Rose’s Round-Up March 1994 No 14
IT’LL BE A HELLUVA MONUMENT There are moves afoot to declare the whole of Gamkaskloof, The Hell, a National Monument. This news has excited all who are in any way associated with this unique little valley, particularly those who once lived there. The Hell has been inhabited since 1843, but, until 1969, it could only be reached on foot. Then a road was built and as a consequence people slowly left. Just getting into The Hell is exciting. It is reached along as magnificent winding road which passes what possibly is the only cork tree left in the Karoo. [...]
Rose’s Round-Up February 1994 No 12
THE GREAT KAROO’S A SMALL WORLD After reading the January Round-up, Murray de Villiers, owner of La De Da farm, placed a copy in his guest cottage. The first visitor to stay there was David Hudson Lamb, who, like Val Strickland in Canada, is related to Beaufort West’s first magistrate, James Goldbury Devenish, and the Lambs of Nelspoort. He is tracing the family history, which is closely linked to Prince Albert and their original De Beer family. The Central Karoo Regional Tourism Office was able to provide a great deal of valuable background information and David was most delighted. [...]
Rose’s Round-Up January 1994 No 11
KAROO BECOMES A FILM STAR The Central Karoo is auditioning for a major role in a period film. A British director and his technical advisors, seeking a venue for a film that requires an 1860 setting, are looking for sites between Laingsburg and Loxton. Last month the central Karoo starred in an international 30 second TV advertisement – that it took a week to make. The script called for a Nevada Desert scene, and the British directors, from a well-known company, which has filmed such major movies as The Blade Runner, chose a spot outside Merweville. The required desert [...]
Rose’s Round-Up December 1993 No 10
ZDRAVSTVOEITE ANDRE KONSTANTINOVITCH It’s not a typo - “Zdravstvoeite “– actually means “Good day, Hello” in Russian. This is how the Karoo greeted and welcomed Professor Andre Konstantinovitch Ignatinko, head of Afrikaans at Moscow University. For the past three years he has been a lecturer at the University of the Orange Free State in Bloemfontein, and now, before he returns to Russia, he wanted to show his wife, Larisa, and his little six-year old daughter, Katje, more of South Africa. On the way to Cape Town they stopped off in the Karoo. They were accompanied by Miss Estelle, Marais, [...]
Rose’s Round-Up October 1993 No 9
GREETINGS FROM HIS GRACE A highlight among the messages of congratulations received in Richmond, on the occasion of the town’s 150th anniversary, was a telegram from the 10th Duke of Richmond. It read: “I am pleased to send you my warmest congratulations on the 150th anniversary of Richmond. One day I would like to visit you, I hope all citizens of Richmond enjoy the celebrations.” Messages were also received from the mayor of Richmond upon Thames, Councillor Gina MacKinnery, and from Eileen Leo-Hayden, honorary secretary of Richmond Overseas Links, a non-political, non-sectarian organization formed to establish and maintain cultural, [...]
Rose’s Round-Up September 1993 No 8
THE SNOWMAN OF THE KAROO Dries Engelbrecht, manager of the Karoo National Park, recently had to travel to Augrabies, which like the Karoo is a hot, dry, semi-desert area. He left Beaufort West just as the recent rain and snow began. By the time he reached the top of the Nuweveld Mountains the snow was already a few centimeters deep. He thought of the hot dry area he was travelling to and the fact that children there seldom see rain, leave alone snow. Dries immediately stopped his bakkie, unpacked his provisions from his big cool bag and filled it [...]
Rose’s Round-Up August 1993 No 7
WHO WAS MERVEWILLE’S ENGLISHMAN Just south of Merweville there is a signpost pointing to “The Englishman’s Grave”. And, about 500 m from the road, under some thorn trees in the veld is a neatly kept grave with a simple white marble cross. But, just who was this Englishman? His name was Walter Oliphant Arnot, and he came to South Africa with a British regiment during the Anglo-Boer War. He had been led to believe that the British were fighting “savages” in Africa, however, he developed a great respect for the Boer people and regretted his part in the war. [...]
Rose’s Round-Up July 1993 No 6
WHERE IS “SKOTTELGOED DRAAI” The last curve on the road out of Prince Albert, leading towards the Swartberg Mountains, is known as “perde draai” (horse corner). The locals, however, refer to it as “skottelgoed draai” (pots and pans corner). The reason that this corner got this unusual name is proof of the local population’s sense of humour. Way back in time two cars crashed into each other here. It was due to the fact that the drivers had the oddest nicknames – Pot and Pan – that local humourists could not resist giving the corner its odd name. KAROO [...]
Rose’s Round-Up June 1993 No 5
DANGEROUS DELICACY In some parts of the Central Karoo mouths water when a “pofadder” is mentioned. It is a sausage made from liver, kidneys, and selected offal, minced with fat and flavoured with special spices. Instead of a sausage skin, it is stuffed into an intestine for braaiing or pan-frying. The Country Hotel at Leeu Gamka recently wished to advertise its butchery to tourists and included “pofadder” as one of its specialties. The advert was written in Afrikaans and translated into English by the magazine’s staff who, of course, had never heard of this treat, so there with Karoo [...]
Rose’s Round-Up May 1993 No 4
ELDERLY MOUNTAIN CLIMBERS A Cape Town Club for elderly, single senior citizens, visited the mountain farm, Wilgeboschkloof, in the Merweville district last month. Farm owners Hennie and Elsabe Victor thought that they would have a very restful weekend with this group, but that was not the case. “Of the 11 who visited, the youngest must have been 65 and there were two in their 80s – one was 80 and the other 84. Shortly after arrival all the visitors energetically set off on the mountain trail. We have a series of walks and they enjoyed most of these. In [...]
Rose’s Round-Up April 1993 No 3
WRONG NUMBER – NOT AGAIN Platteland party line telephone systems totally confuse city visitors. They are used to answering the telephone each time it rings. A recent “helpful” guest at Melton Wold Guest Farm, between Victoria West and Loxton, ran to answer the telephone every time she heard it ring. Of course, many calls were not for the guest farm and she was puzzled at why they should get so many wrong numbers in so small a place. Once the mysteries of the platteland manual exchange system had been explained to her, she was quite red-faced. “I simply thought [...]
Rose’s Round-Up March 1993 No 2
MUSEUM 'WORTH A SONG' It seems Elton John may have sneaked into Beaufort West unnoticed on his way to Sun City. There is an inscription in the visitor's book outside the Chris Barnard Exhibition - it simply reads: Elton John, a London Address and says "this exhibit's worth a song." Now, like a lilting melody the mystery will remain - was it or wasn't it him? PLANNING FOR TOURISM The first "platteland" workshop on planning for tourism was held in Beaufort West on March 2. It was presented by Satour and attended by 30 delegates from various towns in [...]
Rose’s Round-Up January 1993 No 1
BUSY QUARTER The first three months of operation have been busy, but nevertheless, successful. The Central Karoo has been brought to the attention of newspaper and magazine editors and several tourism stories have been widely publicised. All press releases sent out have received good coverage in the local “platteland” press, as well as in national newspapers, such as Die Burger. A close working relationship has also been established with Radio Kontrei and with other radio travel programmes, such as the Saturday morning Travellers Check and Padlangs. The latest success is an item in Getaway magazine. It has resulted in [...]
