The town came about between 1800 and 1900 when there were a war and a worldwide depression.  People of the area were bitterly poor due to rinderpest and drought and came to the church for help to survive.  In exchange for care the local people, under supervision of Japie Lutz, dug and built a canal system by hand.  This system is still in operation even today.  The system includes two tunnels of 97m and 175m respectively, turning the area to a greenery.

Augrabies Falls surely is the  most visited place in Kakamas, but there are some other interesting features that can also be enjoyed.  Close to town there is some waterwheels that nearly ended up in a bitter court case.  We were not lucky to see them in operation during our visit, but who knows, maybe next time. 

With the help of some local directions, we headed to Die Mas van Kakamas for dinner during loadshedding.  When we parked under the grape pergola  my jaw just dropped at the size of the grape bunches.  Sipping on award winning gin from Die Mas and munching on perfect pizzas, it was a perfect end to a long day on the road with some niggles of its own.   

On the road to Augrabies falls I could tick another box.  I have never before seen Quiver trees or Kokerbome in Afrikaans.  They almost look like a very big aloe but are fascinating creatures if you start reading up on it.  Here you will also find the Quiver Tree Route.

We popped in at Oranje Rivier Cellars just outside of Kakamas to taste some of the local wines in an air-conditioned tasting room.  Nothing lavish and flashy but were still treated with the same great hospitality and enthusiasm from the staff.  Some we liked (bought a box from the Hedgehog range) and some we did not like.  The area produces some fine wines exclusively for the export market.

Time to conclude our visit to Kakamas and return home.  We stopped at several farmstalls along the route as the temperature was starting to climb around 11 o’clock. The most visible one is surely the Pink Padstal which was packed to the rafters so it was quick in and out to buy some local raisins before we hit the road. 

We will return to the area to explore the region further as we felt more than  welcome on our first visit to area.  Thank you, Kakamas, you made an impression on us.

oOo

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We were wondering what was happening in the Moordenaarskaroo to be blessed with such a name … so we went to explore.  As the road snakes through the harsh and washed-out landscape there is not much to see – no animals, no man, no murderer – yet, there is a certain beauty to the stark scenery.  There are a few theories about the name Moordenaarskaroo.  Firstly, that  it is named so due to the extreme heat and cold, because both can kill you.  The second theory is that a couple of bandits broke out of jail in Worcester and came to hide here undiscovered for many years.   And then there was a policeman, named Van der Colf, who patrolled the area, looking for thieves.  When he caught the thieves, he tied them to his horse, and they had to walk all the way back to jail.  In the book Timeless Karoo, Jonathan Deal writes: “When Van der Colf became bored, and perhaps a little drunk, he would release the prisoners to run away up a hill — and take potshots at them with his rifle, sometimes with deadly consequences.”  I do not know which one is right, but all of them makes an interesting story to tell. 

Then you arrive on the plateau at the small town of Sutherland located at 30°40 E and 32°24 S as the Welcome in Sutherland board says. At the centre of the town stands the Dutch Reformed Church (S32.39439 E20.066073) also with an interesting story.  During the Anglo Boer war, the church was occupied by British soldiers and used for eight months as a fort and barracks.  Inside the church there is still a wooden door where the soldiers carved their names to keep them occupied.  The organ, originating from Germany, is also one of a kind and is still in perfect working conditions.   Like the Karoo, Sutherland is full of gems if you are willing to look closer and spend some time.

The “star show” of Sutherland is obviously the milky way, the stars and in deep winter the snow wonderland.  There are a couple of options from where you can observe the stars – Blesfontein, Sterland or the planetarium in the middle of town.  As we stayed on Blesfontein farm we used the opportunity offered by Nicol van der Merwe to show us the stars and evening treasures through his telescope.  I was really wowed out of my socks by the knowledge of Nicol and the easy manner in which he presents his talk so that even I can understand it. 

Special note:  the road to Blesfontein is a bit rough and corrugated so take it slow and you will make it there.

oOo

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Britstown is more or less a dot on the map that is never an option for us to stop in.  Although it was a flash pack trip, I quickly Googled to see what comes up on Britstown and ta-ra-ra there you go!  Something new that I discovered so we had to stop to take the picture before we moved on. 

