We have walked from Calvinia in the Northern Cape, 125km to Stonehenge Nature Reserve, the home of AfrikaBurn to the magnificent sculpture “Subterrafuge”, the sculpture of Nathan Honey. To speak to the Karoo with our footsteps. To honour her and to ask for protection from “Fracking “and to walk out to Ceres 125km further.
I could not have asked for a more perfect companion than Senait, my Ethiopian girlfriend. Her perfect sense of rhythm, her gentle quiet nature and her sensitivity to everything around her. We had the support of the Tankwa Camino and their crew as back-up vehicle transporting and providing our food, tents and providing us with other luxuries like water and a hot meal on our arrival each night. We were to join their camp each night, but we were going to walk off road along animal tracks, water ways, old wagon trails and through the veld and join them each evening at the designated campsites 25 – 30km each day. Having their support made our journey an easy, stress less project as we would never have to worry about carrying too heavy, or losing our way as they had set up markers along the road to secure our safe passage. Our responsibility was to get up each morning for the next nine days, walk 8 to 9 hours and savour each breath of this spacious vast desert.
Each morning we were awoken by the most evocative sunrises and each night we would walk into the most spectacular light show fantastic sunsets of cerise pink and reds followed by a star struck black-drop that could only be found in one of the most expansive skies in the world. No wonder a few hundred kilometres away in Southerland was the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO) field station.
Each day the sun became hotter and hotter as we walked through different biomes from scrub, arid and semi-arid desert wastelands, clay pans that promised water had come and gone, sandy grass and scrublands and the occasional oasis of water that had survived the relentless heat. Each day brought its wonders. The appearance of a Springbok, deer, rabbit, tortoise and the animal prints of ant-eaters and other animals. The pitch black lava rocks which held ancients stories from deep under the earth’s surface, lay heavy in our palms, fossils lay everywhere reminding us of life that once was. Bright red stone, marble, shale mystical stories of how this ancient landscape had survived millions of years and extreme climates changes.
The occasional joy of a windmill with a reservoir close by, the promise of water, few, but a rare gift to be able to cover our dusty heads in water, once even being able to submerge our bodies. The joy of seeing different species of fleshy plants, that sometimes played with our minds, imagining them under the sea, looking like sea-anemones, the occasional delight of a bright red, yellow, pink and lavender flower erupting from a prickly cactus like plant, the fleshy silicone texture to touch. Each day was a new discovery at the abundance of life, which at a glance, looked like a desolate wasteland.
The highlight of arriving at Stonehenge Nature Reserve to be greeted with amazement and delight be members of the AfikaBurn community. The appearance of a huge floating ship in the horizon, a red telephone booth in the desert. The delicious delights of a landscape chosen to be used as a playground. Our excitment as far in the distance the wonder of Subterrafuge reveals itself, and she does in all her glory. She spirals into the sky the goddess of all things. Her six spires hiding from every angle so you never see them all. Nathan Honey's way of commenting on the lies and deceit around fracking in this majestic wild place, the Karoo.
Leaving the following day to walk out to Ceres, our mission accomplished and more magic to be discovered beneath our feet each day. Meeting local workers and farmers in the area, who could only have the Karoo running in their veins to survive this God forsaken land, as described by one of the farmers. Each day mingled into the next, the terrain changing each hour, minute, second as we moved from Mountainous back-drops, with the tops of the mountains making me smile reminding me of the hair-cuts of the Tibetan monks, to rolling hills, to Mountainous out-crops and the Cederberg looming in all its red grandeur. The richness of this place, the smell of the dust, the sound of the thunderstorm, wind and the cacophony of music of bird song serenaded us along the 250km or more became a movie imprinted in our cells to remain with us forever. Entering Ceres we were greeted with a clap and I gave a joyful African cry. We were to be safely escorted to our shuttle to transport us back into the unreal world filled. We left the Karoo with our hearts full of gratitude, feeling blessed that it too would be a part of us.
