Wild Eastern and Western Cape, 3 Weeks in South Africa, September 2017 (page 4 of 8)

Nieu Bethesda:

It’s a bit... special.

Deserted today, with just a handful of visitors... lots of little restaurants, small guest houses... But right now, everything’s empty and in limbo.











It’s an artists’ town.

Apparently really popular (or so I’ve heard) during the South African holidays... the three South African grannies we’ll meet later even talked about Nieu Bethesda (though they also stopped in Orania).

The place is said to have started with the artist Helen Martins... who took her own life at the end of her days and created a whole range of...

Things you can visit in her museum (her home and the courtyard). Basically (I’ll sound like a total philistine, but oh well).

Lots of "disciples" of all kinds, wise men galore, and more...

Mostly turned in adoration toward nativity scenes (many made from bottles...).

Pyramids and sphinxes, some made from bottles...

Tons of owls with eyes made from the bottoms of... bottles. Bingo, you got it.













The empty glass bottle was definitely the common denominator... maybe she ran a bottle recycling shop... or maybe the alcohol consumption there was off the charts...

Especially since when you visit the house (which is downright creepy and gives you the chills), the walls are painted with regular paint mixed with glass shards... from bottles (you’ve got it now...).

Anyway, you’ve got to like it!

Well, after a history lesson and a bit of zoology, here’s some geology now 🙂 . This travel journal is so comprehensive and really informative 😉. Thanks for all these extra details—with a little touch of suspense... and beautiful photos... a real treat .

Well, for us, it's more like a fossil-hunting workshop that we're interested in!

I love these things because you leave feeling smarter, and usually, you've got a local guide who’s thrilled to meet people who care about what they do—and about them and their corner of South Africa! (It’s even better by canoe, because then the guide really can’t escape!)

So, remember... 500 million years ago, the collision between South America, Africa, Antarctica, Australia, and India—still all connected...



The Karoo becomes a massive basin collecting all the erosion from the mountain range formed to the north?

Hence an unbelievable amount of sediment and fossils.

500 million years ago—no dinosaurs yet, but creatures like this...

Mammal-like reptiles... which all went extinct during a major catastrophe and mass extinction. If I understood correctly, one species survived, and mammals descended from that branch. So, we’re descended from this little critter (Lystrosaurus)... Though, I don’t see any family resemblance!





Which make this country proud?



250 million years ago—mass extinction, 90% of animals disappeared, including these critters...

The stage was set for the dinosaurs!

Okay, seriously... who’s ever held, touched, or searched for a piece of a creature over 250 million years old?

Off we go to the riverbed, completely dry, hunting for our fossils...

The fossils are embedded in the gray dolerite covering the riverbed.

The guide has a little bottle of water—just a splash on the rock, and the fossil stands out from the stone...

The riverbed



A fossil embedded in the rock (later, they take it all, scan the stone, and remove it with a dentist’s drill).



Okay, it’s not very photogenic, I’ll admit...

Our guide:

From Nieu Bethesda, he attended the local school and then the one in Graaff-Reinet...

He was introduced to Paleontology (and a job was created). Apparently, it's quiet here now, but during South African school holidays, it gets really busy... really?

We talked at length about the village, etc... About the challenges faced by the locals who live there.



a bit of farming (we’ll get back to that soon) and selling trinkets to tourists.



about understanding the importance of these discoveries, his job... they also have to be careful about fossils that could be vandalized. About life in the village and its water supply...





Note that he is also Coloured and only speaks Afrikaans or English.

In AFS, you have to define yourself by your origins!

Yep, you’re White, Black, Asian, Coloured...

Coloured = mixed-race or Khoisan

My daughter, an AFS intern for a few months—and as blonde as can be—was surprised to have to answer that question officially.

"What are you?" "?" "White, coloured, Asian?" "? Well, white..."

The original South African population is Khoi or San. So, brown-skinned. The Black population, Bantu, arrived much later and pushed the others out, who then mixed to some extent and became Khoisan. Other coloured people are mixed with whites or Asians.