Britstown was named after the local farmer J J F Britz (with a Z), better known as Hans.  Now what made Hans so important that a town was named after him? 

Hold your hats!  The platteland never disappoints and always come up with some interesting facts and stories. 

Hans Britz met the Dr David Livingstone, who visited his father-in-law, Robert Moffet, when he was on a trip to at the mission station in Kuruman.  Now we all know that Livingstone, although married to Mary Moffet, loved to explore the African continent so Hans Britz accompanied David Livingstone as a guide on a journey into the interior to explore the sub-continent.  Britz, however, decided against a life of exploring and trekking for the rest of his life and decided to establish the farm Gemsbokfontein in the Britstown district.  The town was letter settled on a portion of Hans Britz’s farm.

The old Trinity Church was once the town’s museum, but like many things nothing is left except the empty building.  This is also the oldest church building in town and it is located in front of the municipality in Market Street.

GPS:  30°35’22.99″ S 23°30’08.71″ E   

The Dutch Reformed Church in Lang Street was built by the Scott, George Murray Alexander, and dates back to 1891.  He was the winner of a limited competition to design the Cape Town Opera House and the Dutch Reformed Church Tafelberg in the year of 1893.

Where:   GPS:  30°35’24.33″ S 23°30’15.90″ E   

As we were heading to Prieska we came across millions of voetganger locusts on the road and in the veld after parts of the Northern Cape was blessed with rain. This was the first time for me to see this phenomenon in real life and I was amazed as the scale of devastation they left behind.  Let us all stand together and report plagues in order to save the already drought stricken to protecting their veld as the locusts can consume so much plant material that they erase several months of growth before moving on.  This result in long-term effects on the health and finances of entire regions.

Report any locust plague to the national emergency number to 0824468946.

oOo

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This was a flash pack trip, packing as light as possible, as our time was very limited.  We needed to be back in office on Monday with bright eyes and bushy tails, but, hey, we love a challenge! 

To make everything smooth sailing on your visit we are sharing some handy tips to keep in mind.  Here we go:

1. We stayed in nearby Kakamas, which is only about a 20-minute drive from Augrabies, but do get up early and arrive early at the gate.  We arrived at about 06:20 and there were already about 20 cars in front of the gate.  The other option is to rather go late in the afternoon, it is hotter then, but there will be less visitors as well.  Plan your trip beforehand
2. The gates for day visitors open at 07:00.  Go prepared.  Take a pen to complete the entrance form and remember to sanitize as you go along.  On the day we visited the system at the gate worked like an oiled machined with no hiccups.
3. Pack snacks or even breakfast, which you can enjoy while waiting in the queue for the gate to open.  Most of the people waiting enjoyed their breakfast like only South Africans can!
4. You can pay either cash or with a card.  The card queue was noticeably longer than the cash queue.  Remember to sanitize as you go along. 
5. Slap on generous amounts of sunscreen.  The sun has no mercy for your skin. Also read our post on visiting the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park for more tips.
6. Take enough cold drinks and water.  The shop is busy and stocks were low when we visited.
7. Take lots of photos and soak up the experience.  You will probably not see the falls again in flood in your lifetime; you are making memories.
8. There are two viewpoints, where you will get drenched to the skin.  Take a towel and some protection for your camera/phone or avoid to go there if you do not like to get soaked. 
9. Be kind and courteous to SANPARK’s staff and fellow visitors and wear your mask at all times.  Allow enough time for your visit!
10. On 6 February 2021 some parts of the park were not accessible for low vehicles due to flooding of the road.

We enjoyed the spectacular of the falls flowing at 3000 cumec per second – that is 3000 blocks of 1x1x1 meter tumbling down the falls. Well worth the long drive and heat.

