Pilansberg National Park South Africa.

ON our way to the park we could see that the park was burning and we where concerned that we chose the wrong time this year to visit the park.A few years ago a out of control  veld fire did major damage to the the park.Apart of the buildings that burned to the ground there was major concern about the animals that where lost and injured in the veld fire.  We arrived at Pilanesberg National Park Friday  at 15h00.After registration and paying our camping fees of R130,00 per night including electricity for 6 people we found our self a very nice spot to camp.We have been here at Manyane camp many times before and we enjoy the stay every time.We normally camp on the edge of the camping area in the bush but dew to the veld fire I chose a spot in the inner circle of the camp ground.Lucky for us because the veld fire burned through the night and burned right to the edge of the camp ground to where we normally camp.

Veld-fire near our camp.

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This is what Africa is all about, unspoilt Bush veld doted with Wildebeest,Rhinos and Elephants. 

The veld fire came close to our camp during Friday-night.

This time the veld fire was a controlled fire.The Game Rangers starts veld fires to burn off the bush to stimulate new grow when the summer rain starts.

Vlakie the Word-hog looking for a cooked meal.

A hot-air balloon ride to watch the game what a wonderful idea, but at over thousand Rand a person,no thanks.

The Wildebeest was liking the ground,that may seem strange but is perfectly normal.In winter the grass thy eat lacks some of the minerals thy need in there diet.In the ground thy are liking there is minerals and salt.

This Wildebeest gave me the stink eye for disturbing him.

We found this Jackal on his way to the waterhole.

The stripe pattern of Zebra is like the fingerprints not one is the same.

This Hippo was grazing during the day something thy only do in cooler weather.

A Kudu bull.

Our camping spot on the inner circle.

Our visit to Makouspan.

                 We visited Makouspan the cattle farm of our friends Buks and Susan.

We left Christiana diggers festival on Sunday morning after we pack the stall away.We were invited to the farm of dear friends Buks and Susan.Thy are cattle and sheep farmers in the district of Vryburg.Their son Kassie is the fifth generation farmer on Makouspan.On their 4000 hectare farm it feels like paradise to me,I feel so at home there.If only it was possible I would love to stay on the farm, I would work for food only,Susan feeds every one very well indeed.
We bought a lam from them at a very reasonable price and as I'm posting here Anita is preparing lam chops for supper I can't wait.
                                                                      Buks and Susan

Kassie their son.

Some of the cattle.

                                                                           

Christiana diggers festaval

We arrived at the Christiana diggers festival from Hartenbos Mosselbay on Wednesday afternoon.We have done the festival for many years on our way to the north.It is nice and warm in the South African bush veld in the winter .
The Diggers festival is in the North West Province where diamonds are mined by land owners and small mines.
When diamonds were discovered in the Vaal River in the 1870s the former Transvaal Government established a settlement on the banks of the river in 1870, in an attempt to control and alleviate land disputes over diamond discoveries further down the Vaal River. This town was established on the farm Zoutpansdrift (salt pan drift) and named Christiana, after the only daughter of President Pretorius of the old Transvaal. The first residential stands were sold in 1870.
Two years later diamonds were discovered in the gravel of the Vaal River close by and the inevitable manic rush followed. As usual the initial rush petered with the diamonds. In 1997, diamonds were rediscovered along the banks of a farm on the Free State side of Christiana. This led to a new diamond rush and diggings that continue to this day.
The town contains one of the biggest diggers' bells ever to exist in the world. The bell is currently under water in the Vaal River as it once sank and ended in the drowning of several diggers. There were a few attempts to get the diggers' bell out, as it is said that there are diamonds still in it, but it was in vain as it is surrounded by too much mud.
                                      

The festival is in it's tenth year.The surrounding schools participate by playing rugby and netball against each other and all the parents come to the festival to support them.

Meiringspoort.

                             Beaufort West to Mossel Bay via the wonderful Meiringspoort

On our way to Mossel Bay we stoped for coffee in Meiringspoort.

Entry to the poort is via Klaarstroom, 55 kms east of Prince Albert en route to Oudtshoorn and the coast. Following spectacular floods which caused great damage, the road has been reconstructed at a cost of R70 million. Meiringspoort was officially re-opened by the Western Cape Premier, Gerald Morkel, on 20th October 2000.

