TOP HONOUR FOR KAROO ECOLOGIST

Prof Sue Milton, of Stellenbosch University’s Ecological Conservation Department, has been awarded the Molteno Gold Medal for her outstanding contribution to nature conservation. Sue, who lives in Prince Albert, was honoured specifically for her contribution to the rehabilitation of natural vegetation in the Karoo, a region for which she has a great passion. She also recently received an award from Thrip (Technology and Human Resources for Industry Programme) for contributions that she and her students have made to research on the restoration of surface mines in Namaqualand. The work that Sue and her ornithologist husband, Dr Richard Dean, have done in the Karoo is widely known and acknowledged, however, while this region may be closest to her heart, Sue strongly feels that the natural vegetation has to be preserved throughout all provinces of South Africa.

A CLOSER LOOK AT TOP ATTRACTIONS

National Geographic Traveler magazine takes a closer look at South Africa this month. Among places featured is Gamkaskloof (The Hell). Its unusual name is always a drawcard for tourists looking for somewhere different to go in the Great Karoo. This special section of the March issue also includes articles on The Garden Route, Cederberg Wine Region, South Africa’s three largest cities, Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town, as well as a look at some of the country’s national parks.

SPOTLIGHT ON CHANGE IN THE ARID ZONE

Change will be the theme of this year’s Arid Zone Ecology Forum to be held in Barrydale from September 12 to 15. Sub themes will include: Spatial change in the arid zone; implementing research results to cope with change and climatic change, as well as the effects of change on the arid zone. Field trips will include a study of vegetation change over space and time and visits to quartzite patches on farms and Sanbona Game Farm. Several southern African scientists have been invited to present papers.

KAROO NATIONAL PARK REACHES MAJOR MILESTONE

The Karoo National Park is 25 years old. This major milestone is being celebrated with the opening of the new Interpretive Centre on March 11. South African National Parks chief executive Dr David Mabunda will be there to offer congratulations to Karoo National Park manager Norman Johnson and his team for their unstinting service to tourism. The Interpretive Centre has been created in the old wagon shed (Ou Schuur) of the original farm on Stolshoek. A time line has been laid out in the Centre to clearly explain the development of the Karoo and its inhabitants. The Karoo National Park, which was proclaimed in September 1979, is also home to a wide variety of endemic wildlife. The ecology of three distinct levels of Karoo ecology can be studied at this park. It includes the upper plateau of the Nuweveld Mountains, which tower from 1 750m to 1 912m above sea level, a middle plateau, that rises to 1 300 m above sea level and where Pienaar’s Pass – built between 1940 and 1950 by Kowie Pienaar, then owner of Stolshoek, and four labourers – is a focal point; and the vast plains area, only about 851m above sea level.

MORE THAN JUST FLOWERS

There is much more to Namakwa than flowers. For this reason, the Namakwa District Municipality commissioned a video entitled The Sleeping Giant. It details all attractions of this vast region stretching from the Orange River, north of Springbok, to Sutherland, with its interesting dressed stone houses and ties to the S A Astronomical Observatory, in the south. The region includes fascinating villages, each with its own unique story. The video covers fauna, flora, architecture (corbelled houses) farming, cultural history and tourist attractions of this huge and relatively undiscovered region.

