One of my favourite things about Nieu-Bethesda is seeing the water run through the village’s water furrows. These ancient stone leivore date back to the early days of the village and supplies water to the village from a spring in the mountain above the village.
Residents who have leivore running past their properties pay a minimal amount for water rights annually and channel water into their gardens using smaller gated funnels on the days when the water flows in that part of town. I just love sitting on the stoep at Outsiders where I normally stay with a coffee in hand listening to the water flow past.
Visitors to Nieu Bethesda don’t just have to see the water flow through town, it’s also possible to follow the trail up to the spring all along the main forrow into town. We didn’t have time to go all the way, but we did some of it and I was amazed all the way to see the water flowing so abundantly through this arid landscape. It truly shows that in the Karoo water is life.
