Andries Godliep Schoonbee (an immigration clerk got his name wrong) left his native Denmark in rather a hurry. During a fight with his brother in the late 18th century, he apparently threw his sibling out of a second-storey window and, thinking he’d killed him, made his way to foreign shores as soon as he could.
After getting off a ship in South Africa, he made his way to the Middelburg district, keen to pick up one of the farms being given out to settlers in the area, seemingly caring little that the region was bristling with hostile Bushmen (San).
Perhaps he thought any difficulties would be penance for his crime, although the irony was that his brother had survived the fall.
Today the tiny hamlet of Schoombee, nestled between Middelburg and Steynsburg on the R56 (one of the better routes to get from Cape Town to Durban) centres on the small country club. Every weekend neighbouring farmers turn out in their numbers to challenge each other to bowls and tennis, and, of course, to repair to the pub afterwards to slake their considerable Karoo thirsts and perform loquacious post mortems on their games.
I first passed through Schoombee late in 2005. I was following a back roads trail around the Karoo on an old scrambler which culminated in the book, Circling the Great Karoo. Not long before I got there, I had a close encounter with a rather long Cape Cobra I had not seen crossing the road until the last second. Preoccupied, I nearly had a nasty accident and recorded the following: “Smug at coming away from my close encounter, enriched but unscathed, I blundered too fast into a right-angled corner. It was another one of those “Oh f..., here goes” moments. I made it about a third of the way through the bend when I knew that if I leant over any further I’d have about as much traction as a giraffe on ice. So I went straight. It’s at times like these that you hang on and hope for the best and simply wait for the crash. You take stock of the pretty good life you’ve had without the encumbrance of a wheelchair and bolts in your neck, and thank God that today you’re actually on speaking terms with your wife. And then after being hurled about like a puppet strapped to a bucking bronco, you come to rest in a cloud of dust with your heart wedged firmly in your throat. Somebody was watching over me – again. And he or she certainly had a sense of humour; all I needed now was to survive being hit head-on by a Mack truck and then I could tear up my route map and sign up with the nearest chapter of the ‘Immortals’.”
It was the attraction I’d felt for this region and the prospect of more adventure motorcycling that brought me back here. Surfing the net for a place to stay near Schoombee, I discovered what looked like the quintessential Karoo farmstead – Mount Melsetter.
Mike Ferrar and his wife Candy have been managing this breakaway destination for around a decade now, and apart from hunting in season, fossil walks, good bird watching, hiking trails, mountain bike routes and tennis, they have recently introduced an adventure motorcycle outride route as well.
The 250 kilometre route (an ideal dirt track distance for one day) saw us encounter all sorts of absorbing terrain, enjoy a picnic at the roadside opposite some Karretjie mense (SA’s gypsy equivalents) and meet a host of interesting people on the way.
But most impressive for me were the spectacular views. At one point I was so inspired by the mystical valley unfolding in front of us that I rushed up a nearby koppie to drink it all in on my own. While up there, I found myself shuddering at the thought of what this landscape would look like if the “frackers” got their way to exploit the Karoo for its relatively small deposits of shale gas. Hundreds of drilling rigs, roads, pump stations and pipelines would desecrate one of the world’s most unique and fragile ecosystems.
Nearing the end of our outride, and with the famous Teebus and Koffiebus formations in front of us, we rode towards the Orange-Fish River Tunnel. We were hoping to get in to see this incredible piece of engineering but without an appointment there was no guarantee. But we were lucky. A guide appeared (his name was July, though born in June) and he bussed us down the steep tunnel to a kind of pipe-junction around 40 metres underground.
The noise of the water hitting the “pepper pot” pressure diffusers was like having one ear at the base of a giant waterfall and the other in a tin shack during a highveld hail storm. Certainly worth experiencing.
Arriving back at Mount Melsetter, we sat on comfy sofas on the covered stoep, ice-cold beers in hand and watched the last fiery rays of sunlight dance between the storm clouds amassing on the horizon – the Karoo at its best.
If You Go...
Where it is: Approach Middelburg from either the N9 (from George or Johannesburg) or the N10 from Port Elizabeth. From Middelburg, follow the R56 towards Steynsburg and after 45km (just before the Great Brak River) you’ll see the sign GPS: 31º21’19”S ; 25º28’13,6”E
What it has: Mount Melsetter is a gracious old Karoo homestead with five bedrooms and five bathrooms, some en suite; a comfortable fireside lounge and TV room (DStv); a pub and 14-seater dining room plus a swimming pool, tennis court, volleyball court and paddocks.
The food: Feasts of wholesome Karoo cuisine. If you want venison, arrange it beforehand as it can be scarce out of season.
Rates: Prices range from R455 pppn for dinner, bed and breakfast (children U/12 – R260) and R370 pppn on a bed and breakfast basis (children U/12 – R200).
Contact: Mike or Candy Ferrar on (049) 842 1520 or 083 303 7625.e-mail: www.greatkaroo.co.za - Weekend Argus