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Published: September 18th 2014
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The Eye, Kuruman Travels in Northern Cape and Western Cape Aug 2014
The title reflects some of the most unusual events and experiences we had over a 15 day period. We had planned for months an ideal trip in August. Frans’ sister Katrien and sister in law Aneke could only make a trip from Holland at this time.
Well this trip opened up for me the beauty and strangeness of our beautiful country.
The Northern Cape is known for its red dunes, vast open spaces and meerkatte. En route to our first night we visited The Eye in Kuruman and then to a sadly neglected Moffat mission station.
We had booked a morning outing outside Van Zylsrus with the Meerkat Research Project. It is a collaborative project going for 20 years, studying the social structure of the animals. We learnt about the term habituation, as the tiny animals, when they emerged from their burrows were not fazed by the presence of humans.
As we couldn’t find accommodation in the Park we spent one night at Rooiduin Guest farm, more like a home stay, enough said. Next two nights were spent at Kalahari Trails Nature reserve. Not ideal situation,
but we left early for the Park on each of the 2 days.. The guests were very pleased with the amount of animals we saw and of course the bird life. We had our picnic breakfasts at the well designed rest spots. Gemsbok galore, a mating lion and ostriches on heat were some of the highlights.
Only too soon we needed to repack the car with our food trunks, fridge and luggage.
The route via Upington to Kakamas, on the Kokerboom Food and Wine route was a long journey. How surprising to move from the arid landscape to the fertile banks of the Orange River . We even had a wine tasting at Orange River Cellars. The stay at Kalahari Gateway Hotel ( self catering units) in Kakamas, was not only that I was bemused by the fact that there is a sushi bar there, but it is a short drive to Augrabies Falls National Park. Again so many pleasant surprises with fertile lands, dates, dried fruit and other tourist attractions.
We spent a lovely day at Augabies in the sunshine. We explored the walkway along the falls and drove to other parts of the Park. We
did the 6 kms hike which was welcome after sitting in the car.
By the way the sushi was disappointing.
The drive to Springbok, Namaqua took us via Pella Mission Station...an oasis and also pictures taken in Pofadder.
In order to find out about the flowers in the area, one goes to Springbok Lodge where there is an information desk. Equipped with this knowledge and a flower book we knew where to embark on our introduction to the flowers.
The accommodation was part of a sprawling set up with lovely views of the surrounding mountain and lots of daisies in the garden.
Looking for flowers....found a swathe of yellow and orange flowers near Concordia. Many others flower seekers were there as well, So curious, you need to get close and personal with the ground as there were many other hidden flowers. Further surprises were found at Goegap Nature reserve, just out of town. Got to see many other succulents, as well as the undulating swathes of flowers along a drive. We went for a walk and some of us were stung by angry busy bees.
I was awed by the show of flowers
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Meerkat reseach project Regrettably photos don't do justice to the wonderful spread of flowers
While we stayed in self catering we alternated between cooking for ourselves and also trying out the local cuisine. However ostrich steaks were illusive!
Next flower stop was Kamieskroon Hotel where we had coffee and admired the flowers in the grounds, it was en route to Skilpad Reserve which form part of the Namaqua National Park.
The flowers beckon one and photos and identification can only be only be done at eye level. So there are a lot of people with heads and cameras to the ground!
We went on a flower walk, which revealed more surprises around the every corner. Time to move on..
Arrived as sun was setting at Niewoudtville...quickly prepared our braai. The unit overlooked a pastoral scene of cows, sheep and peacocks, The highlight was a trip to Papkiulfontein Guest farm. After a lovely meal we went on 3 self drive routes to see flowers and noted new varieties of bulbs. We were very fortunate to time our visit with sheep shearing, so had a lesson in that skill.
Moving on......took a road less travelled, to Wuppertahl. What a
trek to the remote village in the valley, but it is geared up for tourists. Unfortunately the shoe factory is only functioning on a small scale, We had tea in he house where Louis Leipoldt grandfather lived when it started as a missionary, there is also a Rooibos body products factory
The next stop was Clanwilliam over the Pakhuis Pass. Frans was determined to replace his farmers’ shoes at Strassbergers Shoe factory, est in 1854 . I also found some leather shoes. We went on a tour of the shoe factory
The weather which had been kind to us changed when we arrived at The Baths, Citrusdal. Nonetheless we still enjoyed the warm pool in the open. The next day in the pouring rain we decided to amend plans of a hike, in order to visit remote Tierkloof wine estate high in the mountains. We had a lovely wine tasting and of course purchased some wines. They produce a straw wine which is yummy and quite expensive.
The next day we headed for Cape Town. The iconic mountain was shrouded in mist, but we could work out the shape for a long distance.
We stayed in
The Backpack, owned by Lee, my cousin. It is very well appointed backpackers and we had a central base to explore the city on foot, by bus and car.
So what can you pack into 3 days? A city that is very close to my heart.
Both in Johannesburg and in Cape Town we went on the Hop On Hop Off bus tours. This is a very good way to get an overview of the city, even if you haven’t enough time to get off. Regrettably there wasnt enough time to visit museums. The cable car trip to Table Mountain was a bit of a disappointment as it was covered in cloud, but on the ground sunny. The day trip to Cape Point and Boulders to see the Penguins was great, even went via Orangezicht market to buy a picnic
In between sightseeing we had a chance to meet up with friends for 2 dinners.
After their departure on Sunday Frans and I stayed on for a further week and then took 5 days getting home.
Pictures will fill in the gaps in the story
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