100 Days of Africa: Karoo Culture Adventure Weekend!

Hello! I survived my first week at Pearson High School and, while it was certainly exciting, my weekend was even more fun! Here’s the abridged version of my Karoo Culture Adventure!

We left straight from school on Friday to go to South Africa’s fourth oldest city, Graaf-Reinet. Our leader-friend, Murray, has relatives with a guest house in the city and it was absolutely breathtaking. The property was gorgeous and we all couldn’t wait to have a relaxing weekend by the pool! As soon as we arrived, however, we went and drove/hiked up to the top of the Valley of Desolation. You don’t quite understand the meaning of the word “breathtaking” until you have experienced a place like this. It was so humbling to stand on top of God’s creation and I have to say that the verses in Genesis 1 don’t do it justice. “God saw that it was good,” is the biggest understatement.

Enjoying the Valley of Desolation

Seriously so beautiful

Sneaky Murray took pictures and I liked this one!

Then, we went to an old restaurant in the town of Graaf-Reinet that used to be an old hunting club. Ladies were only allowed into the club beginning twelve years ago so it was a really neat experience to chat with everyone over dinner. I ate ostrich, springbok and beef and they were all delicious!

Murray's girlfriend, Jordie, explaining the history of the
men's club

Family dinner!

On Saturday morning, we journeyed to the town of Nieu Bethesda, population 56. It was like going back in time! We walked around the sleepy town and then took a donkey cart ride up the mountain to Two Goats Brewery. A friend of Murray’s opened this restaurant in the middle of nowhere because he was so sick of the hustle and bustle of the corporate world. He makes his own breads, cheeses and meats and brings them on this huge platter! 12 of us shared 3 platters and still had food left over!

Donkey cart ride! So cool!

The entrance to Two Goats Brewery

This is ONE PLATTER! Everything is home-made and the
meat is springbok meat.

Murray and Jordie's dog, Swazi, came, too, and decided
to jump on the table and join the fun!

We then went on a two-hour boat tour of the river because Graaf-Reinet is the only town that is completely surrounded by a game reserve so there were animals everywhere! It was so nice to just relax on the boat and get to know everyone a little better.

On the boat with Skipper Steve!

On the way out of town, we drove through some townships and, for those that don’t know, here’s a little history: Townships were established during the Apartheid era when whites removed blacks from the towns of South Africa. As a statement of strength, the blacks decided to name their new locations “townships” to prove that they could survive despite the prejudices against them. Today, townships are still extremely impoverished so it made us feel so blessed to drive through the areas and see the children who were content playing with an empty water bottle in the street!

Exploring the township

That night, we drove to another township to have a cultural dinner at Miemie’s. Here’s the cool back story: Miemie’s ancestors used to work for Murray’s ancestors and so when Murray created the Freewalker’s group, he went to Miemie and created a cultural dinner experience to generate extra income for her family. It was so cool! We ate all kinds of neat food, and the only thing I recognized were rice and bread, but it was delicious and we were all stuffed. After dinner, we all danced and laughed all night long.

Watching Miemie make the bread

Dancing after dinner!

One of two long tables of friends

Loving SA!

Sunday morning, we woke up to a beautiful brunch that involved a little work. Murray’s uncle is an ostrich farmer and he brought us two ostrich eggs that we had to crack for breakfast! You have to use a spoon to make two holes in the egg and then blow out the yolk. It was really different, but the eggs were so good. Two eggs fed 24 people and there were left-overs!

Very different but I'm glad I got to do it!

After brunch, we toured Graaf-Reinet and the Reinet house and it was really neat to see some of the history of the small town. Graaf-Reinet has the most historical landmarks in one town in the entire country of South Africa!

Last stop of the day: the Daniel Spotted Cat Conservation! We took about an hour long tour to hear about the endangered cats and we even got to pet a tame female cheetah named Ola! She was so sweet!