We were up early the next morning and did a bit of exploring. Petra and I were trying to go to reception to pay, but walked right past it. Stephen and Paul found us at the owner’s house. Orania is actually a very interesting place and we decided to first have a look around. (I have stayed here a few times with guests before). Firstly we went to the resort restaurant to look at the river from their lovely deck and enjoyed the “aircon wall” (packed stones with water flowing though) at the interesting hotel. One simply has to go and see the Koeksister Monument (another Afrikaans/Malay heritage delicacy) and the Afrikaner leaders’ busts on the hill overlooking Orania. Verwoerds’ statue had been moved to the museum, but the Afrikaans Nationalist's are all represented on this prominent hill. There is one empty pedestal?

We had to get moving and soon we crossed the Gariep just past Hopetown. It was Saturday and some sort of cycling event was happening. For many kilometers we saw cyclists along the long boring road heading for Hopetown. We wondered where they had started from? It was quite a challenge to navigate through chaotic Kimberly and our GPS somehow took us through the “down town” side of the city where we had to negotiate taxis, markets and pedestrians. It was a relief to finally exit the city and pass Kamfers Dam. Sadly, there were no flamingos to be seen on this once famous wetland. We made a quick coffee stop next to the road and then headed for Vryburg. Here ample rain had also fallen and the farmers must be very happy to be able to work their lands again. Vryburg has a bad reputation for hijacking and theft on passing vehicles, but we saw almost empty streets and everything looked peaceful. The endless corrugated shack settlements looked very depressing and the only “brightness” about them, was that the corrugated iron shimmered brightly in the late afternoon sun.

It was getting late and we wondered where we were going to spend the night. I was doing serious research re two known North West Nature Reserves around Mahikeng, but despite actually managing to reach an ex employee, we began to realize that these once lovely provincially run reserves had probably also succumbed to neglect and mismanagement. Now what? The area is overpopulated and known for crime and we simply had to find a place. Paul stumbled upon a somewhat familiar sounding name on the iOverlander site – Wondergat. It was 18 km out of our way, but it sounded like a good and only option. Strangely, Stephen and I had passed the sign years ago when we were passing through the area with our Combi on our way to Botswana and I have ever since wondered about this Wondergat and the Molopo Oog. And Paul and Petra knew about a Wondergat where technical diving was done. We turned off on an attractive track and eventually drove through a gate and were greeted by a friendly and very surprised manager. It was almost dark now, but we were shown a lovely site complete with power and hot water showers. And it was the REAL Wondergat!!! We soon had our ready made suppers going and to our delight we were joined by a delightful cat, we called Kittytoo. It had been a long day, but we were very close to the Botswana border and we could not wait for the next day to actually see the famous Wondergat!

Geschreven door Leartravels