It was an early morning start, packing the car in Dad’s drive way and ensuring everything was on board. We had set ourselves a target of driving to Victoria West, just over the Provincial boarder in the Northern Cape. I ascertained this would take us some six hours.


We headed off around False Bay to Somerset West and the big shopping area there to collect some last minute essentials and enjoy breakfast . Then we were off. The drive was initially scenic through Stellenbosch and all the wineries on the gently slopping hills until the N1 and Wellington, where we turned North East.


The road here climbed up through the Huguenot Mountains and into a long tunnel and finally out into a memorable and dramatic gorge. The scenery here was spectacular with the peaks and the fruit farms in the valleys below. However all too soon we left this area and entered flat desolate bush land. This scenery was to accompany us right to that nights destination.


At Laingsburg we stopped to fill the surprisingly thirsty car with petrol. The only place for a bite to eat in this village appeared to be the unimaginative fast food of Steers, however Dad spoke with the petrol pump man and he recommended a privately run cafe opposite. The lady inside was welcoming and immediately recommended her Venison stew, which turned out to be a real treat . A great coffee followed and after a little chit chat we were back on our way.


There was little to look at in the afternoon as we hurtled towards Victoria West, keeping good time. We stopped in the “its best to drive straight through it” Beaufort West on the edge of the Karoo National Park, before crossing the border into the Northern Cape and arriving at our pre arranged B&B.


Our historic B&B, Die Pophuis Hoekie in Victoria West turned out to be very comfortable and atmospheric, especially after a plus 500 km day. Dad and I had agreed that on our journey up to Victoria Falls, we would forgo the camping (so we could make quicker progress) and utilise guesthouse and B&B accommodation. This would hopefully ensure we arrived in Zambia quickly and could start the camping odyssey from there. Die Pophuis Hoekie was a charming traditional settlers cottage in the old part of town . This was a far cry from the disappointing holes like Beaufort West we had seen on the way here. Decked out with antiques and refurbished it was a delight and surrounded by cottages from a similar period. It was also great value for money.


That night we walked through town past old shops and a church to the local pub, where we had a traditional pub meal with all its Boer meat splendour. A portion of lamb chops here was actually three chops.


The next morning we were up early and after breakfast, loaded up the car and resumed the trip north. After a discussion we decided to break our journey at Kimberley, the old mining town as Dad was interested to see the Big Hole. This was still a 400 km drive but we arrived after midday after passing long stretches of flat scrub like bush which reminded me a little of the Northern Territories in Australia . I did also spot my first group of Meerkats on the highway tarmac, look outs on duty.


As our plans had changed, I had no accommodation booked so we went straight to the helpful Information centre. Armed with a list of B&Bs we started to phone around only to find out that most B&Bs in Kimberley in our price range were full. We settled on the Rooftop B&B in Barkly West, about 25 km outside Kimberley and the host, Paul on the phone was very friendly. Barkly West was where diamonds were first discovered in the region and was a lot more interesting that the “forgettable” comment in my guidebook. Paul’s B&B was literally on his rooftop as the accommodation was built above his house and his adjacent bakery in log style cabins. Probably difficult to imagine from my description, but very comfortable.


Paul was a great and an incredibly kind host. He turned out to be a huge 4x4 enthusiast and within minutes of us arriving had critiqued our equipment and suggested some extras, plus offered to give us a tour of the Vaal River prospecting mining sites that were still in use around the village of Barkly West. He was one of those rare people who are genuinely interested in what we were doing. After we had unpacked, we jumped in his new huge Land Rover and off we went down to the edge of the River Vaal. Paul just drove his vehicle over everything, sand, boulders etc etc. He were able to get a great idea of what was still going on as these “weekend prospectors” were still quite active in a sort of part time way. Down by the river’s edge, many new families from outside of this area had taken on the old digger accommodation. But further along the rusty iron equipment and piles of boulders from the river were all testament to the ongoing search for diamonds. Very kindly, Paul explained how the equipment was used and drove us to an excellent viewpoint where we could see the whole area.


That night we ventured to the riverside restaurant/pub called the Pump House for dinner. This was not the atmospheric experience we were both hoping for. As we entered the small bar which was perched on wooden stilts at the river’s edge, we were careered into by an elderly couple dancing a sort of inebriated waltz to the bazaar sounds of an Afrikaans/Euro Trash pop band. The man was certainly having trouble keeping his balance and as the bar was just the size of a large caravan, it was difficult to avoid them. My father was immediately offered a beer plus a shot of what looked like peach coloured liquid make up - yuk! My tee total request was meet with incredulity, although many people seemed unable or incapable of speaking English. As surreal experiences go, I reckoned this was going to be a bad one and I began to try and find out if we could eat some food. As this was the only sit-down ‘restaurant’ in Barkly West we knew we had little choice. We were finally ushered out of this bar along a narrow walkway to an exposed eating area again on stilts above the river. This place was now freezing and the Euro trash music continued to blare away making me believe I was in a Eurovision song contest hellish nightmare. The food turned out to be OK. Dad complained about his, but it was cheap. He did at one point start humming along to the audio rubbish (that goodness he could not singalong as it was in Afrikaans). We exited quickly as Paul had kindly said we could watch the Champions League final with him in his house.


