karoo

Carmel Loddenberg Karabo Tjale | 3 days ago

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Carmel Loddenberg & Karabo Tjale

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CAPE TOWN – Nearly 2,000 people have been evacuated from their homes due to floods, Eastern Cape officials confirmed on Sunday.

This as extreme weather continues to wreak havoc in parts of South Africa.

Areas such as Kleinskool, Salt Lake, Missionvale, Motherwell and Wells Estate are the worst affected by the floods.

Many areas are still without electricity.

Eastern Cape police are currently trying to rescue about 100 people who have been caught in heavy rain.

According to the police’s John Fobian, disaster officials were deployed throughout the province, but the weather has hampered their efforts.

“We are trying to get vehicles and choppers to the Cradock and Graaff-Reinet area.

Meanwhile, rescue operations are still underway on the N1 north of Beaufort West following heavy snow.

The road is expected to be closed for most of the day.

The Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC)’s Ashref Ismail said, “We know of dozens of truck drivers who have now found themselves literally stuck on various parts of the N1 between Beaufort West and Richmond.

“Disaster management teams are attempting to reach them with 4x4s and tractors.”

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Transport officials have urged motorists to drive extra carefully this week, as more snow and rainfall has been predicted across the country. Photo: Bongiwe Mchunu

Johannesburg – Five people were killed as snowfall and heavy rainfall battered parts of the country over the weekend.

The Free State, the Eastern Cape and the Western Cape were the worst affected provinces.

Flooding and power failures persisted, motorists became stranded and evacuations increased. A rescue also had to be carried out in Lesotho.

Eastern Cape police spokesperson Mzukisi Fatyela said a man, 69, and a woman, 44, froze to death in Mqanduli and Mthatha and were found lying on different roadsides on Sunday morning.

It was believed the cold weather made it difficult for them to walk to their destinations.

Three others drowned in Port Elizabeth, SABC radio reported. Details on the drownings were not immediately available.

In Lesotho, paramedics responded to distress calls after 41 people were trapped in the Butha Buthe pass en route to Afri-Ski and the Oxborn Lodge, ER24 spokesperson Werner Vermaak said.

Rescuers arrived at the scene at 11am on Sunday.

“They found that almost 30 vehicles were either stuck, or involved in collisions as they skidded on the icy surface,” said Vermaak.

The scene stretched out over 1.5km and multiple people were found with slight hypothermia and dehydration.

One person was a diabetic whose medication had run out and was in need of urgent help. Another person with asthma was also treated.

All 41 were transported to a temporary clinic erected in Fouriesburg.

A downpour in Port Elizabeth led to the evacuation of about 2 000 people.

“The number of evacuations increased from 740 on Saturday night to almost 2 000 on Sunday morning due to flooding. More moderate showers are expected today,” said city spokesperson Kupido Barron.

The municipality said Kleinskool, Salt Lake, Missionvale, Nooitgedacht, Motherwell, Kuyga and Wells Estate were the worst affected areas.

Barron said many areas were still without electricity and the municipality was working on restoring it.

“We would like to reiterate the call to residents to remain safely indoors as even more showers will cause water levels to rise quickly,” said Barron.

In the Western Cape, motorists were stranded due to road closures and flooding. Roads that closed included the N1 near Beaufort West, the N12 at Victoria West, the R61 between Graaff-Reinet and Cradock, and the N6 between Jamestown and Aliwal North.

The N1 and N12 have since been re-opened.

The Road Traffic Management Corporation urged motorists to use caution and refrain from taking unnecessary risks as roads were slippery and heavily congested across the country.

“We want to appeal to people to keep within speed limits, adjust speeds according to prevailing conditions and to maintain safe following distances and be extremely careful when overtaking,” said spokesperson Ashraf Ismail.

Disaster management teams had their hands full trying to assist motorists stuck on the roads. – Sapa

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This flats windows were damaged when a 15-20m tree, outside a block in Milton Road, Sea Point, was felled by the wind. PICTURE: Gareth Smit

 

Cape Town was effectively cut off from the rest of the country yesterday as snow, floods and rockfalls blocked major routes to and from the city.

Flights, however, were not affected.

Snow closed the N1 north of Beaufort West for most of the day, which meant that motorists determined to reach the city would have to go the long way round via Colesberg, Middelberg, Cradock, Graaff-Reinet, Aberdeen and Beaufort West.

