Karoo

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Pizza, World Famous in Nieu-Bethesda

The Karoo Heartland village of Nieu-Bethesda is weird and quirky, but in a nice way.  It has a lot of interesting nooks and crannies which include a couple of fascinating attractions, authentic Nieu-Bethesdian accommodation and slightly off the regular type of mainstream restaurants and eateries.  When you pass a little restaurant with a sign saying Bruno's Alfresco Pizzeria with the added tagline of "World Famous in Nieu-Bethesda... then you know you want to check it out.  It also helps that I really love…

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05/04/2017
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Going digital at the Owl House

The last time I was at the Owl House in Nieu-Bethesda I got a nice picture of a gent standing in contemplation between the cement figures.  On this visit to the village I was at the Owl House with two friends and colleagues and I really thought there would be a good chance to catch one of them in deep contemplation at some stage.  Curse the digital age... Bwhahahahahaha.... The best I got was while one was taking a picture to…

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27/03/2017
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Why have you never visited Nieu-Bethesda?

It feels like most people I speak to about travelling in the Karoo Heartland of the Eastern Cape have been to Graaff-Reinet, yet many didn't venture much further to also visit Nieu-Bethesda.  Nieu-Bethesda truly is a very special village located barely 30 minutes from Graaff-Reinet and have a truly off the beaten track feeling to it.  I say off the beaten track because that is literally what it is.  No tar roads in the village, no street lights, no ATM,…

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24/03/2017
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When it rains in Nieu-Bethesda

A couple of weeks ago I headed up to Nieu-Bethesda in the Karoo Heartland with a colleague for a tourism meeting.  En route we encountered the Fish River in full flow at Jansenville, puddles and pools next to the road approaching Graaff-Reinet and a very wet village at our destination.  The word Karoo comes from the Khoi language and means Place of Thirst, very appropriate for this arid region.  So it's not often that you see puddles of water in…

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20/03/2017
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Karoo farm scene

I took this picture on a recent visit to Lowlands Country House in the Karoo Heartland outside Cradock.  The scene just grabbed me and if I was a painter then I would have loved to paint it.  It really shows the importance of water in this arid environment and how it can change things from brown to green.

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12/03/2017
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Fields of flowers in the Karoo

 It's dry in the Karoo.  The word Karoo doesn't mean "Place of Thirst" for nothing.  But the smallest amount of rain in the last winter of early spring means that there will be flowers.  And flowers there were when I drove through the Karoo Heartland late in September.  On the road north of Steynsburg I had to double take when I suddenly saw fields of yellow flowers and just could not help but to pull over and take out my…

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22/10/2016
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Fields of Coral Aloe

Just as the "normal" Aloes in the Karoo Heartland is done flowering, it's the turn of the Coral Aloes.  A drive through the southern Karoo Heartland (on the N10 just over the Olifantskop Pass from Port Elizabeth) in the Eastern Cape two weeks ago had me stop a couple of times and grabbing for my camera with literally fields of flowering Coral Aloe stretching away from the road.A carpet of orangeJust more proof that the Eastern Cape doesn't have to stand…

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09/10/2016
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The road to Noodhulp

The road to Noodhulp (Afrikaans for First Aid) is not what you call the route somebody takes when they are cruising for a bruising and looking for trouble with a big oke.   Not that kind of thing at all.  I found the road to Noodhulp while en route to Mount Camdeboo Private Game Reserve outside Graaff-Reinet and after a double take reversed back for a better look to make sure that was the name I saw and then a…

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19/09/2016
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There is no end to the adventures we can have

On a game drive at Mount Camdeboo Game Reserve near Graaff-Reinet recently we stopped to watch a couple of  Gemsbok on the side of a hill.  Strangely enough my attention wandered from the antelope to the road in front of us and I snapped this picture.  Looking at it afterwards I wondered how to use it as I didn't have enough material to do a full article on my visit to the reserve.  I decided to rather post it along…

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15/09/2016
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The perfect Karoo sunset

Take the big sky of the Eastern Cape's Karoo Heartland, add some rain the previous night, a few distant mountains, an old building, a thorn tree and throw in a sunset for good measure.  What do you get?  This, as observed while on a game drive at Mount Camdeboo Game Reserve outside Graaff-Reinet recently.  All I still needed was a windpomp in the picture somewhere.

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13/09/2016