About 20km from Lusikisiki was a trading store called Mbotyi and owned by Mr Jack Barber. This area that Huberta had reached was also known as the Wild Coast and not too far from the wreck of the Grosvenor. The Grosvenor was closely linked to Huberta and a legend of the Mpondo's of Pondoland. They believed she was the reincarnation of a famous rainmaker or the spirit of a great traditional healer, who was a descendant of one of the survivors of the wrecked Grosvenor.
Len Stirk tells of his close encounter with Huberta in this area. He and three friends set out one Saturday afternoon after hearing that Huberta was in the vicinity. We had been following her journey down the coast in the newspapers and were very excited about the possibility of seeing her. We set up camp in thick bush bordering the coastline. That night we had a heavy downpour of rain, the next morning we woke up to lovely sunshine. What we discovered was Huberta's footprints in the sea sand. She must have passed our camp early in the morning. We had breakfast and packed up camp. We walked along the coast to the trading store, meeting some Mpondo men who told us that Huberta was in some bush not far from Mbotyi store.
"There were about 200 Mpondo's looking for me and then
one of Len Stirk's friends took a long stick and pocked me in my stomach. That made me so mad. Since I left home these two legged creatures were always poking sticks at me. I had, had enough.
I charged them and you just saw them all running, some climbed in trees."
After this happened the Mpondo's were not happy with Len Stirk and his friends, to them she was the reincarnation of their ancient chief. The Mpondo's always sang the praises of Huberta feeding her with mealies and pumpkins from the fields in the area.They protected Huberta and she was less harassed on her journey when travelling through their lands.
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