WE LIVE in a beautiful country, no doubt about it. We also live in a beautiful province, no doubt about that either. East to west, north and south, there is lots to do and plenty to see.
The weekend before last, the Chiels joined two other East London couples to explore, briefly, the Baviaanskloof.
Early Thursday morning we set off in our own vehicles via the R72 to Paterson, passing Addo and through Steytlerville to Willowmore. Here’s a good quiz question for you: Where is Sir Percy Fitzpatrick, author of Jock of the Bushveld, buried?
You’d probably say Mpumalanga or the Kruger National Park. Wrong. He’s buried on a site overlooking the Sunday’s River, just outside the village of Addo.
Sadly his, and his wife’s grave is overgrown and neglected.
One would have thought the provincial department of tourism might have made something of it. Prominent signage would also help get more visitors there.
The scenic drive from Willowmore down into the Baviaanskloof is dusty but the road is in good shape and well kept.
Our destination, the farm Makkedaat, where we’d booked a cave for two nights.
We walked, did a tough 4x4 route and explored the farm, but more of that for a future Dispatch travel page. The caves are good value and well worth a visit.
After Makkedaat, which is a working farm , we headed into the reserve where, if you plan to drive all the way through, you’ll need a 4-wheel drive vehicle. Cars are not permitted.
You travel through deep ravines with towering cliffs on both sides, and cross the Groot River over drifts at least 20 to 30 times – I lost count.
We drove past Rooihoek, the East Cape Parks and Tourism Agency camp, and pulled in to another, Doodsklip, for a picnic lunch. With shady trees overhead and river nearby, we couldn’t have been happier. The ladies, however, who went off to the ablutions, weren’t so thrilled to find one of its wooden walls had collapsed.
Neither Rooihoek nor Doodsklip has permanent staff in attendance, apparently. For a wilderness experience with no showers or hot water, no piped cold water, electricity or other services either, it might be difficult to beat!
And beware of baboons. There are hundreds and hundreds of them in the Baviaanskloof which, in Dutch, means the Valley of the Baboons.
We drove past several massive troops and were later told by campers at our next stop, that they didn’t dare leave their camp without someone staying behind to guard it from our hairy primate cousins.
Combrinck’s Pass in the kloof is the most challenging section of the road through. It is steep, potholed and rutted.
After leaving the reserve – it’s about a six-hour drive with stops – we had earlier booked in to the campsite at Kudu Kaya, on a citrus farm.
There we pitched tents for two nights beside a babbling stream under yellowwood trees and braaied beside a wooden deck overlooking the river. We listened to orioles in trees, robins in the scrub and baboons barking from the hillside nearby.
Surrounded by electric fences and with farm dogs alert to these potential citrus marauders, we knew we were safe.
Chiel today is Robin Ross-Thompson; e-mail
A drive on the wild side
The weekend before last, the Chiels joined two other East London couples to explore, briefly, the Baviaanskloof.
Early Thursday morning we set off in our own vehicles via the R72 to Paterson, passing Addo and through Steytlerville to Willowmore. Here’s a good quiz question for you: Where is Sir Percy Fitzpatrick, author of Jock of the Bushveld, buried?
You’d probably say Mpumalanga or the Kruger National Park. Wrong. He’s buried on a site overlooking the Sunday’s River, just outside the village of Addo.
Sadly his, and his wife’s grave is overgrown and neglected.
One would have thought the provincial department of tourism might have made something of it. Prominent signage would also help get more visitors there.
The scenic drive from Willowmore down into the Baviaanskloof is dusty but the road is in good shape and well kept.
Our destination, the farm Makkedaat, where we’d booked a cave for two nights.
We walked, did a tough 4x4 route and explored the farm, but more of that for a future Dispatch travel page. The caves are good value and well worth a visit.
After Makkedaat, which is a working farm , we headed into the reserve where, if you plan to drive all the way through, you’ll need a 4-wheel drive vehicle. Cars are not permitted.
You travel through deep ravines with towering cliffs on both sides, and cross the Groot River over drifts at least 20 to 30 times – I lost count.
We drove past Rooihoek, the East Cape Parks and Tourism Agency camp, and pulled in to another, Doodsklip, for a picnic lunch. With shady trees overhead and river nearby, we couldn’t have been happier. The ladies, however, who went off to the ablutions, weren’t so thrilled to find one of its wooden walls had collapsed.
Neither Rooihoek nor Doodsklip has permanent staff in attendance, apparently. For a wilderness experience with no showers or hot water, no piped cold water, electricity or other services either, it might be difficult to beat!
And beware of baboons. There are hundreds and hundreds of them in the Baviaanskloof which, in Dutch, means the Valley of the Baboons.
We drove past several massive troops and were later told by campers at our next stop, that they didn’t dare leave their camp without someone staying behind to guard it from our hairy primate cousins.
Combrinck’s Pass in the kloof is the most challenging section of the road through. It is steep, potholed and rutted.
After leaving the reserve – it’s about a six-hour drive with stops – we had earlier booked in to the campsite at Kudu Kaya, on a citrus farm.
There we pitched tents for two nights beside a babbling stream under yellowwood trees and braaied beside a wooden deck overlooking the river. We listened to orioles in trees, robins in the scrub and baboons barking from the hillside nearby.
Surrounded by electric fences and with farm dogs alert to these potential citrus marauders, we knew we were safe.
Chiel today is Robin Ross-Thompson; e-mail
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