Trip to Matjiesfontein and Moordenaars Karoo – June 2011 by Peter Taylor

I saw an ad. in the Bolander newspaper and the caption was “Trip to the Karoo”. That was enough for me. I didn’t really even need to read the rest of the write up but I had to so that I could convince Verine we had to go.

It was an invitation to join Dr Cyril Hromnik, a historian and researcher to witness, amongst other things, the winter solstice in the Moordenaars Karoo where the ancient Quena people had layed out rock temples, shrines, walls and monoliths to depict the exact locations to watch winter and summer solstices and the March and September equinoxes from long before Diaz, Da Gama and van Riebeek hit our shores.

So we packed the Kombi and set off Friday afternoon for Matjiesfontein. Du Toitskloof Pass was spectacular as usual but even more so after the recent rains and there was water gushing out of the mountains wherever you looked.

Du Toitskloof

The Hex River valley was also very pretty with its snow covered mountain peaks high in the Matroosberge and the red, orange and yellow autumn leaf vineyard display for which it is renowned this time of the year.

Soon the N1 led us to Matjiesfontein where we booked in and had a leisurely but cold walk around this extremely quaint little town with its Victorian charisma and the dominant Lord Milner Hotel.

Lord Milner Hotel

Our room had a wooden deck which overlooked the Baviaans River as well as the gardens across the river and it is the first time we have ever seen water in this river.

Baviaans River

River

I am happy to say that the London bus is up and running again and we went for the “not-to-be-missed” tour around town at 6.00 pm which is announced by the larger-than-life character and self proclaimed descendant of the Malaysian slaves of the bygone era, John on an old military bugle. “It’s Showtime”

London Bus

I did a rough calculation and worked out that my first time in this bus was in 1977.

From the bus John takes you on a tour of the Hotel and shows you the trophy of the first ever cricket match between South Africa and England which the Scottish entrepreneur Jimmy Logan arranged. Then he allows you to take a sneak peak of his very special ghost photograph and then tries to sell you a copy of his ghost DVD. We did a coach tour to Sutherland in 2006 and we got the same tour by John virtually to the word.

Thereafter everyone flocks to the Laird’s Arms Pub where the entertainment continues as he beats out some pretty good honky tonk sounds on the piano.

John on the Piano

Piano

The next morning we were up and out of there to get some last minute supplies and breakfast in Laingsburg and we just had enough time to take in the Flood Museum. The curator is very passionate about her job and whoever employed her got the right lady for the job.

± 17kms into the Moordenaars Karoo and we were on the farm Faberskraal where we met Cyril Hromnik, his son Marius and the other people on the trip with us. There were nine of us in total. A quick introduction and we were on our way because time was few and distance was many and that setting sun wasn’t waiting for anyone.

The original N1 goes right past the farm house and Faberskraal was a blacksmith shop in those days. There are still mile markers next to the road!

To try to explain what we saw and what we learnt and forgot would be impossible. Suffice to say the man is a genius and a wealth of knowledge and one comes away from this with a new perspective of time, cosmology, astrology and what a pile of rocks could mean. If you want to know what he told us you’ll have to contact him and go on one of his trips. Contact here: Dr. Cyril Hromnik [hromnikcyril@gmail.com]

Here are some pics of the man at work.

Dr Cyril Hromnik

Dr Cyril Hromnik

Dr Cyril Hromnik

Dr Cyril Hromnik

Dr Cyril Hromnik

We saw the sun set exactly where he said it would, we saw the sun rise the next morning exactly where he said it would, we were even blessed with a beautiful full moon and as I watched it rising it reminded me of a certain night in the Tankwa Karoo deep in the Langkloof, but that’s another story.

The fact that the ancient Indians had come here in search of gold and that they brought with them the knowledge of time and the sky and were able to mark out and plot certain places that are still totally accurate today is beyond me.

We eventually left the farm sometime after 12.00 on Sunday afternoon and headed down the N1. We turned off at the R46 and went past the two Dakota’s and the Verkeerdevlei which is called that because it runs East/West instead of North/South like the rest of the mountains and valleys of this area. I was able to convince Verine that we had to turn off the beaten track at the Bo-Swaarmoed sign to go and show her an old deserted “H” shaped house that I had seen on one of my trips. The house has such character and I can just imagine myself sitting on the stoep with a beer and a fire in the evenings to watch the mountains turn pink as the sun sets. Yip, dream on Taylor!

After the house the gravel road rises steeply and eventually joins the tar road that you take to get to Cordré Smith’s Matroosberg 4×4 snow trail if you come from Ceres. The altitude here was just over 1200 meters and it was raining heavily. I hoped that we would see some snow but not this time. Down the pass we went and into lovely sunshine down in the valley and through the town.

Now this road goes through the picturesque Mitchell’s Pass and if you turn left over the Breë River Bridge you are guided directly into Bainskloof Pass and right past the Calabash Bush Pub but try as I may I wasn’t able to convince Verine to stop there this time. As we entered Bainskloof we rode into heavy rain which was pouring down and there were waterfalls coming down the mountain side like we had never seen before. The water was running across the road in many places as it was just too much for the dry-packed drainage system that the old master Andrew Geddes Bain had built so many years ago. The normally sedate Witterivier was a raging torrent of white water rapids and judging by the water still coming off the mountain it was going to get a lot worse.

Witteriver

Waterfall

We came back from the Tankwa Karoo once with friends and rode into a similar storm which was the worst we had seen but this surpassed that by a long way. That time there were three or four suicidal guys kayaking down the river with great care but I don’t think they would have survived this time. We got down the pass safely and went to check our river, the Berg, before going home but although fairly swollen it was quite calm in comparison.

We learnt a lot and saw and heard even more and had a wonderful time and put the kombi through quite a beating and although I missed the Stormers/Cheetahs game (I knew we were going to win anyway) it was well worth it.

Thanks Cyril for a most informative trip.