East London - If you happen to be travelling along the N9 between Graaff-Reinet and Willowmore, look west. If heading along the N12 between Beaufort West and Meiringspoort, glance east. Somewhere in the middle of this vast, empty plain lies Rietbron.
It is the epitomé of isolation, but this tiny hamlet is not dying. In fact, several old renovated Karoo cottages are testament to the fact that some city folk – looking to escape the hustle and bustle – have chosen Rietbron for their holiday or retirement homes.
Driving into this epicentre of nowhere, the landscape is one of endless scrub, but if you think nothing exists here, you would be wrong. As I travelled, various turnoffs to farms had faded and battered signboards which told a tale of former inhabitants. Still, kilometre upon kilometre of jackal-proof fencing was indicative of a vast farm; but where were the animals?
Into this picture of desolation, life suddenly burst in the form of sturdy, colourful Boerbokke (goats). Several were gathered along the edge of a farm reservoir, fed by a listlessly clanking windmill. How photogenic! But they scattered and fled as I stopped to take their picture. Clearly tourists with cameras were not part of their daily routine.
Healthy, succulent prickly pears broke the monotony; korhaan took flight at every turn. Normally they are the most vociferous of birds, but these were strangely silent. A couple of steenbuck raced along the fenceline, ducking and darting.
Then a large tortoise trundled across the road… perfect for a photograph to convey the setting. It had other ideas, though. Instead of docilely tucking its head into its shell and playing possum, it dug its toenails into the bank on the side of the road when I tried to grab it. I pulled, it tugged, but finally the photo was taken, after which it made off at the speed of a hare. Did this guy not know it was a tortoise?
Rietbron’s information office proved a surprise. It included an amazingly well-stocked library. The lady in charge promptly set off to show me the sights, asking only that we let our readers know they are desperately looking for more books. Most of their children, she said, came from surrounding farms and were eager readers.
While Rietbron is located on water-impoverished land, there is a strong supply of water from an area once filled with reeds. So the name Riet (reeds) and Bron (source of water) came about.
Quite often real “characters” find their way to such remote spots and Rietbron is apparently home to a Scotsman who specialises in investigating stories about ghosts who frequent railway tracks and buildings.
The Karoo-Hof Guest House, in the middle of the town, is a fascinating place to spend the night. It used to be a police station and the former upstairs barracks has been turned into bedrooms. Each one opens on to a wrap-around verandah, with views over the town and the distant veld. The Karoo-Hof spills over into the former Magistrate’s Court, while the coffee shop was once the charge office.
The church is the focal point. Its steeple has a springbok, rather than a rooster – allegedly the only one of its kind in the country.
I chose to spend the night on the farm Grobbelaarskraal, located on a small road which connects with the N9 leading to Willowmore. Three comfortable tents on stilts (known as Angora’s Rest) have been erected on the edge of the farm dam – which had been drained at the time of my visit, to effect repairs.
Clearly the area is a furnace in summer, so the tents were built to trap any breezes, with gaps between the floorboards.
The entire front of the tent can also be removed for extra circulation.
En-suite showers are heated by solar panels, while large barrels trap any rainwater running off the roof. A kettle, microwave, small fridge, crockery and cutlery are supplied. Most people opt to braai, and the best place for meals is a table and benches outside each tent, overlooking fields of lucern and distant mountains on the horizon.
Kudu can be spotted grazing on the lucerne, and there were several healthy looking blesbuck near the enormous main farm house. It seems the original owner built it with money he was paid because the nearby Beervlei Dam inundated some of his lands.
Built in 1957, Beervlei never stays full for long, as it was not constructed as a storage dam, but purely for flood control. It is a well-known feature for travellers along the N9.
The night of my visit, an electric storm struck. The cacophony of thunder and jagged lightning was impressive. A gazillion stars sparkled in the heavens. In the early morning a sneaky wind sprang up, lamenting its lonely frustration.
If You Go...
l Contacts: Grobbelaarskraal 044 934 1141; 072 325 0211;
Karoo-Hof Guest House 044 934 1006; 076 903 0246;
Library 044 934 1008
Sunday Tribune