Southern Africa Safari 2017 – Day 23

Magnificent landscape of the Cederberg Mountains

Sunrise on the Cederberg

We get away at 08h00 after a lovely breakfast at Saint du Barry’s, and I cannot agree with the Garmin on the best route, first mistake of the day. I decide we are going to go via the Biedouw Valley as it cuts off a big loop up to Calvinia before heading South East. Surprise, surprise we do see quite a lot of flowers in the valley along side the road and the river, but still not prolific, but pretty all the same.

Flowers yes we did see some

Looks like the Farmer is telling the sheep to close the gate

We are soon travelling through farms and as co-driver I have to open and close farm gates all of which have different means of securing the gate closed, then on one such gate there is a notice board that states “This road is closed at Uitspankraal between April and November due to the depth and flow of the Doring River in 33 kms” We agree that in view of the drought in the Western Cape and the Cedarberg in particular the river cannot be that high and we have noted the low water levels in the Biedouw River and we decide to press on.

The road on at least two occasions looked as though we were arriving at the farmer’s front door, well it does, one passes the front door and then continues on the road, there is no alternative.

We finally arrive at Uitspankraal and the Doring river crossing and we stop and stare at a 50 metre wide river that has a fair flow. We have no idea how deep it is, Denise throws a rock in and says “it is deep” Now despite all our 4x4 training neither of us wants to wade into the river to gauge the depth and flow. I am not keen on the alternative, which is return to Clanwilliam and head for Calvinia. I say let us give it a go, Denise is hesitant. I have in my mind that the wade depth for my car is 800mm, I have since learnt that it is 700mm.

The Doring River crossing at Uitspankraal see where Denise's rock hit the river

I engage diff lock and low range and enter the water with not a little trepidation, the river gets deeper and deeper and I feel the river bed is very rocky and we do a bit of bouncing, I keep the bow wave steady and we are urging Salama on with “come on girl you can do it” Denise is saying “go, go, go” and I am waiting for the engine to stall or the river to push us down stream, we are travelling at an agonisingly slow pace and we pass mid point and I am waiting for the river to get shallower, the water is lapping against the top of the bonnet, but if anything it is getting deeper. Only 5 metres from the road does the depth start to recede and we can begin to relax. I think to myself this could have been my second mistake of the day and truthfully it was a bit foolhardy and next time, because there will be a next time, I will insist that the co-driver wades the river first.

We have between us opened and closed some 20 farm gates, seen some flowers, changed our underwear and finally arrive at De Bos on the R355 and we head South to try and find the Tankwa Karoo National Park entrance. Well we finally go through a gate and my Garmin is saying no access road, but it is getting late and we bash on.

We suddenly come across a very weird site called Stonehenge it turns out to be a farm and has a tented camp and has some chalets situated on the Tankwa River and near to where they have an annual “Afrikaburn” described on Wikipedia as “

Africa Burns Creative Projects (AfrikaBurn) was created in 2007 as a not-for-profit company, with the intention that it would serve as a vehicle for the creation and co-ordination of an independent South African Burning Man regional event” Look at photos on the web site it looks like an off the wall event.

The Manager/Owner of Stonehenge confronts Denise, whilst I am walking through the bar and lounge where there is music playing and it looks very strange, I get back to Denise and she is being asked if she would like to have a beer by this not too small Afrikaner and what is going through her head is that movie about the people who get lost or breakdown and were murdered in the Australian Outback and their cars are stored in a big barn, because there are also a lot of old cars scattered around the site along with metal art creations that look very spooky.

Well we get the directions to the Reception Offices from our new Boet and he makes it sound like it is just around the corner, well after a couple of hours, during which we get to see three quarters of the Tankwa Karoo we almost find the reception by accident, it is well away from the three entrances and our no access entrance, but at least we find it and our cottage is just down the road. At reception we are told that the hot water is heated by a donkey, so called because you have to constantly prod, cajole and load wood into the fire that heats the boiler. Denise takes charge and I have to prepare and light three fires, the donkey, the braai and the open fire in the living area which is in a fireplace the size of a bathroom. We then both rush between the donkey and braai to make sure that they do not go out in temperatures that are well on the way to single digits. At the end of the day we have a warm shower, a nice braai and a warm cottage, there is no electricity so its paraffin lamps and torches and to cap it all the refrigerator is supposed to be solar powered, but is not working.

We make all the fires safe, we are very conscious of the consequences of fires and we climb into bed thanking the lord that we did not live in the early 1900’s when our cottage was built.