Welcome to Calvinia. Today is Tuesday, September 21st and we have just arrived here at a small campsite after a drive of 400 km from Beaufort West
Last Thursday and Friday we spent painting the house in Dysselsdorp while we stayed in a hotel in Oudtshoorn. The interior walls and ceiling are now white and it looks much better.
On Friday the wood stove was deliverd and it was installed in no time. In the evening we tried him out and the thing works great.
Saturday morning we wanted to leave but suddenly the fridge didn’t work anymore. We were already at a Lewi’s before 9 am and by 11 am the fridge was delivered, installed and working.
Then we drove to Prince Albert to once again enjoy a nice braai with cousin David. He had picked up Moose (fresh) from a hunter friend and that tastes fine!
Sunday we left for the Karoo National Park near Beaufort West. This park is best known for the lion Sylvester. This male lion escaped in 2015 and was only caught 300 km away but it took quite a few people and helicopters. He had made some victims among the sheep along the way and as an effect the crime was very low during his ‘walkabout’.
Recently another lion had escaped and it had been caught in Sutherland more than 200 km away. After his capture, the poor beast was locked up in a police cell….
We stayed 2 nights in this park which is beautifully situated in the mountains of the Karoo. It is just warm during the day but in the night the wind rises and it gets chilly, actually quite cold. In the morning we drove around the park ourselves on a beautiful pass followed by an unearthly landscape with a bad road. We didn’t see many animals (zebra, deer) but that was made up for by an experience at the campsite where a kudu came to eat 5 meters away. In addition, there were 3 large turtles on the field next to us. Another baboon also came along.
In the evening we did a night safari, with two guides. It was nice to see the animals at night but it was just very cold in an open wagon, with a strong wind and a temperature of about 5 degrees. We were actually quite happy when we were back at the campsite and quickly crawled into the tent with a bottle of wine.
Unfortunately, my digestion has been a bit upset the past few days so I had to get out a few times in the, very cold, night. Today Lisa bought some custard powder to lock things up. It helps…..
The ride today went from Beaufort to Fraserburg and from there to Calvinia. The scenery was on the way, just like on Mars. Black stones, strangely shaped mountains, fine dark sand everywhere and dry with occasionally (every 100 km) a small town. On the way you see a farm here and there but I really don’t know what they live on.
Tomorrow we will probably go towards the Cederbergen
?
Lijkt wel een maanlandschap, net alsof je op de hoogvlakte rond de Pico del Teide op Tenerife bent, mooi!