We’ve come to Oudtshoorn in the Little Karoo and rather unexpectedly met 500 Polish orphans. They lived here for four and a half years, but this is the first time I’ve felt part of their lives. That’s the joy of Oudtshoorn’s CP Nel Museum – there’s always something new to discover.
By Roxanne Reid
We’ve come to Oudtshoorn in the Little Karoo and rather unexpectedly met 500 Polish orphans. They lived here for four and a half years, but this is the first time I’ve felt part of their lives. That’s the joy of Oudtshoorn’s CP Nel Museum – there’s always something new to discover.
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By Roxanne Reid ‘Travel makes one modest. You see what a tiny place you occupy in the world.’ So said Scott Cameron, and I agree with him. The more I travel, the more places I discover that still have to be explored. Apart from a trip to the Norwegian fjords, which is outside Africa so doesn't count on this exclusively African travel blog, here are my 6 travel highlights of 2014, in random order. By Roxanne Reid If you haven’t yet visited Cape Nature’s Anysberg Nature Reserve between Laingsburg, Ladismith and Montagu in the Karoo, do it now. It’s a special place for endangered plants and riverine rabbits, but you can also kick back and relax in the silence, gaze at the stars or choose from a number of activities like hiking, horse riding and mountain biking. By Roxanne Reid Completely bald and dressed in bright purple, she’s standing at the garden gate waiting to welcome us. We’ve come to Nostalgie restaurant in Oudtshoorn, Klein Karoo, to see why Tripadvisor lists it as number one of nearly 30 in the town. By Roxanne Reid We’ve stumbled on the set of a mid-20th century movie. You can almost see the tumbleweed drift across the road and hear the rattle of a coiled snake. There’s a sepia undertone to the brick-and-rust vintage diner. The red, green and yellow of the fuel pumps in front stand out in sharp relief. We’re at the Diesel & Crème vintage diner on Route 62, Barrydale, in South Africa’s Karoo heartland, but we might as well be anywhere in Jack Kerouac’s America. By Roxanne Reid If you love the back roads and little dorpies of the dry South African heartland that is the Karoo, you have two choices. You can fill up with high-priced fuel and go exploring on four wheels, or you can put yourself in the hands of authors Chris Marais and Julienne du Toit and let them be your virtual guides. They’ve made it their mission to travel to every corner of the Karoo to meet people and document the way of life. Now, with the launch of their ebook store, it just got easier to enjoy virtual travels through the Karoo. By Roxanne Reid The Klein Karoo town of Oudtshoorn is best known for the Cango Caves nearby and its heyday during the ostrich feather boom of 1900–1914. Feathers were high-fashion items that fetched enormous prices, bringing wealth that was reflected in the sandstone buildings of the era. Discover some of Oudtshoorn’s buildings in this photo blog. By Roxanne Reid Prince Albert in the Karoo has grown a lot in the last decade or two. Now it’s known less as the town named after Queen Victoria’s husband than for its olive festival and local markets, its artistic refugees escaping Big City life, its renovated old houses and Karoo stoepies. Next time you visit, you might want to stay at the Dorpsplaas Cottage in Prince Albert. By Roxanne Reid ‘Show him an easy place to make a road and he shakes his head and says no. But show him a place where a monkey can’t get out and he’ll jump at it like a cat.’ So someone said of engineer and road builder Thomas Bain at the opening ceremony of the Swartberg Pass in the Karoo. Today, nearly 130 years later, the gravel pass that Bain built is still one of South Africa’s finest. By Roxanne Reid It’s getting dark. The main street is almost deserted. Out of the quietness emerges a dramatic figure in a long black cloak, seeming to float above the pavement rather than walk on it. We’ve asked to meet the ghosts of Prince Albert in the Karoo and if this is a way to set the scene on this cold evening, it’s working. |
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AboutI'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. Categories
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