Café a la Donkin

This means visitors to the information centre can now, after a tour of the recently revamped tourism attraction, sit down to a steamy cup of coffee while enjoying one of the most eye catching scenery from the top of the Reserve overlooking Algoa Bay.

Last year, NMBT awarded a tender to the Wilderness Foundation, a non governmental organisation which owns the world renowned Umzi Wethu Hospitality Programme, to run the coffee shop. NMBT chief executive Mandlakazi Skefile says this is only one of the many ways to show how hospitable and welcoming the tourism body is, and also to express how it values visitors to its shores.

“Such a facility was long overdue at the Donkin. We have many visitors coming to our information centre and it is only perfect that they enjoy a cup of tea or coffee, or a light lunch as they sit back overlooking the beautiful Algoa Bay’” says Skefile.

The coffee shop, opened its doors to the public  as a pilot project during the MBDA Lifestyle conference which ran from September 22 to 25. This event also marked the launch of the Route 67, a tourism heritage trail which starts from Strand Street, winding its way up into the central business district through the Main Library in Govan Mbeki Avenue and up to the pinnacle of the Donkin Reserve.

Besides tea and coffee, the small eatery also serves light breakfast and lunches, and is open seven days a week for the same hours as the tourism visitors information centre – Monday to Friday 08h30 to 16h30, and Saturday and Sundays from 09h30 to 15h30.

The coffee shop project has created employment as it employees graduates of the Umzi Wethu programme, which is a social development and intervention project facilitated by the Wilderness Foundation. It is  a one-year programme for displaced and socially vulnerable youths (those who have lost one or both parents and those from child-headed families or those from households with no formal income).

Every year, about 40 young men and women between the ages of 18 and 25 are selected to enter the programme, which prepares them to enter the job market as workers in the hospitality and tourism industry. After a year of practical and theoretical training, the students graduate with an NQF Level 4 qualification making them employable, and the new coffee shop is one of the many employing partners.

“We really applaud this partnership as it is helping in creating the much needed jobs in Nelson Mandela Bay. Any effort which aims to keep the youth out of the streets and keep them occupied and productive is most welcome,” says Skefile.
The Umzi Wethu programme also has a catering unit which caters for a diverse range of events and functions, and is very willing to accommodate special groups or requests from any tour groups.

The coffee shop can be reached at 041 582 1303.