The Rhodesian Ridgeback

While staying at the campsite in Klawer, in the Western Cape, I spotted a Rhodesian Ridgeback dog. It was the owners dog and as I was trying to take a picture of him, but he turned away. Somewhat aloof with strangers and is typical of that dog breed which is also known to be loyal and intelligent.

Our first dog in South Africa was a Rhodesian Ridgeback and have fond memories of Buks, short as his stay was. The mail carrier delivered him, as he spotted my teenage sisters and wanted to impress them. For a brief moment, he dated one of my sisters  and Buks’ mysterious disappearance coincided with the end of their friendship.

When the Dutch arrived in the Cape of Good Hope they traded with, then called Hottentots and noticed their hunting dogs. The dogs were described as ugly, but they were known for their ferocity when acted as guard dogs. These hunting dogs were used to track Lions and Cheetahs and were known for its loyalty, mild temperament and yet brave. 

Their distinct feature is the ridge on their back with hair growing in the opposite direction.

The Ridgebacks origins are believed to trace back to Ethiopia or the southern Sedan. In one of the Egyptian tomb dating back to 4000BC, there is a drawing depicting a hound with drooping ears and it appears to have a ridge on its back. The indication is that it could most likely be the ancestor of the domesticated Hottentots dog.

An engraving by Dr. David Livingston shows Hottentot hunters with their ridged hunting dogs in 1857.

The Dutch brought their own dog breeds such as the Mastiff, Great Dane, Bloodhound, Pointer among others. The settlers needed a different type of dog for their new terrain and bred their European dogs with the Hottentot hunting dog.

Hunting dogs by F.C Selous 1893 with two showing a ridge on their back. These dogs were taken up to Rhodesian where they became the “Lion Dogs.” 

The result of the breeding were brown dogs that were loyal, good companions and had the stamina to hold down a lion.  The breed today is known as the Rhodesian Ridgeback and establish in 1922  and standardised by Mr. Francis Richard Barnes.

Klawer, Cape Province

We arrived in Klawer, our first town in South Africa, located in the Western Cape Province.  

Klawer means clover because of the wild clover blooming after a rainfall. 

Vineyards are starting to make their appearance.

Artist Pierneef’s linocut depicting the region.

We pitched our tents in a beautiful setting overlooking the vineyards. Along with it came the activity of trucks and grapes being transported to the co-operative. There was a wine cellar on the property which offered wine tasting for a small fee.  It introduced wines from the Klawer area.  

South Africa is well known international for its wines as they have been growing it since 1652. Along with the arrival of French Huguenots, who also brought their own shoots with them, it added and developed the main winegrowing region of Stellenbosch, just outside of Cape Town.

Small producers can not maintain the standards of the larger more famous ones. Smaller farms who cannot make a profit are selling and leaving, while others form a co-operative. The emigration of winemakers to such places as Australia, New Zealand and Canada have left a void with the receiving countries to benefit from their knowledge. I did not like the local wines.

Another beautiful sunset and it looked like a large hand pointing to the direction of the Cape.

South Africa

South African artist Pierneef 

Our arrival in South Africa was pleasant with a smooth border crossing as we entered the Karoo area. 

The Karoo known for its great sky, great heat, great frost, great floods and great droughts and old-fashioned windmills are showing up on the horizon. 

 Small settlements farms and vineyards are making their appearance. 

We stopped for lunch under the Blue Gum trees. The Blue Gum tree is part of the Eucalyptus family and was introduced by a British botanist. With the trees rapid growth it was thought to be used for the mining industry. It also consumes 2000 litres of water in a day and recently in particular areas the trees have been removed and regarded as an invading species. Because of their natural enemies who were left behind in their country of origin, they can survive, reproduce and spread unaided across the landscape. 

In one of the trees are the weaver birds nests and captured my imagination and an illustration of it soon followed.

The Orange River

The truck pulled into our campsite for the last day in Namibia and we were waiting for a replacement truck to arrive from Johannesburg.  

South African regulations prohibit foreign registered vehicles from entering the country. Our truck came from Kenya and did its turnaround here. A new driver arrived to take us further through to Cape Town and brought along parts to be taken up to Kenya

.                   There was no new group booked and the truck was to return empty.

The Orange River is the longest in South Africa. It starts in the Drakensberg mountains in Lesotho and flows westwards to the Atlantic Ocean at Alexander Bay. It provides water for irrigation as well as hydroelectric power. It passes through no major cities and several commercial diamond mines operate along the final stretch of the Orange River and around its mouth. It forms the border between Namibia and South Africa.

In 1779, Colonel Robert Gordon commander of the Dutch East India Company garrison at Cape Town named the river in honour of William V of Orange.

He also introduced Merino sheep to the Cape. 

 in 1786 the Colonel discovered the remains of Bartolomeu Dia’s padrāo at Kwaaihoek.  In addition to French, Dutch and English he spoke Hottentot and Xhosa.

We bid Namibia farewell and a full moon helped to compose this picture.

Fish River Canyon

Heading further south have reached the most southern part of Namibia and couldn’t leave before seeing the impressive Fish River Canyon. 

                         

Nowhere in Africa will you find anything like it. The canyon measures 160km in length and up to 27km wide, with the inner canyon reaching up to a depth of 550 metres.

The Fish River is the longest interior river in Namibia and about 650 million years ago plate movement formed the north-south graben. During the Karoo Ice Age, it further deepened the canyon.

The Fish River Canyon is the second largest in the world after the Grand Canyon.

It dries up completely during the summer season leaving a few puddles behind and In the rainy season it can turn into a raging river. We waited for sunset before heading back to camp.

 Birds-eye view of the surroundings.

There were a full moon and an excellent photo opportunity as it lit up the African sky.

Deadvlei

Close to Sossusvlei the desert scene continues as we are heading towards Deadvlei.  

After a brief stop, with ladies to the left and gentlemen to the right, we continued to the parking lot and a 1km walk to the vlei.

Vlei means marsh in Afrikaans and had once been by the Tsauchab River. 

The Tsauchab River flooded and formed a pan and with the abundance of water the camel thorn tree flourished.

Due to natural climate change and sand dunes encroaching on the pan blocking the flow of the river.

The trees are approximately 900 years old and have not decomposed due to the dry climate. 

Scored by the African sun it has taken the colour of burned wood.

We left the Mars-like scenery and walked the 1 km  back to the truck

An uninvited guest was waiting for us with the hopes of finding some orts.

The Dunes

The Sossusvlei area is characterised and is well known for its sand dunes. It varies in colour from vivid pink to dark orange depending on the concentration of iron in the sand. The older the dunes, the more intense the reddish colour.

These dunes are the highest in the world, many of them above 200 metres. The highest in this area is Big Daddy at 380 metres high.

Dune 45, the star dune, is so called as it lies 45km from Sesriem on the road to Sossusvlei. The 170-metre dune is composed of 5 million-year-old sand.

We arrived the night before so that we could have an early climb to the top of Dune 45 before sunrise.

The best approach is bare feet and it was a bit of an exercise to get to the top.  

Slowly the sun appeared and filled the sky and the sand with soft colours.

After watching the dunes in the early morning light, we made our way back down as breakfast was waiting.

This was one of the highlights of my journey