Mpumalanga Explorations

After the Kruger National Park, we toured Mpumalanga and saw the biggest tourist attractions in this province over a few days, including places such as Pilgrim's Rest and the Blyde River Canyon. It was  an exciting (albeit exhausting) week and officially our last 'tourist-hat' days for a long time....Here follows what we did.

One fantastic Baobab Tree (Kremetart Boom) next to the road. We stopped spontaneously, as these trees are usually more north and we'd never seen one before.  

Coming out of the Kruger Park, we drove to Pilgrim's Rest and stayed in the caravan park that night. We arrived late afternoon and were just in time to check out the different museum buildings. 

Pilgrim's Rest are famous for the buildings made from sink, originally built by gold prospectors. 

Gold was first discovered by prospector Alec Patterson in 1873 who, when he grew tired of the nearby MacMac diggings, went out and explored the area on his own. He found gold in Pilgrim's Creek and soon more than a thousand people were panning for gold, resulting in a sudden village: Pilgrim's Rest. It only lasted a few years however, and then bigger companies moved in with proper equipment in order to mine the deeper gold ore. In 1986 the village was proclaimed a National Monument, and it is now mainly a tourist attraction as living memory of the gold rush years. 

Part of the museum, these are the kind of tents the gold prospectors lived in before they could build more solid dwellings. 

After a demonstration of what gold panning entails, the boys were in the freezing water and looking for gold themselves. They found flecks of gold, but it was so small it looked like misplaced glitter. 

In the transportation museum. Pilgrim's Rest is located between 2 passes, and thus in the old days it used to be very hard getting a car there. Cars and trucks had to be hauled over the mountains by horses/donkeys. 

The General Dealer store. Gold panning is very hard work - this guy was obviously a bit smarter than the rest of them, and got his gold by trading food and essentials with the panners. 

One of the old switch boards used when making telephone calls, in a museum. It was the first time we saw a machine like this. 

At the old Post Office museum - a Post Box really is a handy thing you know, how about a bit of appreciation?

One of the churches. 

Although the Pilgrim's Rest caravan park was a bit rundown, we decided to camp there as this 300-site park is beautifully situated amongst massive autumn trees with a lot of atmosphere. So, after looking for somebody to help us get permission and unlock the facilities, we camped there all by ourselves for one night.  

It got very cold as the campsite is next to a stream, but a local helped us with stacks of wood, so a good old campfire was made and it kept the cold at bay! 

Running amongst the huge autumn trees.

Pancakes for lunch the next day! 

Magical mirrors - I know you have a big brain and a long neck, but please shut your mouth. 

 We visited Echo Caves and enjoyed an hour-long tour of this surprisingly large underground network of tunnels and formations. Echo Caves were used by a black tribe as a hideout long ago, and when a farmer discovered it on his land in the middle 1900's, he found the evidence of their presence among the stalagmites and stalactites. He opened it as a tourist attraction soon after, however a big part of the caves (about 16 km) remain inaccessible to the public.

There were many interesting formations including a Madonna, an ostrich head, an ostrich body separate from the head, an elephant head, etc. Can you spot the ostrich head here? (It's upside down and just left of my dad's head).

Tree roots growing down more than 200 meters from the surface. 

Elephant skin rock (fascinating texture).

Apparently, some of the tribe members sometimes used stalactites as weapons/spears.

Red or blue, which to choose? 

We passed through Graskop (a town) and continued on to see some of the most popular sightings in Mpumalanga. The Lowveld Panorama Route (what the area around Graskop is called) is known for its spectacular views and many waterfalls, and we alternated between these, sleeping over at Blyde River Canyon Lodge. This is what we saw on route...

The Pinnacle, named for obvious reasons. 

An Unforgettable Five Days on the Orange River

We've booked weeks ago, worked hard in anticipation and looked forward to it since the tour began, and now I'm glad to say that our 5-day rowing of the Orange River has met and exceeded our expectations! The Orange River (also called the Gariep River, Groote River or Senqu River) is the longest river in South Africa, as well as separating South Africa and Namibia. It starts in the Drakensberg Mountains of Lesotho, provides water to many cities, towns and farmers, and flows through the Richtersveld and eventually into the Atlantic Ocean.

We rowed with Bundi (there are quite a number of tour operators running river rafting trips available), camping the day of arrival and departure at their Base Camp near Noordoewer on the Namibian side. Arriving late evening, we pitched in our 2 small hiking tents and had a delicious dinner prepared by our guides. 

 Preparation. We were given one waterproof barrel and cooler per boat (inflatable rubber ducks called "Crocs"). Thus dad rowed on his own, and mom and us 3 switched between 2 Crocs. 

The next day after breakfast and a prep talk, we were off with our 2 guides, Ronny and Michael, both whom are Nama. There are quite a few ethnic groups of people in Namibia, with names such as the Herero, the Damara, the Nama, the San (Bushmen), the Rehoboth Basters, the Caprivian, the Kavango, the Himba and the Owambo. The Nama, Damara and San (Bushmen) tribes are considered to be the original inhabitants of Namibia, and speak a similar Khoi 'click' language. In other words, they are the closest thing you'll get to the real Bushmen of old, the nomadic hunters and herdsmen of Africa. Both speak really good Afrikaans however, and are excellent guides who know the river and area very well. 