BOERS DECLARE WAR AND IT’S JUST ANOTHER DAY

“I remember the outbreak of the Boer War. It was just another day.” These remarks were made in a letter to the editor of This England, 1981 Winter Edition. An 89-year-old Old Soldier, remembered thinking: “the Boer War wouldn’t be too exciting: it was just another step forward in the history of the greatest empire the world had ever known.” He recalled running home to tell his mother that more newspaper placards than usual had been placed outside the newsagent’s shop. They all announced, ‘War Declared.’ “Where I lived newspapers were a luxury. We got our news from the placards.” In 1899 he was a proud Imperialist, aged seven. He and his pals all knew that one Tommy Atkins was equal to ten Boers, and this was confirmed when they overhead the adults saying “the Boers would be put in their place. It would all be over in no time.” His interest soon waned because the war was many miles away, in a different country. “Adults spoke of General Redvers Buller and of “Bobs.” When flags were put out for the relief of Ladysmith and later, Mafeking, there was much rejoicing. Four Boer leaders were declared outlaws and a reward of £1 000 was put on their heads -‘dead or alive.’ “This really excited us boys. New names entered our games: Cronje, Kruger, Smuts, De Wet. These even replaced Aston Villa, West Bromwich and Albion in our two-a-side football games. Kruger and Cronje v Smuts and De Wet!” One day a mass of flags and streamers in the streets announced it was all over. “Our local shop handed packets of sweets to us kids and a man, who lived down the road, came home dressed in khaki. He was the only real soldier we had ever seen. Then, to the amazement of our little gang, one of the outlaws, Smuts, became Prime Minister of South Africa and an honoured friend of this country.” Things were different when the next war broke out. Old Soldier was 26. He signed up. “This time it was the Kaiser who was going to be put in his place and the German Navy sent to the bottom of the sea.” War was no fun. Many of his mates were killed. Called up in 1938, aged 46, he again saw action and lost more friends and family. The little boy, who found the Anglo-Boer War so exciting, was long gone, faded into the mists of memory.

S A FIRST TO GRADE CONFRENCE VENUES

South Africa is the first country to grade to its conference facilities. Response to a voluntary scheme, launched last year, has been encouraging said Rick Taylor, head of S A’s Tourism Convention Bureau, in an interview with Travel News Weekly. Already more than 40 centres have received their stars. Grading was a benchmark that enabled business, event, exhibition and incentive tourism organisers to choose exactly the right venue to serve their needs, he said.

THE PAMPHLET THAT BECAME A BOOK

Birds bring many tourists to the Karoo. And, for years the man to turn to for information on where the best viewing sites were, was bird boffin Japie Claasen. Then he decided to move to the Cold Bokkeveld. Many felt it would be a severe blow, but he kept a close contact with the region and agreed to produce a pamphlet. He decided to concentrate on the Prince Albert area. The pamphlet, however, grew into a book and it will be on the shelves by mid-year. “When I took a close look at all the information I had collected over the years, there was simply too much for a pamphlet,” said Japie. “So, I wrote Where to watch birds in and around Prince Albert. It covers ten routes and details where to find interesting lbj’s (little brown jobs), as well as most of the Karoo specials. It also lists the ‘vagrants.’ The book includes photographs. Its full birding list will meet the needs of truly serious bird watchers.” Once started, Japie’s enthusiasm for the Karoo bubbled over into a second book. He has just completed the Afrikaans text for a book on the birds of the Karoo National Park. It is currently being translated into English. He and his wife, Ralie, are also well on the way with guide to the Tankwa Karoo and its early inhabitants.

A WORD OF WARNING

A specialist birding tour operator has warned that South Africa is definitely pricing itself out of the market. “We have reached a stage where we can no longer compete with tour prices from other countries,” says one of South Africa’s best-known operators, Peter Lawson of Lawson’s Birding Tours. In a letter to South African Tourism Update, Peter says “It is becoming increasingly difficult to price tours economically due to the exorbitant costs of meals, accommodation and the like in South Africa. Our all- inclusive two-week tours to a variety of wonderful birding spots in South Africa are often not full and some no longer run because birders get better value for money elsewhere in the world. A major UK operator is now offering similar packages to ours, but at lower prices, to 60 per cent of the birding destinations in the world. The excellent name we have built up over the years does not mean much when tourists feel that they can get better value for money at birding venues in other countries.”