And, yes, we were back in office on the Monday after our memorable experience!

oOo

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Upon entering Kimberley, one might find that the capital of the Northern Cape Province of South Africa, is just another dull, dusty town with heat waves in summer and cold, winter nights with temperatures below zero degrees Celsius.  The impression one gets when driving down the streets of this once “rich” town, is definitely not one of glamour and shiny diamonds.  Being the host city of the De Beers Mining Company HQ, Kimberley still preserves the rich history that made this town one of the most sought after places to be during the early 1900’s.

One might think that visiting a big hole in the ground should be nothing spectacular these days, given that we have seen comets create big craters all over the world.  So what makes the Big Hole in Kimberley so special that one will pay to take a selfie in front of a hole in the ground?  Well, come with me on a journey where we discover the uniqueness that you will not find anywhere in the world.

Arriving at the Big Hole Visitors Centre and the Museum, a feeling of richness descends on you.  You walk through the gate and arrive in the little village with original buildings that are restored, such as the diggers’ quarters, Barney Barnato’s boxing academy and the church built in Europe and shipped to Kimberley.  You walk past the Tramway and into the modern Visitors Centre with it’s vast openness and in the distance a ramp starts appearing where you will soon stand to look out over the biggest hand-dug excavation in the world.

Depending on the time you have, there are different packages to meet you need:

• Full Tour (R110/person) – includes a 20min movie, a visit underground inside the mine, a visit to the museum and the Big Hole
• Tour (R60) – includes a 20min movie and a visit to the Big Hole
• Tour (R40) – includes a visit to the Big Hole

On each tour you are assigned a knowledgeable guide who will enrich you with the 150-year old story of the Big Hole of Kimberley.

But for now, tour with me on the full tour and I will tell you what you can expect.  We are taking a journey back to the time of Barney Barnato and Cecil John Rhodes.

After paying your entrance fee and making your way past the entrance to the Big Hole ramp, you find yourself in a big movie theater where you are taken back in time while watching the story of the discovery of the very first diamond discovered in South Africa.  I will not say to much about the story, it truly is something that you will have to see for yourself.  It takes you on the journey of a mine worker as well as a journalist of the time with footage from the Diamond Rush and journey of the little stone that had given rise to the De Beers Mining Company that we all know today.  The 20 min movie introduces businessmen like Barney Barnato and Cecil John Rhodes and you can very quickly decide who’s side you want to take.

Thereafter one makes your way down into the mine where you could still see the “koekepanne” (the little railway wagons that were used to carry the dirt along the railway to where it is sifted for diamonds).  You feel like a miner down there as you walk in an underground tunnel and the guide explains to you what the equipment was used for.  You could feel and hear the blasts of dynamite in the walls that the miners used to loosen the rocks and ground.

After your journey through the underground mine, you enter a modern, clean looking museum where you cannot believe that you were just exploring dusty, ground tunnels.  The museum is a prestigious place where the history is portrayed in glass panels and scale models of the excavations on display.  The guide explains to you all the equipment used to value and investigate the diamonds, before you are told to put your camera away as you enter the Vault.  You stand in awe of the most beautiful diamonds.  Colours you cannot think of.  Shapes and sizes so unreal.

The tour comes to an end and you feel like a true explorer now that you have seen the process and the final product.  You head out to the Big Hole where you have a certain appreciation for what you have see down below.  Suddenly you realize all the blood, sweat and tears that has gone into digging this hole.  One cannot believe that only 150-years ago it was a flat little mountain (“koppie”) which was dug out by hand to what it is today.  So many lives have been lost in the hope of discovering one little stone that could change their lives forever.

By the time the mining ended on 14 August 1914, the mine yielded 2 722 kg of diamonds.  When you look across the big gaping hole in the ground (214m deep, 17 hectares of surface area and 1.6 km perimeter), you see a building with a green roof – the De Beers HQ and all of a sudden one cannot help but feel like a million dollars.  De Beers use pegs that can be seen from the viewpoint to monitor at what rate the Big Hole is getting bigger these days.  Another thing you can see from the viewpoint, is the first electric streetlights in Africa and the Southern Hemisphere – yes Kimberley was the first town with electricity in Africa.