Provincial traffic chief Kenny Africa said: “It is an extremely long route but is the only safe route available.”

Vehicles outside Beaufort West on both sides of the blocked section had to queue for hours as workers used bulldozers and graders to clear the snow.

The Matroosberg reflected in a reservoir at sunset. Picture: Gareth Smit

In addition, roads between Three Sisters, Victoria West, Beaufort West and Loxton were also closed because of snow, as was the Montagu Pass.

A bus with 60 passengers was stranded south of Three Sisters in the snow. Hein Rust, Disaster Management head for the Central Karoo District, said some cars were able to get through the snow, but buses and trucks could not.

“Smaller vehicles can manoeuvre more easily on the icy road but bigger vehicles have a much harder time. The dropping temperatures posed a serious risk to the bus’s occupants and our priority was to get them out as soon as possible.”

There was discussion of using the airforce to airlift the passengers out, but the extreme conditions meant the aircraft could not fly.

Eventually the road was cleared. Rust said: “The passengers are safe in the town and bought plenty of food. One or two other areas have been affected but are not as serious.”

Meanwhile lashing rain caused problems along the N2 in the Southern Cape. Part of the highway was closed because of flooding between the Wilderness and Knysna.

Around 300 people were evacuated due to flooding in the Eden district.

The N12 and N9 road of the Outeniqua Pass, was also closed after reports of flooding, rockfalls and heavy mist.

National Sea Rescue Institute spokesman Craig Lambinon said their stations were on standby, and they had had to rescue eight people trapped by rising waters – four at Red Bridge on the Knysna River and another four in Cranmere.

MEC for Environmental Affairs and Development Planning Anton Bredell said disaster management teams were working hard to clear the roads as soon as possible.

“Obviously we are worried but the teams on the ground are doing their best and the progress so far seems good. The sooner the roads are cleared up the better as families head in and out of the city after the mid-year school holidays and the reopening of schools (tomorrow).”

Weather Office spokesman Rian Smit said it should stop snowing by this morning.

”We expect most of the snow to let up overnight in most areas. It should be better with a minimum of -1 ºC and maximum of 10ºC expected in the Beaufort West area. Most of the other areas can expect relief as well.”

Today’s forecast for the city is a maximum temperature of just 13ºC. It will be partly cloudy with some rain, and a 30km south-westerly wind. – Sunday Argus

kowthar.solomons@inl.co.za

Carmel Loggenberg | 8 hours ago

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Eastern Cape officials say efforts to remove vehicles stuck in snow are yielding positive results.

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CAPE TOWN – Several roads in the Eastern Cape remain closed, but police and traffic officials say efforts to remove vehicles stuck in snow are yielding positive results.

Areas which include Kleinskool, Salt Lake, Missionvale, Motherwell and Wells Estate were affected by snowfall and heavy floods.

Police spokesperson John Fobian said more than 100 people and several cars were rescued on the road between Cradock and Graaff- Reinet on Sunday.

Lootsberg Pass was cleared.

Some vehicles and two trucks are still stuck on the road. The trucks will be removed by heavy machinery once the snow melts, said Fobian.

Cars are being removed with tractors and 4X4s.

Meanwhile, residents who were affected by flooding in the Eastern Cape are being accommodated in local halls.

(Edited by Thato Motaung)

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More flood victims evacuated at Nelson Mandela Bay

15 Jul 2012

“The number of evacuations increased from 740 on Saturday night to almost 2000 this Sunday morning due to flooding. More moderate showers are expected today,” said spokesman Kupido Barron.
The municipality said areas such as Kleinskool, Salt Lake, Missionvale, Nooitgedacht (Booysen Park), Motherwell, Kuyga and Wells Estate were the worst affected.
Many areas are still without electricity. The municipality said it was working on restoring the power.
The areas included Van Stadens, Gamtoos, Tembani, Butterfield, Greenbushes, Theescombe, Seaview, Blue Horizon Bay, Mill Park, Forest Hill, Summerstrand-Vigne Street, and Westering. The SABC reported today that the snowfall and rain led to more road closures in the province. These were the Penhoek Pass on the N6 road between Queenstown and James Town, Wapads Pass on the R61 between Cradock and Graaff Reinet, Boesman Hoek Pass on the R397 and the Lootsberg Pass between Graaff Reinet and Middleberg Cape.
The Langkloof road as well as the road to St Francis Bay, where a bridge was swept away last year, have also been closed.
“We would like to reiterate the call to residents to remain safely indoors as even more showers will cause water levels to rise quickly,” said Barron.

