Treurrivier

Our last stop on the Panorama route (as we wouldn't visit God's Window because of all the fog), was Bourke's Luck Potholes. Bourke has been a man searching for gold. He'd found some gold in this region and bought the land with all his money. He searched for more gold, but never ever found something again. That is why South Africans say "You've got Bourke's luck" when someone has bad luck.
The Potholes were actually created by water erosion. The water used to flow as if in a pot and stirred around, digging out these strange holes.
At the spot, the two rivers Treurrivier and Blyderivier join again. Translated, they are called Sorrow and Happiness. The story that gave them their names is the following: As the British people arrived in South Africa, the Vortrekkers (Dutch) were forced to flee into the country, away from the coast. At the Blyde River Canyon, the brave men left their women and children to look out for a good place to live. The women and children made their way to the Treurrivier and waited for their men to come back. As they didn't, they went on, full of sorrow. As they arrived at the banks of the Blyde River, their men arrived there as well, rejoining their families. So obviously, they were all very happy. Nice little story.
As the Wednesday after the Bank Holiday of the Heritage Day (on Monday) seemed as if it was a school trip day (we've encountered lots of school classes today), there was one here as well. We talked to one of their teachers, who told us about the school system in SA. School is free and 99.9% of children actually go to school in South Africa. However, the classes usually have around 85 kids each. This teacher's class had 106 kids. They had three teachers in, though. However, they neither really have the room capacity for so many children, nor do they have enough resources. Most of the children don't have their own school books, but one class book they have to learn from. I'll try to think about that next time I'm upset about the German school system.
When driving back to our Lodge, I took some pictures of the truck, as it would be my last chance. This truck was kind of my home for the last week, and I was surely going to miss it.
Arriving back at the Greenfire Lodge, we had yet another fantastic dinner. Afterwards, we sat all together to play some Uno and sing Karaoke of our Safari Song. This was just the right way to spend our last night in South Africa.Read more