Diamonds are Forever

DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER

And so is the destruction in its wake.

We are back in Kleinzee and looking forward to sitting vas here in the small town with a big drinking problem and a small mining problem. After exploring the surrounding area including a bit of the Rigtersveld Park we were keen to start working at the Crazy Crayfish restaurant and meet the local yocals. The road between Alexander Bay and Port Nolloth was quiet so I had my first driving lesson. Yeehaa – now I’ve driven the truck
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All I can say about Alexander Bay is that it’s wedged in the most north western hoekie of South Africa where the Orange River empties into the ocean. It’s not really a town, but rather a dusty bland vaal sandy place where diamond mining has drastically devastated hundreds of km’s of the coastline and eliminated all signs of plant life leaving mounds of barren dunes with buggerall nutrients. By now I imagine you’ve realised I’m not keen on diamonds. In fact that’s probably why Theo married me, not because I’m clever, sexy, funny, or humble but because I don’t require expensive shiny jewellery in exchange for sex. Oh yes, did I mention that I’ve finally driven the truck
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We travelled east following the Orange River as it wound its way through the dry arid desert hoping to find a place to stop and do some fishing. It’s difficult to distinguish between some of the bare natural koppies in the dessert and the koppies created by piles and piles of gravel deposited by diamond mining even within the Rigtersveld National Park at the Sendlingsdrift area. We camped at Potjiespram and walked along the Orange River filling our pockets with more stones to add to our collection. Even Theo is hooked now and has a packet full of unpolished tigers eye. I’m not sure what the point is of driving around with a box full of stones on the back of the truck but we can’t seem to stop picking them up. So yes, I have driven the truck and it rocks!

The dry heat sucked out any speck of moisture or sweat before it had a chance to escape my pores and my dusty skin felt like the dry scales of a snake. The scenery of nothingness against a backdrop of majestic blue mountains creates its own unsurpassed beauty which had such a relaxing effect on me that I barely noticed my dried out nostrils, burning eyeballs or crevices in my heels. We were only about 100km into the Rigtersveld Park, so I wondered what the real desert in Namibia would be like. Yikes. We’ve decided we will wait for winter before we cross the border
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On our way back near Wondergat, a natural sinkhole in the rocks where the Namas believe a giant snake spirit lives, we came across a little oasis at a dried up riverbed. Someone lived there in a plastic covered maatjies hut with his own little camped off veggie garden so we sommer stopped there overnight. I was hoping to meet the owner but he was nowhere to be found. We assumed he was a herder judging by the amount of drolletjies around, and had probably moved his goats in search of better grazing grounds in the harsh environment. I felt like an intruder peeping through his makeshift door at some of his worldly possessions, a dented pot or two on a little wooden shelf, a chair and his neatly made up bed. It seemed that he expected to find everything as he had left it when he returned months later, even his veggie garden seemed to be doing ok on its own. I wondered if he had asked Heitsi Eibib, the snake spirit to watch over his stuff while he journeyed on foot across the desert. According to Nama legend the snake spirit sometimes appears as an irresistible young maiden and lures men into its deep black hole to devour them. Perhaps he had got lonely and had finally succumbed to the deceptive spirit. Either way, I respected his space for the 2 days which we hung around there and I didn’t wander across to the big black hole.

Food for thought – I wonder if a spirit guarding your stuff wouldn’t be more effective than SAPS?!?
PS. I’ve driven the truck and I’ts awesome!
Vas - tight
hoekie - corner
vaal - bland
Koppies – hills
Maatjies – traditional reed ma
Sommer – just (what the hell, if not why not)
Drolletjies - poop