Roxanne Reid
  • Home
  • Book author
    • Travels in the Kalahari >
      • Photo gallery: Travels in the Kalahari
      • Book reviews: Travels in the Kalahari
    • A Walk in the Park >
      • Photo gallery: A Walk in the Park
      • Book reviews: A Walk in the Park
    • The Essential Guide to Self-Editing >
      • Book reviews: Essential Guide to Self-Editing
    • Betrayed
    • Book reviews online
  • Editing & proofreading
  • In the media
    • Travel features
    • Health features
    • Online media
    • Media kit
  • Blog
  • Testimonials
  • Links
  • Contact

Baviaanskloof World Heritage Site

29/11/2010

0 Comments

 
I’ve heard it described as a combo of the Sani and Bloukrans passes, with a smidge of Tsitsikamma beauty thrown in for good measure. I’m talking about the Baviaanskloof, which lies between Willowmore in the west and Patensie in the east, somewhere between the Karoo midlands and the Eastern Cape in South Africa.
There are so many reasons to visit. Rugged crags and mountain passes, waterfalls and river pools, gravel back roads where you pass no more than a farmer in a bakkie or a family in a donkey cart in the space of an hour or two, colour-saturated sunsets and night skies dense with stars. 

This so-called ‘valley of baboons’ lies between the Kouga mountains to the south and the Bavaiaanskloof to the north. It has been the site of human habitation for something like 20 000 years so caves, rock paintings and food storage pits of KhoiSan hunter-gatherers are on the menu too, if that’s where your interest lies. The road itself forms part of a more recent history, being the last built by master pass-builder Thomas Bain (of Swartberg Pass fame) before he died in 1893.
Baviaanskloof World Heritage Site, Eastern Cape, South Africa
And, as the Verimark ads would say, that’s not all. The Baviaanskloof is also part of the Cape Floristic Region, which is one of the world’s 34 biodiversity hotspots. In other words, it’s an area with lots of plants that occur nowhere else in the world but which are threatened by human activities. As a result, the Baviaanskloof Nature Reserve was listed as a Unesco World Heritage Site in 2004. One of the largest conservation areas in the country, this reserve contains seven of South Africa’s eight biomes and something like 1300 plant species. If plants turn you on, this stunning wilderness should definitely be on your ‘bucket list’.

We were completely seduced by the peace, the wilderness atmosphere and the general helpfulness of the locals. When we overshot a turnoff and pulled over before reversing, a woman in a bakkie stopped to find out if we were alright; drivers of passing cars waved; even the men fixing the roads after heavy rains earlier in the year took time to wave and smile. Stop at a shop and you’ll find yourself chatting with the shopkeeper about this and that. 

It’s life at a slower pace, with time to be ‘naais’. Our most negative interaction – if you can really call it that – was when we tried to pay one shopkeeper with a R200 note. ‘We’re not allowed to accept those,’ he told us sadly. Clearly, the drama surrounding the recall of the old note some six months earlier had only just penetrated into the kloof …

More about the Baviaanskloof 

Copyright © Roxanne Reid - No words or photographs on this site may be used without permission from roxannereid.co.za
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Get email links to the latest posts

    Buy my books
    Travels in the Kalahari, amazon.com e-book
    E-book 2012​

    A Walk in the Park, amazon.com e-book
    2nd ed e-book 2015
    The Essential Guide to Self-Editing, amazon.com e-book
    E-book 2017

    About 

    I'm an independent travel writer and book editor with a passion for Africa - anything from African travel, people, safari and wildlife to adventure, heritage, road-tripping and slow travel.
    My travel buddy and husband Keith is the primary photographer for this blog.
    We're happiest in the middle of nowhere, meeting the locals, trying something new, or simply watching the grass grow.
    Use this website to discover new places to go, revisit places you've loved, or take a virtual tour of destinations you only dream about.

    Categories

    All
    Baviaanskloof
    Books
    Botswana
    Camping
    Cape Town
    Chobe
    Conservation
    Drc
    Eastern Cape
    Etosha Namibia
    Food
    Free State
    Garden Route
    Gauteng
    Issues
    Kalahari
    Karoo
    Kenya
    Kruger National Park
    Kwazulu Natal
    Lesotho
    Limpopo
    Linyanti
    Malawi
    Mozambique
    Mpumalanga
    Namaqualand
    Namibia
    Nature Parks
    Northern Cape
    Okavango
    Overberg
    People
    Photography
    Richtersveld
    Tanzania
    West Coast
    Western Cape
    Wild Creatures
    Zambia
    Zimbabwe

    Archives

    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010
    April 2010
    March 2010
    January 2010
    November 2009


Copyright © Roxanne Reid - No words or photographs on this site may be used without written permission from roxannereid.co.za

Privacy Policy and GDPR compliance
​* We promise that we take data safety seriously and use your private data only to offer a personalised experience
* If you subscribed to our newsletter, you will receive our newsletters. You can always unsubscribe by following the link in email or by emailing us
* If you gave us your name, it will only be used to personalise the newsletters
* We have never sold, we are not selling, and we will not sell any of your personal data provided to us
* The blog uses cookies to track activity. It is anonymous except for telling us your location and what you did on our blog
​
Photo used under Creative Commons from berniedup