TIMES OF IMMENSE SADNESS …

Way back in 1859, Mrs E Rose, penned an account of happy and troubled times in her life. Recently while tidying her attic, Amanda Vermeulen of Little Green World, came across a copy. “Mrs Rose, the great, great grandmother to one of my daughters, must have been a tremendously courageous and capable woman,” said Amanda. “She lost her husband and two sons. She raised not only her own children, but two girls and a boy, belonging to a Mr Kelsey, who later married one of her daughters.” It’s a whimsical and intriguing tale. The Rose family settled at the Cape in 1817 “when stage coaches and omnibuses were not yet known.” They lived on the seaward side of Table Mountain, where “all impurities were blown out to sea.” A ship ran aground in dreadful storm one night. Her husband and youngest son, Frank, 20, rushed to the rescue. (By that time her eldest son, Henry, had left to farm in the Karoo.) Frank was “lost beneath the waves when his exhausted horse could swim no more.” Her husband died of a broken heart and soon afterwards she “was delivered of a new son.” She called him Jabez but changed his name to James. He turned out to be simple. In the hopes that general labour may be beneficial, she sent him to stay with Henry on Klaverfontein, outside Beaufort West. One icy winter deep snow covered the ground. James was sent to fetch horses, quite close to the house.” The poor simple lad lost his way in the blizzard and froze to death. Years later, one of her charges, Mary Kelsey, 6, got out of bed after being tucked in for the night and playfully leapt back and forth over a candle left on the floor by a careless servant. Her nightdress caught alight. Her dreadful screams froze hearts. She died in the flames.

… AND OF GREAT LOVE

The Rose family was bound together by love. “This is evident from Mrs Rose’s tale written in 1859,” said Amanda Vermeulen of Little Green World. “Mrs Rose was deeply religious. Her faith carried her through all heartbreaks. Yet, she does not dwell on sadness. They experienced some delightfully happy times, particularly when she and her daughter, Caroline, ran a respectable little school. Caroline was “a person of rare excellence, divine grace and pure character; svelte, attractive and dignified, highly cultivated, simple, gentle, tender and affectionate, yet firm and gifted enough to influence any young person to pursue things lovely and good,” says her mother. “To win her approving smile was the ambition of all our pupils.” Mrs Rose’s daughters all married well: Ellen to Thomas Thwaits; Kate or Kitty to Andrew Steedman; Caroline to Colonel Harris and Jane to Mr Kelsey. Mrs Rose lived with one of her married daughters for 5½ years. She refers to this time as “a period of bliss.” Then, rather abruptly, she concludes, stating: “at the end of this period I was tempted to leave this haven of peace.” “I can’t help wondering what tempted her away,” says Amanda. “A new love, a new life? I’d love to know.”

CELEBRATE WITH THE SUN IN AN ANCIENT TEMPLE

Want to watch the sun rise and set over an ancient Quena temple in the Karoo? Then, you should join well known archaeologist/historian Dr Cyril Hromnik’s next trip to the Moordenaars Karoo. At each equinox and solstice, he leads groups of enthusiasts interested in the cultural history, cosmology and ecology of the Karoo to Quena or Otentottu (Hottentot) astronomical temple-observatories in the Moordenaars Karoo where they can experience sunrise and sunset over specific points. “Measurement of time was the root of the religion of these people. Their temples still function perfectly,” says Dr Hromnik, who has studied these stone structures for many years.

THE DOCTOR WHO NEVER MANAGED TO RETIRE

Researcher Alwyn Smit recently discovered a doctor who never managed to retire. During his researches into the history of the De Jager family of Beaufort West, Alwyn discovered a fascinating man, John Baldwin Smithon Greathead and his dream to spend his twilight years in the Karoo. He never made it. “In his diary Clarence de Jager writes of a daughter who married a Greathead. Their descendants still live on the farm, Vanwyksfontein, near Colesberg, and run a guest house, Greathead Lodge in the original house, once used as a base by the British Army during the Anglo-Boer War. The house was built by John Baldwin Smithon Greathead, a medical practitioner, born in 1854, who practised in Grahamstown. John loved the Karoo almost as much as he loved hunting, so he bought Vanwyksfontein. He hoped to retire on these spaciousness plains. But Fate had other plans. In 1910 John went hunting in Northern Rhodesia (Zambia) and it cost him his life. He was bitten by a tsetse fly, contracted sleeping sickness and died. So, he never got to enjoy his beautiful Karoo farm. His trophies are still in the house, so are many photographs which reflect the happy times in John’s life. Rhys Mowat and his wife Ellen run the guesthouse

HANDY HIDEY HOLE

When firing started on Paardefontein, one groom found a handy bolt hole. In When Ants Get Angry – the Importance of Graaff Reinet in the Anglo Boer War, Andre MacNaughton, says: “Agterryer Daantjie Jonker, attached to Commandant Lotter’s Commando, knew he had to find a place to hide when he heard the first shots. He dashed behind a patch of prickly pears and there saw an ant bear hole. Digging frantically with his hands he widened it sufficiently to ease himself inside. He lay there listening to the sounds of battle above him, but confident that he was quite safe. He stayed there even when the sounds of skirmish died down. Three days later hunger and thirst forced him out. He glanced about; there was no one in sight, so he dashed off across the veld. Daantjie was the only member of Commandant Lotter’s Commando to evade capture.”

