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The Tankwa Padstal in the Karoo

30/10/2013

7 Comments

 
Tankwa Padstal, Karoo
By Roxanne Reid
We pulled up at the Tankwa Padstal in the Karoo. Officially, it’s on the R355 about 70km from Ceres, on the way to Calvinia or the Tankwa Karoo National Park. Unofficially, it’s somewhere between nothing and nowhere. Two bikers were switching off their engines and taking off their helmets. We greeted them in Afrikaans and asked how their ride had been. They looked at us as if we were from outer space.

We discovered they spoke Portuguese, but no Afrikaans. Their English wasn’t all that hot either. Such barriers were too hard to breach on a stinking hot day in the middle of a dust bowl, there where the wide open spaces get under your skin and into your bones.
Tankwa Padstal, Karoo
Tankwa Padstal, a popular stop between nowhere and nothing
The Tankwa Padstal (farm stall) sells anything from sweets, chips and cold drinks to matches, bug spray and airtime. There’s also a licensed bar, its décor weird in a way that stops being weird the longer you spend in the Karoo. You can order drinks and snacks and sit inside – or outside under a cover that provides shade but does little to ease the heat that radiates up at you from the ground.
Tankwa Padstal, Karoo
You can have a dop at the bar ...
Tankwa Padstal, Karoo
... or a snack at a table in the yard
If you come here in late spring when the Africa Burn festival is bubbling not far away, the padstal will bustle like an Ultracity on the first day of the school holidays. In the spirit of Mardi Gras, someone may be dressed in a wetsuit and flippers, others might be wearing funny hats, purple wigs or bizarre masks, but try not to judge. They’re on a fantasy trip bursting with art, music and performance, and it only happens for a few days once a year.

Then the Tankwa's R355 will go back to being unhurried and lonely, the longest stretch of gravel road in South Africa without a fuel station or Wimpy.
Tankwa Padstal, Karoo
It takes guts and stamina to travel the Tankwa Karoo
Inside the shop, which has one of those high counters with glass display cases from the olden days, we bought a really good homemade ginger beer and some fudge, and chatted to the farmer’s wife who runs the place as if we’d known her for years. About the tiny library of Afrikaans light romances and children’s books that she runs from a corner of the shop, about the healing properties of Zambuk ointment, and about the prickly pears they grow on the farm.

My eyes lit up because I haven’t seen these in shops since I was a kid, but I was out of luck. They weren’t in season.
Tankwa Padstal, Karoo
Sweets, bicycle spares, airtime, even a small library, it's all here at the Tankwa Padstal
We got a few pointers about how to prune prickly pears to get what she called ‘superfruit’, and advice about which shops in our suburb of Cape Town send trucks all the way to the Tankwa Karoo to buy prickly pears from the farm. 
 
Then we were back out in the glare of the sun and on our way again.

If you hate the uniform blandness of shopping in the city, as I do, take a few minutes to stop at the Tankwa Padstal; there’s always something interesting going on. Even if you just sit on the stoep hugging a cold drink, it’s like watching Karoo TV.

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Tankwa Padstal, Karoo, South Africa #farmstall #Karoo #SouthAfrica
Tankwa Padstal, Karoo, South Africa #farmstall #Karoo #SouthAfrica
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Copyright © Roxanne Reid - No words or photographs on this site may be used without permission from roxannereid.co.za
7 Comments
Di Brown link
31/10/2013 05:55:38 am

What a tempting article. Padstals and markets are my all time best places to explore. I think I just decided to go to AfricaBurn after all. Thanks for reminding me how much I need a #shotleft to the middle of nowhere

Reply
Roxanne link
31/10/2013 10:15:16 am

Thanks, Di. You won't be sorry. The Karoo does weird so well!

Reply
Louise de Waal
27/11/2013 02:12:19 am

Lovely blog! We stopped at this padstal not so long ago on our way back from Tankwa NP. As you say in the middle of nothing and nowhere, but the most friendly and hospitable place you can ever visit. I absolutely adored the quirky (DIY) decor and their moer coffee was particularly welcome ;-)

Reply
Roxanne link
27/11/2013 04:14:52 am

Thanks Louise. Seems it has something for every season - homemade ginger beer when it's hot and moer coffee when it's cold. Lekker.

Reply
Watse en Petrie Eefting link
3/2/2014 11:56:36 am

Ons wil baie graag weet hoeveel km is dit vanaf die afdraaipad op die R355 na Kagga Kamma park na die Tankwa padstal toe?
Dankie

Reply
Roxanne link
5/2/2014 01:50:57 am

Ek is nie seker nie; ek sal probeer uitvind.

Reply
Roxanne link
5/2/2014 09:34:46 am

Ek dink dis ongeveer 50-60km.


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    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.
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