The next morning we decided to see the sights of Kimberley before moving on and this started with a trip down the road to the San Wildebeest centre. This centre was set up as a community project to protect the San rock carvings discovered in the 19th century on a small hill on a farm just south of Barkly West. Unfortunately, the information given to us in Kimberley turned out to be incorrect and this place was shut on the weekends, however I was also given the telephone number of the lead Archaeologist, David Morris, so I called him up. He was extremely helpful and contacted the site manager, who offered to open the centre if we went and we picked him up from his house in Kimberley.


Petrus Wilson turned out to be a real star. He lived in the north of Kimberley, in an area my father would not usually have driven into, and offered to give us an exclusive tour despite suffering a heavy cold.


The centre itself turned out to be an excellent experience. Unfortunately funding cuts had lead to staff cuts and the closure on Saturdays and Sundays. Petrus ignored all of that, opened the centre and showed us the informative video and then guided us up the small hill to see the numerous rock carvings. There were more than 200 rock engravings done by the San people some 1500 years ago. These engravings pictured Boks, Elephants, Rhinos and other animals plus images from the Trance Danes. These dances were explained by the artist Lynne in Cape Town to us before we left, so this was particularly interesting. Also some the engravings had pictures of images seen during the Trance dances mutating into animals.


The San people have a torrid history of forcible relocation, fighting wars for the Apartheid Administration and the Portuguese plus general inhuman treatment. The centre opened up this story together with the engravings to a wider audience, which made it even more incredulous to understand why this rich and excellent centre was now being subject to funding cuts. A huge thanks must go to Petrus for being such an excellent guide and enabling us to visit. We did not meet any San people. We hope to do that in Namibia, but this experience only whetted the appetite.


Next stop was the historic Kimberley Club in the centre of town. As we falling behind schedule, it seemed sensible now to stay an extra day so we could see more things in Kimberley - as it was turning out to be much more interesting than I had ever imagined.


The Kimberley Club was located in a quiet street in the centre of the city. It was everything one would expect from an historical institution and appeared to make my father feel at home. Wood panelled dinning rooms, staff in uniforms plus an impressive bar and oil paintings. It was very friendly and very reasonably priced. The history is the impressive part of the club as this was a haunt of Cecil Rhodes and the De Beers Mining company and his portraits littered the rooms and passage ways. Nowadays it is a boutique hotel, restaurant and club offering a great sunday lunch and it was nice to be there with my father dressed in our camping gear. He had on his shorts and his legs still in their bloodied bandages from the Bontebok bloodbath incident.


Following that, as the blue skies had returned we embarked on the historical walk around Belgravia district to see the fabulous mining mansions of yesteryear and other notable local historical sights. In the evening we returned to the Kimberley Club and then Paul’s.


The next day we left early to visit the Kamfers Dam. This Dam has the largest gathering of Lesser Flamingos in Southern Africa together with a vast number of Great Flamingos and “many other birds in an area of great ecological interest” according to the tourist information pack. As we approached the Dam on the main road north of Kimberley, we passed the huge Flamingo Casino on the edge of the Dam to see the dam’s waters covered with pink birds. This was a truly impressive sight. The lake and the view was almost completely obstructed by the railway line from the road and was still some 800m away All our attempts to get closer were thwarted. The railway line was clearly marked as out of bounds and the casino offered no access. This seemed incongruous considering the information contained in the numerous brochures for Kimberley. In the end we had to admit defeat. A lady at the Casino did tell us that the lake was now out of bounds to all tourists following a sewage leak. We decided to return to the information centre to complain. There they echoed what the woman had told us earlier and we decided to abandon all attempts to see this “ecological wonder”.


There McGregor Museum followed, which took much longer than we anticipated with excellent exhibitions on the local history, pre- white history, flora & fauna and the Boer war, plus a great exhibition on modern South African history.


After a quick lunch we drove to the Big Hole. This was original Diamond Mine in Kimberley and is right in the city centre surrounding the dramatic 800m deep hole, dug by hand and now partially full of water. This museum also featured a several engaging exhibits including a Mining Town reconstruction, a walkway over the mine hole, mining equipment, a diamond exhibit plus cutting information and informative videos. It was all very good.


We left to visit the Duggan-Cronin Gallery exhibition of 19th century photographs of the tribes working at the Kimberley mines, only again to find this locked and bolted when it was advertised it would be open. This was another disappointment and seemed to illustrate the problems that face Kimberley when trying to attract more tourism to what is a very interesting place. On the way out we bumped into a helpful Lady who did explain a rather covert way to see the Flamingos at the Dam. We hurtled back out to the lake and met up with a young man called Jonathan as she suggested. His parents farm backed onto the railway and by the sign that said “trespassers will be shot”. We followed him over the line and towards the lake. “We will be in trouble if the white van arrives,” he mentioned. The main group of Flamingos were still obscured, but we did see an impressive number, before hurrying back across the lines. He also added that the lake was going to be drained and he was going to fight this with some classmates. he also mentioned he had recently been fined $300 for escorting other tourists over the railway. We wished him luck.


We had dinner at the Half Way House, a pub frequented by Cecil Rhodes, before leaving for the excellent Rooftop B&B so we could pack the car and resume our journey north, the following day.