The Visitor Center has a few shops where you can buy a souvenir or two as well as a coffee shop where you can have a chat over a cup of coffee.  After relaxing and recouping, take a stroll through the village as it was in the time of The Rush and maybe even book your ride on the tram running through the Village.  When you leave the Big Hole you have one final look around and as the De Beers railway coach, used by Cecil John Rhodes to commute between Cape Town and Kimberley, catches your eye, you snap a couple of pictures and leave with a heart that is so much richer and an appreciation for those who braved the African sun to do hard labour for what we take for granted today.  That piece of bling on your finger will have a “hole” new meaning the next time you look at it.

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The Kalahari is not only amazingly rich in diversity but also reflects an endless variety of moods, making each new encounter different from the previous ones. The Kalahari Red Dune Route extends north of Upington into the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park that forms the borders with Namibia and Botswana which is also one of the largest conservation areas in the world.   The red colour of the dunes in the southern Kalahari can be attributed to the high iron oxide content of the sand. In areas of higher rainfall and in shallow areas where water collects, the iron oxide is leached out, causing the sand ultimately to turn white. The gradual effect of the leaching transforms the desert into a wonderful variety of colours.

We camped for three days at Loch Maree just outside the Kgalagadi Park as it was a long weekend in South Africa and everybody was out visiting the park as the days are getting cooler now.  Here summer temperatures soar easily to over 45 degrees so that is not the favourite time of the year to visit this remote section of our beautiful country.

God was good to us and every morning we woke up with the most stunning of sunrises which turned into beautiful days of maximum temperatures reaching about 28 degree Celsius.

From Loch Maree the Kgalagadi is within easy reach (± 90 km) along the tar road that will take you to the southern gate of the park at Twee Rivieren.  Unlike Kruger National Park check-in was easy as there were no crowds and queues to negotiate.  The friendly lady who checked us in even advised on the appropriate tyre pressure to negotiate the corrugated roads of the park.  Although we did not see any species of the cat family gemsbok and springbok were in abundance and as an extra bonus we had some great bird sightings too.

If you are willing to travel that extra bit to avoid the masses you will undoubtedly be rewarded with spectacular views in the Kalahari!

Want to retrace our steps?

Contact us on info@travelbucket.co.za and we will answer your questions

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Waking up to a freezing but spectacular sunrise and after a hearty breakfast we set off on our long day’s ride.   First of all we had to get Daisy (for those of you who do not know – that is my GS) and Ogre (that is hubby’s GS) going in the chilly weather.   Like our cold and stiff fingers they were not used to these low temperatures of the Karoo.  Welcome in the heartland of the Karoo!

On our way out of town I was fortunate enough to track down another Sophy Gray church at 31°55′00″S 21°30′47″E which was built in 1870 – one year before her death  on 27  April 1871.  As it was still very early the church was  locked so no opportunity to take a sneak peak inside.   Today it had to be a “drive by shooting” snapshot of the church.

So happy  to add another tick to my Sophy Gray list.  The hunt is on for some more.

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Situated across the street from the run down municipal building we found the St Agnes Anglican Church dating back to 1901.  It was erected by a railway engineer in memory of fallen British soldiers, of whom some were stone masons, and were stationed at Noupoort during the Second Boer War.

However before the troops could complete the church they were repatriated.  That is probably the wall that I noticed just below the bell tower and was wondering what went wrong.

It was the first time that I noticed this unique timber type bell tower on a church.  I sort of like the look of the timber bell tower.   Also have a good look at the roof and you will notice vent tiles which are another unique feature that I have never seen before, but makes perfect sense in the heat of the Karoo.

The building is now part of the museum, but was unfortunately locked so we could not have a look inside and can only be visited by phoning the number displayed on the information board at the gate.  Today was not the day for a visit as we still had some way to travel.

On the opposite corner is the St Andrews Presbyterian Church with a corner stone dating back to 1903 and also houses a little museum.  Sadly it is also in state of neglect as some of the gable roof tiles are missing and pigeons are nesting inside.  Apparently some of the pews, the font and pulpit were removed from the church for use in St Saviors Church in Midrand.

Judging by the current state of both churches one can only hope that these gems will stand the test of time.

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