Nathan Adams Shamiela Fisher | 17 hours ago

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Authorities are assessing conditions on the province’s roads following heavy snowfalls.

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CAPE TOWN – The N1 north of Beaufort West remains closed to traffic after heavy snowfall in the area.

The national road between the town and Victoria West was briefly opened on Saturday evening, but was blocked off again.

The route between Gauteng and Cape Town via Middelburg, Graaff-Reinet and Aberdeen is also still closed to traffic.

The Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC)’s Ashref Ismail has urged motorists heading in and out of the Western and Eastern Cape to postpone their trips.

He said officials have formed a joint operations centre and the army could possibly be used to help with rescue operations.

Ismail said people should avoid the area.

Meanwhile, sections of the N6 and N9 were also closed to traffic.

Western Cape Traffic Chief Kenny Africa said, “We are glad that motorists have been patient.”  

In the Eden District Municipality in the Southern Cape, over 100 residents from informal settlements have received assistance after they had to be evacuated due to flooding.

On Friday, the area was hit with heavy snow and rain

Residents are being housed in community halls.

Disaster Risk Management’s Gerard Otto said officials distributed food and blankets.

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Eigentlich kann es doch nur ein Missverständnis sein: dass Touristen das Westkap in Südafrika besser finden als das Ostkap. Sicher, Ersteres hat das einmalige Kapstadt, den größten Teil der Garden Route, die Wein-Hochburgen Stellenbosch und Franschhoek und natürlich die Whale-Watching-Stadt Hermanus.

Aber Landschaft im besten Sinne hat vor allem das Ostkap zu bieten, und Wale prusten hier ebenso Fontänen in die Luft. Vor allem aber schwimmen sie Besuchern schon kurz hinter dem Flughafen in Port Elizabeth ins Sichtfeld, direkt von der Küstenstraße kann man sie sehen, die ersten “Aahs!” und “Oohs!” dieser Reise provozierend.

Auch wir werden in den nächsten Tagen aus dem Staunen nicht mehr herauskommen, denn das mit den wilden Säugetieren geht auf dem Festland des Ostkaps weiter, in der Karoo, einer Halbwüstenlandschaft, die sich auf einer Fläche so groß wie Frankreich erstreckt.

Hier schleichen die “Big Five” durchs südafrikanische Unterholz – Löwe, Leopard, Büffel, Nashorn und Elefant. Nicht wegen ihrer Hünenhaftigkeit haben ihnen die Großwildjäger diesen Spitznamen gegeben, sondern weil man bis heute dabei draufgehen kann, wenn man ihrer habhaft werden will.

Hier gibt es die “Big Seven”

Wir aber sind nicht zum Jagen gekommen, sondern zum Gucken. Und zum Genießen. Zum Beispiel im “Addo Elephant National Park”, der auf Afrikaans viel schöner klingend “Addo Olifant Nasionale Park” heißt. Weil er bis an die Küste reicht, kann er sogar mit den “Big Seven” aufwarten – auch Wal und Weißer Hai fallen in sein Portfolio.

Seit 1931 gibt es ihn, er ist der drittgrößte Nationalpark Südafrikas. Zu seinen Bewohnern gehören Büffel, Buschböcke, Warzenschweine, Spitzmaulnashörner und Hyänen, doch die Elefanten sind das Stammpersonal und werden immer mal wieder durch Neuzugänge aufgestockt, zuletzt 2003 durch acht Bullen aus dem Krüger-Nationalpark.

Faul lümmeln sie an ihren Wasserstellen herum oder versteigen sich direkt vor der Stoßstange unseres Jeeps in eine Rangelei, bei der sie ihre Zähne ordentlich krachen lassen. So eine “Nahtiererfahrung”, so viel ist sicher, haben wir in dieser Form bislang nur in Tierdokumentationen gemacht.

Dass die Dickhäuter in unserem Fall dabei auf einer geteerten Straße stehen, die in so einen Wildpark genauso wenig passt wie eine Treppe in den Mount Everest, vernachlässigen wir für den Moment – denn der ist wirklich groß.

Ein Wildhüter in Todesangst

Schon seltsam, wie sich der Adrenalinausstoß verzehnfacht, wenn kein Zaun zwischen Mensch und wildem Tier ist. Schnurrt dann auch noch der Abstand zwischen beiden auf null zusammen und gelüstet es den Elefanten, mit seinen Hauern den Geländewagen durchzurütteln und die Kühlboxen aus dem Heck zu zerren, dann Gnade allen, die es schaffen, Ruhe zu bewahren.