AN APPEAL FOR HELP WITH A DIFFERENT WAR

Military Researcher Col Graham Du Toit is appealing for help. He needs background details and photographs of South African soldiers killed during World War II. Graham has spent 18 years collecting information for a book, The South African Casualties of World War II. “It will not be just another list of names,” he says. “I aim to include photographs of each soldier, his grave and personal story. I have virtually managed to complete the Role of Honour, however, some names of South Africans who joined Commonwealth Forces directly, and those that do not appear on official documentation, are still outstanding. I would love to hear from people in far-flung towns about graves in their local cemeteries and on farms in their districts. Photographs of headstones, memorial panels and individual soldiers would be appreciated, as well as any anecdotal material friends and family would like to share.”

THE GOOD OLD DAYS – NOT ALL THEY WERE MADE OUT TO BE

Flies and curious-smelling bedding left an indelible impression on a young British soldier in 1850. He came to South Africa “to fight in a frontier war where one neither lived nor died like a gentleman.” T J Lucas describes his experiences, in Camp Life and Sport in South Africa. Overnight accommodation left much to be desired. “Beds on most farms were huge square platforms of heavy wood ‘planted’ on four legs. Bedding consisted of a huge feather mattress, not always with the sweetest of odour and a ‘feldt comberse,’ or quilt, a kind of a blanket sewn up in cotton print and apparently never washed.” Lucas liked the food. Mostly it was quite tasty, usually roasted or boiled meat with rice and raisins. “Little ‘commitjies’ or bowls of milk were placed beside each person in the absence of liquor. Some farmers offered a kind of bitter ‘maag beer,’ which they drank before dinner as an appetiser. That was the only kind of fermented drink I ever saw in their houses, with the exception of a coarse spirit termed ‘Bucca Brandy,’ made from the seeds of a bush with the same name that grows wild in the veld. The most disagreeable part of the meal was swarms of flies. These flocked from all quarters when we were at table.” He explained that to keep the herds from straying, or being stolen, particularly at night, most farmers built cattle kraals or thorny enclosures, near their front doors. “This caused us often to be almost eaten alive. The kraal fly is a small, pertinacious insect driven away or dislodged only by repeated effort. He darts his proboscis into your flesh leaving an irritating little sting. These creatures covered the meat and committed suicide in the milk by the hundreds. They were perfect pests. In better homes, however, a maid was generally employed at meal times to brush them away with a chowrie.”

A SALUTE TO TEACHERS AND TEACHING

In the mid 1800s teaching in the hinterland was a hit and miss affair. There were no formal schools. Wandering, out-of-work soldiers, sailors and those who had come to the Karoo in search of a cure for chest ailments, took on jobs as teachers to supplement waning incomes. In the beginning there were only a few dedicated professionals. Calvinia will honour teachers and teaching on March 18 and 20, as part of the town’s 150th anniversary celebrations. Calvinia, named after religious reformer, John Calvin, was proclaimed on the farm, Hoogekraal, in 1848. The town’s first temporary teacher, Mr Punt, a Hollander, was appointed in 1855 at an annual salary of £75, including free accommodation. That was the beginning of a bumpy road towards formal schooling in the region. Calvinia High School has invited all former pupils, teachers and residents, to the launch of a book full of history and anecdotes on teaching in the Hamtam.

America’s first “Presidential Wild Child,” who was once caught smoking on the White House roof, had a strange motto. Alice Roosevelt Longworth, born on February 12, 1844, said:

“I have a simple philosophy: Fill what’s empty, empty what’s full and scratch