pouring directly into the sea, dolphins resident in the coves, wooded gorges, wobbly rivers, windswept hilltops, wave-bashed cliffs and white crescent beaches. The coffee-table book put together by long-time residents John Costello and Div de Villiers contains photographs that would make you weep. It takes a lot of trouble to reach the Wild Coast. So the kind of person willing to make the long and uncomfortable trip to famous resorts like Coffee Bay, Hole-in-the-Wall, Port St Johns, Mkambati, Wavecrest and Mbotyi is the kind of person who will appreciate what they see when they arrive. They will also understand the fragility of the coast, the precariousness of survival with so few resources, the need to preserve what remains. A highway tearing through this paradise is going to ruin all that. Construction will damage the bio-diversity. Ribbon development, such as that seen all along the lower South Coast, will extend right down to East London with garages, curio shops, holiday flats and supermarkets.  Kokstad will die, as currently its entire economy is built around the passing trade on the N2 between KwaZulu Natal and the Eastern Cape. The Australian mining company will move in and mine the dunes at Xolobeni.  Neon-lit casinos and resorts will appear where before there was only the wind through the palm trees. And – to add insult to injury – the road will be a toll road with most of the toll booths situated on the heavily trafficked KwaZulu Natal side to subsidise the sparsely travelled East London side.  The days of pony treks on the beach, silent river canoe trips, coastal hikes with no one else in sight – these will be gone for good. So – where’s the argument? you might say.  How can anyone even consider building a major highway that will cause so much damage? But I think the Wild Coast is already irreparably damaged. There are people living there, remember, and they are increasing in number all the time. The ground can’t be developed for agriculture (it’s poor soil, people are unskilled in farming, markets are too far away), there is no industry or development inland. Fishing requires boats and licences, the rocks have long since been stripped of their mussels and seafood. Only goats flourish. Government is the only meaningful employer. The single hope for the Wild Coast, therefore, is a vibrant and accessible tourism industry. And that means a road. So like it or not, a compromise will have to be reached. WESSA, during the glory days of the Save the Wild Coast campaign, suggested a road slightly further inland to avoid the bio-diversity hotspots. (The then-Minister, Valli Moosa, dreamed of a coastal highway with views of the sea.) People who wanted to keep the Wild Coast wild will have to accept that development is inevitable. Kokstad will have to find a way to attract people or perhaps position itself as a supply centre for the Wild Coast tourist trade. Development should be sensitively done and should include environmental offsets.  I doubt very much that there is anything that anyone can do to stop it.  If it does not happen in this decade, it will happen in the next. The sad truth is that only the greenies want real wilderness. Everyone else wants roads, shops, jobs, comfort, accessibility, amenities. English poet John Donne, in his famous sermon in 1623, said:  “…never send to know for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee.” And it is tolling for our Wild Coast. If you still want a pristine wilderness, go and visit it now. And take pictures. In ten years’ time, that is all that will remain.