Und obgleich so ein Szenario genau das richtige wäre, um sich nach Abflauen der Todesangst damit bei den Zurückgebliebenen daheim zu brüsten, passiert es uns glücklicherweise nicht an diesem Tag im Addo-Park. Wildhüter Jonathan jedoch hat es genau so schon erlebt. Und er klingt nicht wie ein Mann, der Jägerlatein nötig hätte. Es blieb eine Ausnahme, sagt er, die gut ausging.

Doch so oder so: Wer sich unter wildes Viehzeug begibt, tut das auf eigene Gefahr. Die Erfahrung aber lehrt, dass man als Insasse eines Geländewagens keine Angst haben muss, denn die Tiere wissen, dass diese Mobile weder Gefahr noch Genuss bedeuten, dass sie weder Feind noch Beute sind.

Trotzdem werden wir ermahnt, nicht aufzustehen oder anderweitig aus dem Umriss des Jeeps herauszuragen – nur das kompakte Gefährt ist reizlos für Löwe Co.

Warum die Mistkäfer so wichtig sind

Und wir sind sogar so reizlos für den König der Tiere, dass er noch nicht mal die Flucht ergreift, als wir direkt neben ihm stoppen. Im Gegenteil, seine Lordschaft wälzt sich lediglich auf den Rücken und verharrt in dieser Stellung, als wolle er von uns gekrault werden.

Das aber lassen wir lieber und fahren mit Jonathan weiter durch die herb-schöne Parklandschaft, in der – wie überall am Ostkap und in der Karoo – der Spekboom, eine kleinblättrige, buschförmige Sukkulente, der Platzhirsch unter den Pflanzen ist. Und außerdem das Lieblingsfutter der Elefanten.

Nicht nur, dass deren Leben hier der pure Müßiggang ist und sie nur als Objekte zum Bestaunen zu fungieren haben, es wird ihnen auch noch der Dreck nachgeräumt. Der “flightless dung beetle”, der flugunfähige Mistkäfer, zwirbelt aus ihrem Kot große Bälle, in denen sich seine Larven vollfressen und ihrerseits Verdautes ans Erdreich abgeben.

So treiben sie einen wertvollen Biokreislauf voran. Und daher ist es verboten, durch Elefantendung zu fahren – Mistkäfer könnten dabei ums Leben kommen!

Exklusive Lodges in der Wildnis

Das “Kwandwe Privat Game Reserve”, unsere nächste Station, ist ein privates Wildreservat, das sich über eine Fläche von 16.000 Hektar zieht, nördlich des Addo-Parks und am Great Fish River gelegen ist und noch um etliche Male verwunschener wirkt.

Die Menschen hinter dem Projekt haben sich der Erhaltung und Wahrung dieser Natur verschrieben und vier exklusive Lodges in diese Urlandschaft hineingewürfelt. Sie sind Mitglied der Hotelvereinigung “Relais Château” und gehören zum Geschmackvollsten, was unter der Sonne Afrikas zu finden ist. Sie sind hochwertig, wirken aber keineswegs deplatziert in der kargen Landschaft der Karoo.

Um es kurz zu machen: Der Gast wohnt wie ein König, und selbst aus seinem Badezuber, der in einem Saal aus Glas steht, kann er den wilden Tieren noch beim Äsen zuschauen. Das Kwandwe ist genau der Typ Oase, den man vorzufinden wünscht, wenn man nach einer langen Pirsch im Morgengrauen durchgefroren aber glücklich heimkehrt von Büffel, Strauß und “Cheetah”, dem seltenen Geparden.

Für unsere Wildkatze sind wir auf Geheiß unseres Rangers Murray sogar aus dem Jeep gestiegen und haben uns ihr bis auf zehn Meter genähert. Erst als wir alle wieder heil im Land Rover sitzen, gibt Murray zum Besten, dass Frau Gepard gerade satt war und eh keine Gefahr bestand.

Haudegen mit tiefschwarzem Humor

So also kobert man die Herzen wildentwöhnter Großstädter: Man lockt sie in vermeintliche Gefahr, um ihnen hernach klarzumachen, dass es soooo mutig nun auch nicht war, den Wagen zu verlassen. Wenn uns jemand auf unserer Tour mindestens genauso beeindruckt wie das liebe Vieh, dann sind es die Ranger und Trapper selbst, allesamt Haudegen, die die Ruhe weg und einen tiefschwarzen Humor haben.

