Carol and Tim's Excellent Adventure: Graaf-Reinert: The Jewel of the Karoo

It's a long drive from Kimberley to our next stop, Graaf-Reinert, 'The Jewel of the Karoo' in the Eastern Cape. For the most part, the roads in SA are quite good - well marked, pothole free, and fenced to prevent errant game from wandering onto the pavement. The Karoo is a long swath of very dry, high desert terrain that spans a major portion of the center of the country. Karoo is a Khoi-Khoi word that means 'Great Thirstland' - very fitting.

We drive for miles and miles and miles and see little but scrubby shrubbery, lots of rocks, and endless vistas. Their rainy season is immanent, and I can easily envision this landscape transformed into a carpet of green, much like the transformation in our Southwest.

I'm delighted to report that Graaf-Reinert is well worth the drive. It is an utterly charming town!! It is the fourth oldest in all of South Africa, and I immediately loved the architecture - French Quarter meets the Australian Outback. It is obviously a big tourist destination as every street seems to have at least two guesthouses but not a hotel in sight. We've arrived at the end of October which has been declared 'Breast Cancer Awareness' month; hence all the trees are banded in pink.

Amazingly, there is a notable absence of razor wire, electrified fencing, and armed response warnings. The only barbed wire we saw was atop a fence around a swimming pool, and someone told us that was to keep out the mischevious vervet monkeys.

Our accommodation is a self-cater guesthouse, a short walk from the center of town, and the owner is friendly and helpful. There is a lot to see here, and we will have no difficulty filling the four days of our stay. But first we need to find a self-service laundry.

After a couple of false starts (one person thinks we're looking for a casino when we describe putting money in a slot) we're successful and find the one self-service laundry in town. Interesting conversation with the owner and her husband. She says, rather sadly, that SA used to be a 'First World Country' but has slid into third world status of late. When we ask her what happened, she shrugs and says -'the government'.

Apparently, the current leader, a man named Zuma has been a great disappointment. The cost of basic things, like electricity, have skyrocketed. Several years ago she was paying 6000 rand a month for power (about $450) and with the last increase, she now pays 32,000 rand (almost $2400). She reports that nearly all government monies are going towards salaries and almost none toward maintenance and improvement of infrastructure. She shrugs, smiles sadly and says 'South Africa is no place for sissies.'

We notice that the three plastic lawn chairs for people to sit and wait for their laundry and the plastic laundry bin on top of the counter to measure the amount of laundry a machine will hold are all bolted down. Seriously bolted down. Mmmmm . . .

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A pile of clean. dry clothes tucked away, we're off to the Valley of Desolation and a self-drive safari through Camdeboo National Park.

The Valley of Desolation is aptly named although it could just as easily have been dubbed the Vistas of Delight. The views are utterly spectacular! Graaf-Reinert is nestled in a bend of the Songas River which is only a trickle now.

And a more distant view of these incredible plains and Debbie and Paul.

A drive through Camdeboo rewards us with a number of animal sightings, some within view of the township on the outskirts of GR. Each National Park map comes with an animal guide showing the species that have been sighted there. It proves very helpful as we eagerly check off the following:

Vervet Monkey in a stand of what I've called crown of thorns - a hideously nasty shrub.

Female kudu with a couple of birds getting a free ride and probably keeping this mama free of buggies.

We spotted this pair of tortoises and either Tim or Paul said the smaller one was the male, in hot pursuit of the female! Can't help but wonder about the mechanics if he's successful . . .

A very large lizard.

And a Burchell's zebra with the township in the background. Yes, those small, colorful dwellings are individual homes. Not sure about the larger, beige building on the far hillside.