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You might not be able to stop what you think, but you should stop to think before you say it - unless it is authentic admiration.

Hermanus is a multi faceted world class holiday destination.

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Previous Short Stories What Really Happens on African Wings - Evan Austin

   

Ons en die Maan

M.C. Botha
 

Ons en die maan is die verhaal van ’n pa en seun wat die Okavangodelta besoek om in die vrye natuur van die stres-belaaide lewe te ontsnap.

Vanaf die eerste bladsy was ek meegevoer deur die opgewondenheid van Blackie om saam met sy pa die avontuur in die wildernis te beleef. M.C. Botha se unieke skryfstyl, sy raak beskrywing van die natuur en die gedrag van die wilde diere het my meegesleur en laat voel ek ervaar alles self. 

Hulle besoek drie verskillende reservate, ontmoet interessante mense, elkeen met sy of haar eie opvatting en siening van die wêreld. Party toeriste raak opgewonde oor die langstert laksman en gryskopvisvanger en blouwangbyvreter, terwyl ander weer kla oor die groot vyf wat nie te voorskyn wil kom nie. Die gidse kan hulle vergas met interessante staaltjies oor al hul wedervaringe in die wildernis. Party seker wolhaarstories, maar om ’n kampvuurtjie word daar mos maar baie stories opgedis. 

Hulle vlieg met ligte vliegtuigies van een kamp na die ander, en selfs die loodse is karakters met stories. 

Een beskrywing van ’n gids wat my getref het, was: “Hy is ’n mens wat hunker na iets onbereikbaars” – ’n raak beskrywing van menige soekende siele. Die pa en seun gaan op visvangekspedisies met boorlinge van die omgewing, en beland eenkeer in krokodilwaters.

’n Gewese sjef wat voorheen saam met die pa gewerk het, is die eienaar van die tweede kamp waar hulle bly. Hy het ’n beeldskone vrou  wat ’n spesiale rapport met wilde diere het en met ’n uil op haar skouer rondloop. Die groep hoor van stropers wat ’n witrenoster vir sy horing geskiet het. Die hele gemeenskap is ontsteld oor die sinlose dood van so ’n manjifieke dier. 

Tussendeur het pa en seun ook tyd om rustig te gesels en lewenservarings en wyshede te deel. 

Hulle laaste besoekpunt voor hulle die rustigheid vaarwel toeroep, is die Victoria Waterval.

Welgedaan M.C. Botha. Jou liefde en begrip vir die natuur maak dit ’n boek wat op elke natuurliefhebber se boekrak hoort. 

(Susan Stander)
Junie 2008




DE BOS DAM

by S J du Toit



When the pioneer families settled on these shores, they mainly used two springs for their water requirements. At Rietfontein, where they pitched their camps, was a strong–flowing fountain and another on the spot where Hermanus Pieters first camped in the late 1820s. For many years, spring water, therefore, was all–important in the life of the early village.
Very little recorded history of water supply in earlier years could be uncovered, except for a few anecdotes by older residents. The first large village reservoir was built at the town entrance. From the farm of Piet Geldenhuys, water was piped to town.

Brown Water
In the Mossel River, three dams were built in the first half of the 1900s: the High Level Arch Dam, the PJ Luyt Arch Dam, and the Rockfill Dam. High–lying erven in Voëlklip were served from here. A break–pressure tank by a water main, allowed for water to be discharged into the reservoir at the town entrance.
Water was also obtained from two weirs in the Vogelgat stream and piped into a reservoir situated in Voëlklip. The water foreman referred to this reservoir as the ‘Fairy Land Reservoir’.
Due to vegetation (Palmiet et cetera), surface water in Hermanus was brown, typical of waters in coastal areas. As water demand increased, a number of boreholes were drilled on the Hermanus Golf Course. This water had a high iron content and was first treated in a plant situated on the golf course and then pumped directly into the town’s water distribution system.

Washday blues
To sidestep the brown water, washing in the old days was done at three main springs. One was near Swallow Park, the second high up in Northcliff, and the third was below the cool drink factory in Mitchell Street. Many women used these “wasbakkies” (washbasins), especially those who washed for the Bayview and Marine Hotels and the Sanatorium.
There’s the story of an old German named Otto, who lived in Main Road. He had a windmill at his house and the most beautiful running water and a vegetable garden. For years, no one could understand how he could have this continuous stream of water, even when there was no wind. Many years later, when a pipe–burst occurred, it was discovered that Otto had dug his borehole and tapped right into the main water pipe of the town!


Hermanus Snippets

MISS GORDON OF KARWYDERSKRAAL

Karwyderskraal near Hermanus will somehow always be associated with Miss Gordon who farmed there for almost four decades. Originally she was the owner of Braemar, where the old leper colony was situated from 1817 to 1845. Kruger and Shaberg wrote in The Pear Tree Bears Fruit, “Miss Gordon, who used to do all the farm work herself, such as ploughing or making and laying clay bricks, attracted a great deal of unwelcome attention from curious passers-by. Therefore she moved to the remote Karwyderskraal”.
Ella Gordon Dove Colston, known to local people as Miss Gordon, was born in Scotland in 1873. She came to South Africa as a young woman and took up farming at Braemar. She bought the Karwyderskraal property in 1910. She was skilled with sword, rifle and pistol, and was a boxer of great skill, even on one occasion thrashing two young farmers who made insulting remarks about her. At one stage a retired music teacher Miss Clara Markgraff, lived on the farm with her, but later went to Genadendal where she died and is buried.
Ella Gordon cared well for her workers. She built a school and church building where the Genadendal Moravians conducted services. She regularly held concerts with the farm children.
She was often seen with horse and cart in Hermanus or at Botriver station fetching goods which she used to load herself, no matter how heavy. In the old days she often drove her span of mules carting her grain wagon to Cape Town. She could lift 200 lb bags (90 kg) of wheat without difficulty. With close-cropped grey hair and a long pipe Miss Gordon remained a mystery to her farmer neighbours.
Miss Gordon had been married in Scotland but her husband never joined her in South Africa. She had few friends and gave all her love to her dogs and her horses. She buried them in a special graveyard where visitors can find thirteen tombstones, each giving their life history and dedication to her beloved horse children. She had few indulgences in her spartan life, but bought sweets and raisins for her horses and dogs.
Ella Gordon died in 1958, aged 85 and is buried on the farm. She bequeathed the farm and money to the Moravian Church.


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