South Africa has changed

A little anecdote...

We ate dinner twice at a small restaurant in the evening.

A typical South African place with lots of local customers.

The waitresses don’t speak Zulu (it’s annoying). At the end of the meal, both times, one of the two owners—white and sturdy—comes over to ask if we’re happy... First contact, obviously, once again in Afrikaans... we really feel like we’re part of the scene... The owners are nice, happy to see tourists—and French ones at that...

One evening, one of the waitresses is young and white; she’s just starting out... she’s 18, maybe?

The others (Black, you get it) explain things to her, correct her, and tell us she’s new and to excuse her... Times have changed. Even more so when this older Black gentleman comes in alone to sit down... he lived through apartheid...

San paintings workshop:

After wrapping up our visit to Nieu Bethesda, we headed to a nearby farm where you can see San paintings.









We arrived at the farm where the young white woman called us the "guide." A short walk to reach the paintings—another great chance to chat with a local.

When asked about his origins, he said, "Coloured—I’m a mix of Khoï and San (too bad for those who didn’t follow along!)." He laughed openly about "blacks"—their dark skin, their curly hair... No, no, he’s not black... That’s the kind of thing political correctness would condemn.

How do people make a living here? He’s been a farm laborer and handyman for 8 years, ever since the new owner bought the farm, which is mainly for sheep farming.



He lives in Nieu Bethesda, about 10 km away. His wife works "for the government," and three of his kids have moved to the city—one in Cape Town (an artist), and two in banking (Johannesburg and Graaff-Reinet). He managed to get them educated, first here in NB and then in Graaff. His first language is Afrikaans, with English as his second. His dream is to become a farmer himself and manage his own livestock... But there are problems... First, the land—he rents it from the state, which has been promising to sell it to him for years, but nothing happens. Second, his livestock—currently just 8 goats... Well, this year, jackals have wreaked havoc... You see, the jackals live in the nearby reserve, well protected, but they come here to feed! Plus, in the village, there are thefts of young goats, and since he can’t watch his animals during the day... So, his farming career isn’t exactly secure yet. And being a farm laborer isn’t ideal either—he has to cover 10 km every morning and evening, not by car but by hitchhiking.

He identifies as San but prefers the term "Bushman" because the bush is "in his blood." He mentions the term "Hottentot," which has a questionable connotation.

He’s very proud of his roots and his explanations. He even talks about his mother, who passed away a week ago. "We bury our dead, but most importantly, we cover the grave with stones—it’s our tradition."

These aren’t the most stunning paintings... but...



You can see the eland, the San’s iconic animal—with one eland, you can make everything: meat, leather, horn.



The black cross-like shapes represent the San in winter, wrapped in eland-skin blankets.



This area was also a major battleground during the Anglo-Boer War, with graves and traces of soldiers’ passage scattered around.

A soldier’s inscription along the lines of: "War—what a stupid thing."



A mother came to pray.

Karoo NP

Above all, landscapes...

Under the clouds with a bit of drizzle...

Under the sun

And what about the animals in all this?

Festival when the weather's nice









Weird animal, two heads, lots of legs.





So? Mountain Zebra or a Hartmann’s?

I still have my doubts given the terrain's geology, the heat, and the altitude.

You’ll drop them when you come here—100% of the people we asked confirmed puff adders in the Karoo. 🙂 You can even visit the little town of Pofadder (the name of the critter in Afrikaans) and make sure the locals aren’t hallucinating. ../... Thanks, Michel, for this travel journal—still so informative.

Hi Michel

No more buffalo but... A lion, a male, attacking a buffalo carcass (did I mention that or not?).

We pick him up...right in front of the picnic site gate.... still feel like having a picnic there? Remember that little barrier, the small fence, the tiny wire mesh?

When I think we had breakfast here! Right behind that little barrier.



We went to fill up the tank...just to show off "we saw lions"...and to tell the people waiting for the game drive..."we saw lions"...