Nicht nur, dass sie blitzschnell reportieren, dass das Zebra, dessen Spur sie adleräugig im Vorbeifahren erspähen, trächtig war, sie machen gern auch böse Witze: “Gehen Sie nicht allein hinunter zum Fluss”, sagt Murray, “es könnte sein, dass Sie nicht wiederkommen.”

Und was macht man nach einem Tag, an dem man die Gepardin, das seltene Erdferkel, eine vorbeidonnernde Nashornherde und einen Löwenvater gesehen hat, der in Anwesenheit seines Jungen einen Gnu-Knochen knackt – ein Geräusch, das man nie wieder vergessen wird, weil es sich tief in die Eingeweide senkt?

Wir versammeln uns rund um den Kamin, schauen ins prasselnde Feuer und danken bei einem edlen Single Malt dem lieben Gott dafür, dass wir das alles erleben durften. In diesem Moment kommt Murray und rät, den Pool der Kwandwe-Lodge am kommenden Tag zur Abenddämmerung hin nicht aus dem Auge zu lassen. Manchmal würden sich die Elefanten heranwagen und ein paar Züge Wasser aus dem Pool rüsseln. Genau so war es dann auch.

Die Erfüllung eines Lebensraumes

Als wir zwei Tage später das Samara-Wildreservat nahe Graaff-Reinet erreichen, eine der ältesten Städte Südafrikas, wähnen wir uns endgültig im Reisehimmel und müssen konstatieren: Nach oben ist immer noch Luft.

Samara, das ist der Lebenstraum, den sich Sarah Tompkins und ihr Mann, ein englischer Unternehmer, erfüllt haben. Manchmal muss man eben nur auf einen Berg steigen in der eigenen Heimat, den Blick schweifen lassen, und prompt ist man verliebt in ein Stück Erde, das man früher gar nicht auf dem Plan hatte.

Der Johannesburgerin Sarah Tompkins ist es nach vielen Jahren in London und Paris so ergangen. Mehr als 13 ehemalige Farmen haben die Tompkins seitdem in der Camdeboo-Ebene gekauft, Zäune und Häuser haben sie entfernt und das gesamte Areal an die Natur zurückgegeben.

“Wir sind das, was früher der Krügerpark war”, sagt Sarah Tompkins und meint damit den Anteil von Naturbelassenheit. Auf 28.000 Hektar führen Giraffen, Gnus, Zebras und elf Cheetahs nun ein gutes Leben, denn “Samara”, das heißt auch “beschützt durch Gott”, nicht nur durch die Tompkins.

Affen schleichen sich auf die Terrassen

Weil aber so viele Hektar wildes Land nicht durchgängig kontrolliert werden können, haben die Thompsons auch mit Wilderern aus Südostasien zu tun, die per Hubschrauber ihre Rhinozerosse attackieren, um an deren Hörner zu kommen.

Wenn aber alles friedlich ist, so wie meistens, dann sind auf “Samara” und seinen Fünf-Sterne-Lodges eher die Affen los. Bis auf die Terrassen der Gäste schleichen sie heran, um Kekse zu stehlen, nehmen aber sofort Reißaus, sobald sich der Besitzer des Gebäcks zeigt.

Alles, was man hier erleben kann, lullt uns ein in das Gefühl, Südafrika und seinem wilden Herzen so nah wie möglich gekommen zu sein. Seiner Weite, seiner einmaligen Schönheit.

Und dann abends, bei einem Sundowner und in Erwartung eines fürstlichen Diners, noch das Gefühl, als linsten uns aus der Dunkelheit alle Viecher zugleich an. Wie es da knackt und knirscht, jault und piepst!

Doch bevor wir überschnappen und gar nicht mehr weg wollen, holen uns Sarah Tompkins und ihre Crew auf den Boden handfester Tatsachen zurück, denn “Samara”, das ist nicht nur Müßiggang vom Feinsten, sondern auch Arbeit, auch für die Gäste. Bevor wir fahren, müssen wir noch einen Spekboom pflanzen: Futter für die wilden Tiere.

Die Reise wurde unterstützt von Afrika Reisen Exklusiv und South African Airways.

