09 August 2005    to      22 August 2005

Click HERE for Bigger Map

It certainly was not easy to select the photos for this webpage! We had about 150 photos so it was quite a job! Anyway, on Tuesday 22 August we left on our little holiday to the west coast of South Africa. Our first stopover was at Upington at the Eiland, but not before doing a detour via Danielskuil. Back in the mid eighties I had worked there for some months putting up the first digital exchange much to the consternation of the poor ladies that had operated the manual switchboards and thus would loose their jobs once the exchange went online. Here's a photo of the typical Northern Cape scenery, mostly very flat with the odd grain silo in the distance.

The next day we traveled towards Springbok. On the way we made a short stopover in Keimoes, famous for its water wheels used for irrigating the wine orchards. The area produces a lot of wine along the banks of the Orange river, mostly of the sweet variety. Just after Kakamas we where in for a pleasant surprise. It had rained shortly before and what normally is a very dry area was beginning to bloom with flowers.

After arriving in Springbok and booking into a guesthouse we visited the Goegab Nature Reserve and did a short hike in it. The area is really beautiful after some rain with a tremendous variety of plants and flowers mainly of the succulent type. The area forms part of Namaqualand which is famous for its flowers after the spring rains.

Our next point of interest was Hondeklipbaai. A really remote little town on the west coast. The road to Hondeklipbaai is a gravel road that's very heavily corrugated, but the scenery is well worth it if you don't mind your car loosing a few screws! The route takes you over the Messelpad and Wildeperdehoek passes before descending to mostly flat terrain.

Along the way we came across a lot of turtles crossing the road.

Finally after quite a few hours covering the mere about 130km, we arrived in Hondeklipbaai. After booking into a little chalet at the only accommodation in Hondeklipbaai, namely the "Hondehok" (it means dog kennel) in Afrikaans:-)!, we set out to explore Hondeklipbaai followed by the Hondehoks dogs. Along the way we picked up more and more dogs until we had about eight joining us!

Close to Hondeklipbaai are two wrecks (No..our car was not one of them!) This one ended up on the rocks quite recently.

Here's part of the wreckage of the "Aristea" that originally was built for I & J in Scotland in 1934 and was converted into a minesweeper during WW2. She ran around on the 4th July 1945 with the loss of one life.

That evening after a wonderful dinner of Snoek and Springbok supplied by the Hough family, we settled into the pub where Attie entertained us and the other guests with his guitar and singing.

Next morning after breakfast (which was just as good as the dinner!) we hit the road again, this time towards Strandfontein and Doring Bay. Nothing much in those places besides a fish processing factory in Doring Bay.

Another gravel road lay ahead the following day from Doring Bay to Lamberts Bay. This time the road was not too bad.

Lamberts Bay is quite interesting in that it has a huge colony of Cape Gannets and Cormorants nesting on an island about 100 meters off-shore. That evening we had a great dinner of Crayfish and Yellowtail at one of the restaurants in Lamberts Bay.

Lamberts Bay has quite an interesting harbor which also contains a few vessels with huge vacuum cleaners that get used to suck up the silt from the seabed that then gets filtered for diamonds.

The following day took us over Clanwilliam and to Citrusdal.

By chance we stumbled across a real jewel in that area, namely a place called "The Baths". Here a hot spring surfaces at 43 degrees Celsius. The spring has been known by Europeans since at least 1739 and much earlier by the local inhabitants. We ended up getting a beautiful chalet overlooking a valley that contained a fireplace and a bath outside.

It was just as well that the chalet had a fireplace as it rained quite heavily that night and the fire created a warm and cozy atmosphere.

The area towards Velddrift, Paternoster and Vredenburg followed the next day with us staying over at a guesthouse in Vredenburg. On the way there we passed quite a few Rapeseed fields with their bright yellow flowers.

Saldanha Bay is just a short distance from Vredenburg, so next morning we made a stopover there as well. Saldanha Bay contains the iron ore terminus from which the iron ore that is mined at Sishen is exported.

After Saldanha Bay we paid the West Coast National Park a visit. This gangplank takes one to a bird hide.

This large stretch of water is all part of Saldanha Bay.

The place was really looking good with quite a few flowers out.

That evening we ended up in Tulbagh where we stayed at a rather run down "self catering" place that seems to belong to the municipality. At least it was cheap!

Some more Rapeseed fields on the way to Gansbay. At this point as we headed south the clouds were getting thicker and thicker with quite a strong wind picking up. We went as far as "Die Dam" where it was pouring before deciding to go north again to try and escape the appalling weather.

Late that afternoon we got to Montagu. Just outside Montagu is a place called Montagu Springs where we hoped to find some hot springs. Unfortunately no luck. Next door was a hotel that somehow seemed to have laid claim to the hot springs and where charging a ridiculous price for access.

Montagu has a number of interesting museums that we visited.

A nice trail can be done from the town as well.

After staying two nights in Montagu we where on our way again, this time towards Sutherland. Some snow tipped mountains in the background. Along the way we also made a stopover at Matjiesfontein with its rather interesting "Lord Milner" hotel. It also boasts a very interesting museum most of which is located in a semi cellar.

Sutherland is the town close to which lay South Africa's main astronomical observatories. Its about 110km from Matjiesfontein. The road rises quite a bit and just before Sutherland you cross Rooikloof pass. Here we came across some snow along the side of the pass. Sutherland is one of the coldest places in South Africa during winter and certainly quite remote, hence the reason to place the observatories here.

Having arrived just after midday, we where able to book the afternoon tour to the observatories. Its about a 15 minute drive outside Sutherland up to about the highest point in the area. Here the wind was howling with a gale force strength! The hill boasts 10 observatories of varies sizes and owned by various countries ranging from small 0.5 meter mirror telescope sizes up to the new giant 11 meter SALT (Southern African Large Telescope) telescope.

The giant "SALT" telescope with a resolving power that can detect a candle burning on the moon! Well, that was pretty much the end our our holiday. From here it was a trip up to Kimberly the next day and then back to good old Joburg.