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The first road through the poort was constructed between 1856 and 1858. by Adam de Schmidt. On the morning of 3 March 1858 a colorful procession of about 250 mounted men and 100 distinguished guests in "spiders", carriages and wagons departed through a triumphal arch decorated with flags for the journey to Klaarstroom - where a deputation of important guests from Prince Albert and Beaufort West awaited their arrival under another triumphal arch.

The first freight of wool from the interior was dispatched to Mossel Bay through Meiringspoort in "twaalf lange wolwagens" (12 long ox-drawn wool wagons) on the same day.

The road through the poort is a remarkable engineering feat, but the overwhelming features of a drive through Meiringspoort are the wonders of nature. The folds of the Table Mountain sandstone strata tower above the road, constantly changing colour as you move through sunlight and shade. Hardy plants, including indigenous pelargoniums, cling to the precarious rock faces while birds, baboons and smaller fauna abound in the protected kloofs and crevices. Among the most scenic spots is the Skelm tumbling into a dark pool which, legend has it, is bottomless. (In 1938 it stopped flowing for the first time in human memory).

A beautiful mermaid was said to live in the pool at the foot of the waterfall. During the 1996 floods a story circulated that she had been washed out of the pool, down the Groot and Oliphants rivers and out to sea. She had been caught in a fisherman's net and taken to the CP Nel Museum in Oudtshoorn, where she was preserved in spirits! The Museum was overwhelmed with telephone calls and visitors keen to see the mermaid!

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Look out for Herrie's Stone - there can't be much graffiti that has been declared a National Monument. C.J. Langenhoven carved the name of his famous elephant on a boulder in Meiringspoort in 1929.




                                             The info center in Meiringspoort

Karla and Connie

Taking a nother coffee break in Meiringspoort.

Our camp at Hartenbos camping grounds

Connie is colouring in.

Karla and Connie posing for a foto.

Thunder storm in the Karoo

                                                 The Karoo in all it's magnificence.


We left Randfontein the 28 March to first go to Beaufortwest. On our way there we stoped at the Karoo town of Colesberg at a caravan park but they wanted R140.00 plus R40.00 per child.So I said no thanks and we went to the Colesberg  jail grounds, there we stayed for free.We don't want or need electricity and saved R220.00 on camping fees.
Tuesday morning we left the jail grounds at 9h00.Back on the N1 we traveld to the town of Hanover where we stoped and  Anita made us very nice breakfast burgers.

          

This beautiful church is the Neder Duitch  Gereformeerde Curch in Hanover.

Hanover is a very small town in the Karoo and I admire the people for building this magnificent church.

We arrived at Beaufortwest show grounds and Gerrie the caretaker took us to our site.After I parked the camper, Anita made us lunch wich we had outside in the shade of the camper.Wednesday afternoon we put up the tent and unpack the Landy, thursday morning we opened shop brite and early.We where invited to the show opening dinner on Wensday night .After all the usual speaches we had a lovely fish fry dinner and we had a nice evening with our friends.Friday was also quite so we closed the stall at 22h00.Saterday morning we opend the stall at 9h00 but there was almost no one on the grounds.Later during the day the weather turned very bad the thunderstorm came so suddenly that we could not have saved our stock if we were alone.Luckely there was a lot of people that helped us to put our stock in the camper and we lost no sweets.The tent was a different story, the wind was so strong and it rianed so hard that the tent went down like the Titanic.

                                                              Our sweets tent after the storm
                                                                            

                                  Our friend Willem that sells Kakadu and Reback tent.

Randfontein Show.

Last week we worked at the Randfontein show were we sold our sweets.We started to put the stall up on Tuesday morning.Anita's cousin Adrie came to help with decorating the stall.
                                            Adrie, Anita's cousin worked very hard at the stall.

                                            Anita working very hard to make the stall look nice.

Adrie and Luchka at work.

                           Randfontein show is one off our favourite shows and we do very well here.
                                                 Here the stall is ready for the show to start.

Brother Sarel and Melanie his wife came to work at the show.

Happy clients buying their sweets from the best sweet stall at the show.

Me trying to be funny but failing miserably.

One's I had a body like this....NOT!!!