leisurewheels.co.za SEPTEMBER 2019 49
When I set off for a few night’s R&R, my
plan was to conjure up a back-roads route
labelled The Garden Route Unplugged.
Although I did pilot a pretty novel alternative
route, I stumbled across some even more
interesting historical ox wagon routes.
A
S MUCH as I appreciated my family bestowing the
Beacon Isle corner suite on me this year, with its
270 degrees of jaw-dropping vistas and sumptuous
accommodation, I’m just not a fancy timeshare guy.
I find it too much for my simple tastes and loner sensibilities: things
like the lobby pianist’s muzak; the long list of rules (don’t even
think of having a cigarillo on your balcony) and the carpet bowls in
the lobby and bingo in the bar. Yes, I’m the oddball, I know.
Which is why, after I’d done my time there, I was looking
forward to camping at Pietersrivier Nature Reserve with my friend,
Raimund. The difference between the offerings of these two resorts
could not be starker. You realise this as soon as you enter this
pristine wilderness and meet its barefoot custodian, Katot Meyer.
Katot is as small and tough as his Afrikaans nickname – Katot is
Afrikaans for billy can – and his wild appearance and keen sense
of humour make him a diminutive blend of Oom Schalk Lourens
crossed with a veteran game ranger of yesterday. But when you
listen carefully to his novel ideas on conservation, like his initiative
to save the Keurbooms River and his innovative ideas on waste
management and recycling on the move (he has designed a green
box for your 4×4 – see http://www.pnaturereserve.co.za), you realise this
is a man who walks his talk.
Although the recent fires which ravaged Knysna and Plett laid
waste to much of the vegetation on the southern two-thirds of this
reserve, fortunately it did not spread to the section containing the
variety of campsites and hiking trails which are thankfully still in
pristine condition. But it was the one activity that wasn’t on offer
due to the fire damage, the exacting Burchell’s 4×4 trail (due to
reopen in 2020) that reminded me of the historical ox wagon route
that veteran 4×4 legend Nico Hesterman had told me about some
years back.
Rummaging through the files on my laptop, I found the
document Nico wrote when he launched it in 2005. The idea of
looking for other Southern Cape ox wagon trails came to him after
researching the rich history of the Attaquaskloof Pass (“the N1
for ox wagons travelling north and east from 1689 to 1869”) the
starting point of which was accessed from his Bonniedale Farm
near Herbertsdale.
Reading through the document again, I realised serendipity was
hard at work. Even though I had unwittingly started Nico’s route
back to front, I had already driven part of the old Paardekop ox
wagon route incorporated into the R340 from Plett when
I accessed the epic Prince Alfred Pass and then De Vlugt; and
the next day I had unknowingly booked another old ox wagon
road on his route, the Duiwelskop 4×4 trail (also known as the
Old Voortreker Pass) which starts on Louvain Farm between
Noll’s Halt and Herold.
It was too good an opportunity to pass up and as soon as I’d
rescued Raimund from the bush toilet where he was being held
hostage by a stubborn black snake, I decided we should head off
and do as much of Nico’s historical ox wagon route as we could
(marked NHR below), as well as adding a few side routes of our
own on the way back to Bot River.Main image: Panoramic views over
the Outeniqua Mountains’ peaks and
kloofs abound on the Old Voortekker
Pass from Louvain Farm.