© www.samara.co.za

Die „Manor Lodge“ im Samara-Wildreservat nahe Graaf-Reinet am Ostkap

© Infografik Welt Online

Waterberg-Region: Viele Tiere, kaum Menschen

An der Garden Route ist alles halb so wild

Zu Fuß durch den Busch Südafrikas

Wärme garantiert – in Berlin!

Am Kap der guten Golfer

Safari-Erlebnis zu Fuß und im Jeep

2012-06-21 12:01

Durban – Igcwele iyanyinyitheka iNkantolo yeSifunda yaseThekwini ngaphambi kokulalelwa kwesicelo sebheyili samaphoyisa ophiko olulwisana nobugebengu obuhleliwe, oluhlakaziwe.

La malungu alolu phiko angu-20, nasolwa ngokuba ‘ngomashayabhuqe’, aboshwe ngoLwesithathu ohlelweni lapho oKlebe bebesebenzisana khona ne-Independent Police Investigative Directorate.

Ababhikishi bebemi ngaphandle kwenkantolo bezwakalisa ukweseka la madoda.

Lowo obengukhomishana wamaphoyisa uBheki Cele wamukelwe ngenhlokomo ngesikhathi engena enkantolo.

Amaphoyisa ankanise lonke ibhilidi ngenxa yokugcwala nomongo waleli cala.

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ikhasi lethu kuFacebook ukuze uthole izindaba ngolimi lwakho

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IzindabaNews24 kuTwitter

– SAPA

ANTI-FRACKING lobbyist Jonathan Deal said on Wednesday he fully expected Mineral Resources Minister Susan Shabangu to lift the moratorium on the controversial gas extraction technique hydraulic fracturing (fracking) soon after she delivered to Cabinet a report from a task team established to investigate its pros and cons.

In several quasi-religious statements Energy Minister Dipuo Peters has claimed it would be “sinful” not to exploit SA’s untapped shale gas resources, estimated by the International Energy Agency to be the world’s fifth-largest at 485-trillion cubic feet. Ms Peters has not been alone; at least two members of the National Planning Commission have also said South Africa should at least determine its reserve.

On Tuesday Ms Peters said South Africa was at a critical point at which any means to increase energy supply should be explored. “President Jacob Zuma always speaks about overcoming poverty and unemployment. If fracking is safe, then it should be the way to go.”

In May she said: “If it is proven that gas extraction could be beneficial then let’s alter the Environmental Management Act … I wish and pray on a daily basis that this report should say it. Let’s not pretend that it is there.”

But Mr Deal said it was not these comments that convinced him Ms Shabangu would allow fracking.

“Her job is to exploit the country’s mineral resources. She is not concerned with water, the environment or tourism…. If she does that she opens up litigation that will involve the state, the (prospecting rights) applicants and taxpayers,” he said.

Fracking in South Africa has opponents from international businessman Johann Rupert, who owns land in the Karoo, to about 300 landowners in the ecologically sensitive region and Agri Eastern Cape, which has thousands of members.

Petrochemical companies have applied for exploration rights over about 220000km² of the Karoo, and the landowners represented by Graaff-Reinet lawyer Derek Light own a “sizeable portion” of that land.

“We’re talking thousands of square kilometres … one client alone owns 35000km²,” Mr Light said.

Ms Shabangu’s spokeswoman was not immediately available for comment. Ms Shabangu has previously said the report will be delivered to the Cabinet this month.

Legal experts believe a Constitutional Court ruling handed down earlier this year — which says that holders of mining rights in certain provinces cannot mine until the land has been zoned — in effect puts on hold any proposed fracking in the Karoo. This is even if Ms Shabangu grants applications for prospecting or mining rights.

blaines@bdfm.co.za

By
Nigel Tisdall

PUBLISHED:

06:32 EST, 11 July 2012

|

UPDATED:

04:52 EST, 12 July 2012

This is a most unlikely tourist attraction. In a sunny cemetery on the outskirts of Cradock, 145 miles north of Port Elizabeth in South Africa’s Eastern Cape province, there stands a tombstone erected in memory of a man who just happened to be called Harry Potter.

He died in 1910 at the age of 46, oblivious to a future fame that now brings a smile to any Hogwarts fan who passes through this dusty frontier town.