Day 1, with no sore arms yet!

Paddling was not hard - the trips are not just for extreme sport fans. 

It was not uncomfortably hot during the days (autumn weather), but we had a good amount of swimming breaks anyway. Diver 1 ready.....diver 2 launching (nice one dad)...

Who needs to tire when you've got life jackets?

Now, how to get back on the Croc....

Rock jumping! 

One of the guides were usually in front (especially during the rapids - most of the rapids aren't very big, but shallow water means rocks, and rocks mean Crocs getting stuck on them). Here Michael is waiting for the rest of us to catch up.

Ronny, our anti-sunburn, paddle-wielding ninja guide. He looked like this most of the time. 

The famous Thumbprint, a pretty cool rock formation sighting along the way. 

We saw a lot of these cormorants drying themselves in the sun. So we followed suite!

We slept in our 2 little tents when the wind was cold, but the rest of the time it was like this.

One has a surprising amount of free time on such a trip, so cards were played, tennis balls tossed, naps taken and photos snapped. Spot the ball. 

Endless fascination.

All meals were made Ultimate Braai Master style - on the fire by the guides (mom really enjoyed this). We sat around the campfire late evenings, listening to Ronny's stories and watching sunsets. Ronny can tell stories for hours (storytelling is in their genes, as it used to be a way they preserved their legacy. It's a difficult form of art, really), and we learned a lot about the kind of lives these people have. 

Sunsets, sunrises - we got them all (unusual for us late-sleepers..). 

Day 2, our guides introduced us to a most delightful activity - the nappy run. Putting our life jackets on upside-down, we followed Michael and drifted down a very fast rapid with waves splashing our faces and toes in the air. Once you're through the fastest though, you have to quickly swim to shore while the current takes you downstream. It was great fun and we did it 3 or 4 times.

Nappies on...

Seven Days in the Cedarberg

After leaving Kruistementvlei Farm (see the previous post) in March, we drove to the stunningly situated Algeria campsite in the Cedarberg (sometimes spelled Cederberg) mountains for a week long retreat. The Cedarberg mountain range is named after an endangered tree found only in the area (the Clanwilliam Cedar), and the mountains are rather famous for strange, dramatic rock formations and San rock art. Our grandparents 'ouma' and 'oupa' Venter joined us for a few days as well, and on the 21st of March we celebrated mom's 45th birthday! Dad did some work, but thankfully we had no school to do so we just relaxed, read books, hiked some really cool trails, camped, and visited with ouma and oupa.

Exploring the mountain stream running through the campsite. 

Glued to the pencil. Gran taught the boys (especially Maarten) to draw 3D objects. Here, they are drawing the Land Rover. 

For mom's birthday, we hiked the 2-3 hour waterfall trail near a big crack ('skeur') in the mountains. With chocolate, mountain champagne, and then real champagne later, it was a fabulous way to celebrate for her and we really enjoyed it.

Imagine the forces which tore this mountain apart...

At the waterfall. Granted, there were more algae and plants than water, but oh well. 

Fascination with frogs and tadpoles never cease. 

We love you, mom. 

A longer but very impressive hike we did another day is the Wolfberg (literally, 'wolf mountain') Arch which took us about 6 hours. It was absolutely worth it, not just because of the Arch, but also because of the rocks and boulder formations along the way.

First sighting. 

Revived by lunch after 3 hours of walking. 

Smile! Not that anyone can see if you don't...

 Strange rocks.

Swartland and Surroundings

Porterville is a little town in an area called Swartland, amidst rolling fields of wheat (and here and there vineyards) at the foot of the Groot Winterhoek Mountains. We've seen some interesting places in and around it, including 22 Waterfalls Farm, the Jan Danckaert Museum (named after an explorer in 1660), and some magnificent scenery in the Groot Winterhoek Nature Reserve.

After a cooldrink in Porterville itself, we checked out the Jan Danckaert Museum. The Museum is not very big, but we were quite impressed by the San (Bushmen) Rock Art exhibition. The mountains in this area contain a lot of well preserved San art, but because it is risky to expose these paintings to people, some good pictures were taken of the paintings and these are now exhibited in the Museum.

Drinks in Porterville. 

The San Art exhibition. 

"Bulldog" tractor, of course I had to take a picture. 

 Porterville also has a rather impressive church (for such a small town anyway). 

It has competition from its neighbouring town Piketberg though – some more dramatic religious architecture awaits.

On the 22 Waterfall Farm (which lie just outside Porterville) there runs a stream down a rather steep 'kloof' of the Olifants River Mountains. There are 22 waterfalls, big and small, up the 'kloof' and to see all of them is approximately a 9-hour hike. We only had an hour and so we saw just a few of them, but it was worth it - we even had a swim!

Some rock climbing in between the waterfalls.