Griekwastad

Both my sons expressed surprise this morning when I let them know I’d arrived safely in Kimberley as they both thought I was going to Cape Town with the rest of the family. Clearly I’d been thinking a lot about this trip but failed to actually tell people.

Yes I flew into Kimberley this morning from Johannesburg. It’s the famous Diamond town but I didn’t stay any longer than it took me to grab my hire car and head west. I’ll check it out when I return on Tuesday.

Flying into Kimberley reminded me of Australia’s centre. A vast flat land dotted with squat trees, water holes and every now and then, a gracious brown river. Ancient and crisscrossed with a spider web of dirt roads.

Why am I here? It’s a quest of sorts. I’m researching and writing a book about one strand of my family, the Moffats, and this is where much of the early action took place. I feel to write convincingly of this part of the world I need to see it and feel it.

I also felt like a bit of a solo adventure. My mother is not thrilled as it is probably irresponsible traveling as a solo woman in this part of the world, so today is day one of proof of life.

I started the day with an impulse decision. The relations who started the Moffat story in Africa were my great great great grandparents, Robert and Mary Moffat. He was Scottish, she English. Neither had ever been to Africa, but Robert joined the London Missionary Society in 1816, just nine months after he and Mary met. He was her father’s gardener. They were both 20. Mary wanted to join him in Africa but her parents, very understandably forbade it. Four years later she wore them down and sailed. to Africa alone, meeting Robert and marrying him on arrival in Cape Town. This was 1820, George 1V was on the throne and nicely brought up young ladies don’t as a rule disappear to a virtually unexplored (by white man) continent to join a man they knew for nine months and haven’t seen in four. Mary didn’t see her mother again.

Their life is well documented as they became one of the world’s most famous missionary couples and their daughter, also Mary, married David Livingstone. Their mission, Kuruman, is 14km from where I’m writing - the Red Sands resort. I’m in a romantic little thatched rondarvel (round house) with slightly less romantic insects emanating and landing on me from said thatch…

So, back to the impulse decision. Before Mary and Robert Moffat made it to Kuruman (six months by ox wagon from Cape Town) they spent a year in a mission town then called Griqua Town named after the local tribe. It’s now changed to the Africaans version of Griekwastad. I had read that one of the mission buildings is still standing and is now called the Mary Moffat Museum. It was about 1.5hours west of Kimberley and I had no other plans, so I went.

The road was surprisingly good with several little thatched rest stops on the way. Only single lanes though and the speed limit of 120 km is interpreted by most as a minimum! The land seemed to be largely game fenced - tall and multi strand fencing- with properties signposted as Nature reserves. I saw quite a few varieties of buck and even ostrich.

Griqua Town is nestled into a valley with lots of trees, and seemed like an oasis after the dry land I’d been driving through. I felt hopeful of a cafe for a break, but sadly it was not that kind of place. The Main Street was lined with litter and groups of people just hanging about, with skinny dogs digging through the trash and the shops that weren’t closed were protected with iron bars. I continued down the main road (also called Moffat St) and suddenly there was a delightful 200 year old cottage in pristine condition with a little sign outside saying Mary Moffat museum. I parked, put my faith in the gods that I’d still have tyres on my return and entered the cool, dark doorway. I was met by a delightful young girl called Mmapaseka Shushu. Paseka means Good Friday (when she was born) and Mma means she was a girl. She very proudly showed me around and was very excited to hear of my family link, asking for a selfie. I felt quite the celebrity! The museum was only cursorily about Mary Moffat, but it was a special place to see and imagine her there 200 years ago.

I had been planning to head north from there to Kuruman but Mmapaseka said it was a dirt road and definitely not for my car. I did the sensible thing and drove back towards Kimberley before turning north on the only tarred route.

The road to Kuruman was not nearly as good and it was full of literally hundreds of mine trucks delivering or collecting ore from beyond Kuruman. It was pointless to pass them because there was always another closely ahead, so I just chugged along at 80 behind them while everyone else went flying past. This is the lowest density population in South Africa and there was only one town between Kimberley and Kuruman 200km later.

It ended up being a huge day driving but I now feel as if I have a sense of the area. I drove through Kuruman to get some petrol and was surprised to see how big it was. Even has a Maccas and KFC! I will visit it properly tomorrow but am looking forward to a good nights sleep and a big walk tomorrow around the nature reserve I am in after a day on an airplane and another driving. With luck it will start with an African sunrise.Læs mere