Day 62 !Khwa Ttu

We left Melkbosstrand without getting a reply to my email for Khwa Ttu but decided to go anyway, we thought of stopping at Silwerstroomstrand but a big NO DOGS sign deterred us. The next turnoff was again a NO DOGS sign so we kept going, I did think of going into Yzerfontein to look for a campsite but we came to !Khwa Ttu about 5km before the Yzerfontein turnoff so chose them as our first port of call, we went through the gate and the guard directing us onwards, drove up the hill on a decent sand road a kilo and a half, parked and went in to ask about accommodation, sweetest, helpful people. I spoke to a white guy that clerly runs the show, he was not very forthcoming as far as information on the Bushman which I asked about, but was happy to let me camp overnight in their bushcamp for R250, expensive but ah well it is for a good cause. The accommodation options are the bushcamp, the bush house and a guest house up here in the main buildings.

our private bushcamp

the boma

the huge horses that chased the dogs

herd of springbok

I am not sure where I first heard about !Khwa Ttu but it is a celebration of the San people past and present and an education centre for the youth, it talks about the San being the original hunter gatherers, not sure why they use the term San as all my information tell me that San is a name they prefer not to use as it refers to animal thieves, they prefer the modern term Khoi San.

Andries, one of the San guides, took me back down to the gate and across the R27 and through a gate about a kilometre and into the bush camp which houses 5 tents with 4 beds in each, a basic ablution block and a boma with some gas cooking facilities. The place has a lost look about it and I discovered it was a little bit run down as well, but for me it was heaven, all alone in the bush camp about 3km from the main dwellings and close to the sea, we revelled in having the place to ourselves, could walk the dogs all over the place, keeping an eye out for the cape cobras that inhabit this area, but saw lots of birds and little buck, mostly duiker.

We walked to the bush house which looks a little more lived in and not quite as rustic as our spot and had some wanabe scherms, the little thatch huts the bushman used in bad weather for protection, these had tents in them, obviously waterproof for guests, and the scherm outer was just for effect. I decided I was happy to stay where we were in the bushcamp.

Watched a lovey sunset, got to wash some clothes, enjoy coffee and a read a bit in the boma, the shower is outside under a tree, lovely experience, heated with a gas pilot lit boiler, so not very warm but I did heat up a big pot of hot water and doused myself with it when I was done, warmed the bod up. We got a little bit of rain but not much.

Wow slept like a log, did think of sleeping in one of the tents but we are so comfortable in the camper and the dogs are now used to it being home I felt it would just stress them out to put them in a cold unfamiliar tent, this was my first real sleep in four nights, no noise, no rain, no wind, no disturbance, no car lights shining on us and no people, what a pleasure, just what I want my farm in the bush to be like, I can see myself buliding this simple outfit to start with and developing it over time into whatever I want it to be.

Morning found us waking up with the crows and the shrikes, took a nice early walk to wake us up under an overcast sky and then packed up and drove back over the road and up to the main centre. We took one of the hikes up into the mountain behind them, came across a herd of Eland and zebra in the distance but got close to the herd of Springbok that crossed our path casually, then went to say hallo to two horses who liked me well enough but then saw the dogs and started chasing them, big horses at least 16 hands high so the poor dogs were terrified, wow did they freak out, they were really being chased, poor Pepi was horrified, Josie snuck under the fence but Lani could not get away from them I had to pick her up and chase the horses off to keep them away from her, they went back to chasing Pepi who discovered she can run quite fast when she has to and she came dashing behind me through the gate, tail between her legs and a hurt look on her face, what a laugh.

So with all the people I eventually managed to speak to at the centre with my walking around the gardens, the two meals I ate and interacting with those I came across, this is what I learnt. !Khwa Ttu is funded by a Norwegian Church and a Swiss outfit, plus by WIMSA who are the indigenous minority protectors in South Africa, they came here in 1999 and refurbished three lovely old Cape homes, they have done a grand job, the gardens are basic from what I can see but I may not be seeing it all, they are very clued up with their Botany, all the flora is labled and grown in pots for people to buy, the area is not very large that they have but their main income is from the accommodation, the restaurant and the two guided tours a day that they do through the bush with a guide or in a open landdrover, and this takes the form of explaining the fauna and flora about the ways of the San when they were still hunter gatherers.

Most of the work the centre does is in educating the youngsters, they bring them from the Kalahari and from Platfontein outside Kimberley to stay for a week or a few months depending on the course. I'm not sure what they teach them as they get sent back to places where their are no jobs, but I guess thats another problem, esentailly the San culture is being lost as the old folk die off, the language is being lost as well as too few people actually speak it regularly enough and it is no longer spoken by the youngsters of today who also don't want to farm or live in the old traditional manner, one can't blame them. They aslo come here with great expectations as they have a picture of Cape Town in their heads and when they get here and find a barren looking farm in the middle of nowhere miles from Cape Town, it discourages them and I am sure that information filters back to the others when they get back home, not a great advertisement for the cente and the wonderful work they are obviously doing here.

So as for finding a Bushman community anywhere up the West Coast, not much help their, plenty if I go north of Uppington but not much anywhere else unless I get lucky or do a thorough search, so I didn't learn much for myself, but it was a great place to visit and good to see something is being done about preserving the history and culture of the first people of Africa and maybe the world, they work hard here, I don't personally believe it can be called self sustaining when they rely on others for their livlihood, but maybe I'm being too pedantic, they have a lot of awards on their walls and they must mean something.

We enjoyed our stay and loved the good nights sleep and feel confident that we too can build some similar simple dwelling and be self sufficient, so the stop served it's purpose. We left and went to Darling just 20km away, very pretty little town, ever so clean, we went to see Evita se Peron, which is superb, worth a visit, what a history he has, he has turned the railway staion into a museum dedicated to Evita Bezuidenhout and her exploits over the years. There are old letters from the previous Government, and pictures of meetings with famous faces, lots of his videos and photos with the most amazing people from all over the world, Dirkie Uys has been living in Darling since about 1995 and I think he is the best thing that could have happened to the town, most of the proceeds from the museum and sales of the memoribilia and books and videos goes into a trust fund for the people of the Swartland.

Evita se Peron in Darling

We left Darling and headed back the way we came for 15km and turned up to Langebaan about 50km away.