I’ll say it... what a show-off!

I’m following your travel journal as it unfolds—still just as fascinating, with loads of info that fills in the gaps in our (partial) experience of our trip. For the tracking, we missed ours (canceled without any apparent reason), but it sounded... intense!

Hi

I think I understood they were having issues with a tracking collar...

“When the wind blows, the animals retreat into the bush and you don’t see them anymore!” Bush proverb. Especially when it’s a bit chilly and drizzling… That’s one of the bush rules (according to the rangers I met). And well, for Karoo NP, the rule held true. The two days of gloomy weather were really poor in terms of animal sightings… and yet we explored everything we were allowed to, including 4x4 roads. A carcass of… I don’t know what… eaten by lions… who’ve moved on… where to?



A kraal from the farming days… Lions are regularly seen around the stone walls… but they’re not here today…



We cruise around, we cruise around…



Work to re-seed the bush with its original vegetation… (don’t forget that not long ago, this was farmland).





By the way, there are graves here.

“But if the weather’s sunny and not too hot, in the early evening, the bush can hold some truly beautiful surprises!” Personal proverb. And yes, you can drive around for two days and only see the tail of a zebra… or walk for two hours and see… “Good grief, a rhino’s backside!”



Black, obviously black, since there aren’t any white rhinos here (not enough grass year-round). Though, the “black” part isn’t exactly obvious… (White rhino = wide mouth, hence “wide” became “white.” First version of the name’s origin. First (re)discovery of white rhinos… in a clayey area… they appear “white.” Second version of the name.) You can hear them munching on the shrubby bush… They’re calm, just like us, even coming closer…













“She’s not going to charge, right?”



They carefully cross the road.









One hour of pure magic… without any disturbance… without another vehicle passing by.

“You never know what the bush has in store for you!” Personal proverb After spending an hour admiring our two rhinos... We catch our breath and move forward... maybe 1 km? “Oh my goodness, it’s a lion!” The photo’s blurry, I know. Put yourself in our shoes!



Yes, yes, a lioness is walking right in front of us, at the edge of the road...



She turns toward the bush—“did we lose her?!”



We’re right by a picnic site enclosed by a fence... Except now, we have to get out of the car to open the gate... Slowly... keeping a close eye on our surroundings... We approach (from inside) the fence just to take a peek with the “protection” of said fence... Nothing. We step out and drive off... “There!”



Down the slope, below the road, in a small area where a little stream flows and there’s some green grass... “She’s there!”



She moves, followed by 1... 2... 3... no, 4 cubs...











We watched the scene for a good while... then the whole little family slipped away to hide in the bush...

And just like that, we’d just arrived in Karoo NP, starting our first game drive, and within the second hour... two rhinos and a lion family on the scoreboard... We hung around and kept coming back to the same spot over the next few days... nothing, absolutely nothing more... But hey... that’s already not bad, right?

You weren’t lucky in the Kalahari, but you made up for it in the Karoo...😉 I thought rhinos were a myth in that park. As for the lions, I won’t even talk about them!!!

Hertz South Africa location. The Hilux 4x4 with canopy needs to be booked by calling...as mentioned on the site. The car is waiting for you as planned. Less than 9,500 R for 3 weeks...not bad!

Okay, the chatty intro is done...

Hi, how did you manage to get that price? When I do a simulation, I find it much more expensive.

Hi,

I checked out the Hertz South Africa website.

If I enter the same dates for next year today, I get the same vehicle for 11,495 ZAR... (that’s 765 € at an exchange rate of 1 euro = 15 rand, which is already pretty good—easily under 50 € per day). After the 15% discount Hertz gives me with my bank card, the total comes to 9,770 ZAR. Many cards work with car rental companies—Mastercard with Hertz and Sixt, for example. You can’t book through the website, but you can by calling the call center. I didn’t even have to pay a deposit. Thanks to my card, I also didn’t take out extra insurance, and I had limited mileage (though the limit was generous).