Rocks and hard places: The Great Karoo covers around one third of South Africa in splendidly rugged fashion

Cradock lies at the gateway to the Great Karoo – the vast, elemental semi-desert that covers a third of South Africa. The name comes from the Khoi word for ‘dry’, and it is a soul-soothing world of big skies, parched mountains and empty roads that seem purpose-built for a fly-drive holiday.

The original Harry Potter was most likely a descendant of the 1820s settlers, shipped in from Britain to colonise the land west of the Great Fish River, from where 60 per cent of the world’s mohair is produced.

This rich pioneer history is one reason to visit the oasis-like settlements of the Karoo, where the past is boxed up in absorbing museums and heritage buildings.

In Cradock, the streets are wide enough to turn a huge ox-cart. It was from such towns that the Boers set off on their Great Treks of the late 1830s. The centrepiece is a magnificent Dutch Reformed Church, completed in 1868 and modelled on St Martin-in-the-Fields in Trafalgar Square – the story goes that the Reverend John Taylor commissioned it to console his homesick wife.

The nearby Victoria Manor Hotel, where Harry Potter would have no doubt sunk a beer, dates from the 1840s and is now a delightfully restored Victorian-era hotel with pressed-tin ceilings, antique beds and haddock in hollandaise sauce for breakfast.

Alongside it runs Die Tuishuise, a
run of single-storey wagon-builders’ cottages now converted into cosy
guesthouses with gardens filled with citrus trees. With BB costing
from £90 a night for two, these are a choice spot in which to sit and
read some of the great books the Karoo has inspired.

One of its most famous authors is Olive Schreiner, who wrote the The Story Of An African Farm. The simple house where she lived in the 1860s is now a charming literary museum.

Camera call: This sparse landscape offers majesty and mystery in equal measure

Life was much harder then, a time when kitchen floors were made of dung and the best way to clean your chimney was to drop a fluttering chicken down it.

Today, checking into Ganora, a 4000 hectares farm near Nieu Bethesda, I’m impressed to find white-washed outbuildings that now hold designer bedrooms – £80 a night with breakfast. Dinner is served in a restored barn where my host, Hester, likes to use old LPs as table mats. I plump for a warming glass of South African red and some delicious Karoo lamb served on ‘Vocal Gems from the Mikado’.

Outside, the night sky is filled with stars. My only other companions are 2,500 sheep, a few Dutch tourists, and a perky Jack Russell called Lulu.

She joins me on a walk to see some Bushmen paintings in a nearby river gorge. They are 7,000 years old and in two styles – neatly-edged images patiently drawn by the San using porcupine quill pens, then the more hasty finger daubs of later Khoi artists. Even then, life was speeding up.

For men like JP, who farms Ganora, the true joy of the Karoo is fossil-hunting. Palaeontology might seem a dry old subject, but it isn’t here. Some 253 million years ago, this area was covered with rivers filled with strange beasts – one creature with a fearful grin was christened the ‘smilesaurus’.

The fossils of the Karoo have given us a
complete record of the evolutionary sequence from reptile to mammal. JP
shows me some fine examples in his farm museum, along with a haunting
collection of Stone Age tools. When I pick up a stone hand-axe that was
in use 100,000 years ago it fits my palm perfectly – sparking an
electric shock of time travel that feels like a hotline to my inner
Neanderthal.

Just two centuries ago the Karoo teemed
with wildlife, including herds of migrating springbok so vast they took
days to pass. You can still have enchanting animal encounters  here –
most notably in the Mountain Zebra National Park near Cradock, and on
the vast private game reserve of Samara where wild cheetah have been
successfully re-introduced.

Ragged glory: Nigel watched the sun set over the Valley of Desolation at Graaff-Reinet

For me, though, the real draw of the Karoo is its immense, heartlifting landscape.

This is a place, as Cecil Rhodes put it, ‘to be alone with the alone’. Nowhere bears this out better than watching the sun set over the Valley of Desolation at Graaff-Reinet. You can drive right up to the summit of this mini-Grand Canyon and watch our planet turn apricot.

Frankly, you haven’t seen South Africa until you’ve enjoyed a view over the Great Karoo.

Travel Facts

Africa Travel (020 7843 3583, www.africatravel.co.uk) offers tailor-made holidays to the Great Karoo.

A seven-day package spending two nights in Cradock at Die Tuishuise, three at Ganora, and two in Graaff-Reinet at The Andries Stockenstrom Guesthouse, costs from £1,495 pp including BA flights, car hire and breakfast.

For more information on the Eastern Cape see www.ectourism.co.za.

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