Meteorite Impact in Parys

Sunday, March 15, 2015
Johannesburg, South Africa
Everywhere we have stayed in South Africa has been so different and Parys (named after Paris but pronounced Parace) in the (Orange) Free State has been no exception. Famous most of all for the Vredefort Dome, the oldest and largest meteorite impact site in the world, it is also known as the ‘jewel’ of the Vaal River. Only about an hour’s drive from Johannesburg, it has become popular with weekenders and is well known for its art, antique, fashion and coffee shops. It also has two 18 hole golf estates and the Vaal de Grace is the only golf course in the world that is built on an island that stretches over two provinces - the Free State and the North West Transvaal!


Both golf courses have excellent restaurants and we have visited both . Last Sunday, we drove across the Doppiesdrift Bridge which is fairly near the centre of Parys to Golf Island for a lunch time drink. We asked for a glass each of wine but were served with a bottle. Mike asked if they would keep the other half until we visited the golf club again and amazingly, two days later, it was waiting for us, still on ice! We have loved sitting on the veranda watching the golfers and the monkeys; the latter being the most entertaining to my mind (see photos)!


Last Saturday, it was suggested that we should go to Parys’s monthly art and craft fare which is held on the banks of the Vaal River. Earlier that day I had been stung twice on the same finger by an African red wasp which I was told, rather cheerfully, are five times more venomous than our European wasps. It was very painful and over three days, my finger swelled to twice its normal size, making me feel altogether a bit miserable. I wanted to buy a new handbag whilst in SA - the leather is so lovely here . Because I was feeling rather sorry for myself I couldn’t make up my mind, even though there was a good selection at the fare. We took a card from the handbag stall and was told that they had a shop in Vaalpark.  


Later in the week, we set off for Vaalpark which we were told was about a 40 minute drive. People seemed rather surprised that we should want to go there, but I assured them that there was a lovely handbag shop there and we would find it. The GPS got us there, despite signs just outside the town announcing that it was a ‘Hijack area’. The GPS, however, couldn’t find the shop, or the road in which it was meant to be. Actually, it soon became apparent that apart from a rather second-rate shopping mall, there weren’t any shops in Vaalpark. We drove round the small town which wasn’t much more than a rather tatty gated community until Mike spotted the street name. We found number 34, which was just one of many small residential houses . We knocked gingerly on the door and were vastly relieved when we were assured that the house was a ‘shop’ and we should come in. We walked straight into a little workshop where three African ladies were labouring away. However, the owner produced a lovely selection of bags but yet again, I was indecisive - between two beautiful bags. At this stage, Mike, possibly towards the end of his tether, said: “We’ll take them both”. So I did rather well! And not only that, my current bag which was looking somewhat worse for wear, was whisked off for repair and a beautiful new leather flower attached! This is Africa.


On Wednesday we decided to find out more about the Dome and embarked upon a six hour geological tour of this World Heritage Area. If this sound boring, you are more than welcome to skip this paragraph, but actually, please believe me, it was far from boring! 2020 million years ago an asteroid, 10km in diameter, collided with earth . The resulting scar in the earth’s surface is 300km in diameter. The gold reefs in Johannesburg and Pretoria were a result of this amazing impact! An inner granite rim of the structure spans 90 km and both granite and gold has been mined in the Parys area. Not only did our personal guide show us much evidence of the impact throughout the Vredefort area, he also took us to an old gold mine at Venterskroon. This ‘town’, founded in 1888, consisted of a magistrate’s office, an inn, an hotel with two bedrooms and a police station with a jail. When it was discovered that gold in Vredefort was too insignificant to be worth mining, Venterskroon was abandoned and today all that is left is the inn in the middle of the ‘bundu’. We called in here towards the end of our tour and enjoyed a Castle lager in this amazing old pub. It was packed full of treasures, including a copy of the Daily Express, dated 1940, featuring the Dunkirk retreat on its front page, lying there casually amongst a pile of old newspapers and magazines! Other features of this amazing tour were stone carvings of rhino, hippo and antelope on rocks lying around in the open bush, which were at least 2,000 years old . Our guide was also a very knowledgeable birder and we spent at least an hour on a bridge spanning the Vaal, watching the amazing water birds ‘fishing’ at the dam there.


We have continued to enjoy the company of our lovely hosts, Ananda and Herman, who have wined and dined us royally. We have also enjoyed meals out at the numerous restaurants in this quaint little town, where everyone knows everyone. On Friday, Ananda’s ‘Auntie’ Rhona, whom we’d met at the game lodge at Madikwe, took us out with two of her friends for breakfast at the other golf course, which is also on an island. Rhona is 81 and is quite delightful. After a fine South African breakfast at a table overlooking the Vaal and with the monkeys playing in the trees above us eager for a chip or two, Rhona drove us all over this amazing golf estate to take a look at the fantastic houses which have been built here. She knew many of the residents and lots of stories about past residents which kept us amused throughout! We finished with milk shakes at the most extraordinary coffee shop which boasts full size models of Al Capone and Marilyn Munro! Like much of Parys, totally eccentric!


The town and surrounding bush is fast becoming well known for the amazing number of private game reserves . Breeding antelope and other small game is becoming big business and these animals can command huge prices. The game in the fields surrounding our little cottage belonging to Ananda and Herman were meant to be ‘going’ all week but for one reason or another, are still here, much to our enjoyment. They have bred herds of antelope of all kinds and now they must be moved on to other reserves before they interbreed on too large a scale. They plan to keep two of each kind and introduce new animals to their estate. The new owners will come with a helicopter to dart the animals before taking them away in trucks. I am rather pleased that we haven’t been here whilst it happened, although I think Mike would have liked to join the round-up on the buggy!


Saturday 14th, our very last day in Parys - and it was my birthday! Over the last few weeks I have been in touch with Janet Crews by email. Her family owned my great-great-great-grandfather’s house Hougham Park in Port Elizabeth for over forty years and are sad as we are to see the lovely place falling into disrepair. She has sent me so many lovely photos of the family enjoying the house and the 6 km of beach that went with it. Her uncle, Edgar Crews, was the last person to live there before it was compulsory purchased by Coega Bay Development. Mike and I decided to invite Janet and her husband Doug to celebrate my birthday at a lovely restaurant in Parys (our table was within feet of the Vaal river - so beautiful) and they drove down from Johannesburg with their daughter Diana to meet up with us. They were absolutely delightful and came armed with all sorts of Hougham Hudson/Hougham Park information which was fascinating. We even worked out that her relative, Daisy Maude married Hougham Henry Hudson (born 1874) who was the sixth son of John Hudson, so we are, in fact, related!   It was such a lovely day. My birthday evening has been spent watching the Six Nations (England v. Scotland) and my day has been made by a decisive England win, before a final Braii in our lovely little piece of the bush here in the Transvaal.


This evening, Sunday, we fly back to the UK from Johannesburg. For the first time, after a nearly three month trip, we are not ready to go home!! We are already saying ‘next time…’ so it looks as though we will be back here in the land of my forefathers in the not to distant future!


Thank you for following our blog - hope you’ve enjoyed it! Thanks for all your lovely comments, which will be included in the printed version of ‘On the trail of the Hudson ancestors’ when we get home.

Comments

mvgarside
2015-03-15

Well Gillie, it has been a remarkable expedition. It does seem to have been a great success and I salute you and Mike for your stamina. A great effort, gel!

Mike farland
2015-03-16

An amazing journey and wonderful to share
Safe travels home
It was like sitting behind you guys!
Mike

2025-02-11

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