We departed Addo Elephant Park very satisfied having seen
tons of animals and capping off the visit with a lion sighting as well as a
spotted hyena. Our next stop was
Mountain Zebra National Park, about 200km north of Addo in the heart of the
Karoo. The Karoo is a geographic area of
South Africa renowned for its remoteness and rolling, arid landscape.
Similar to all of the NPS campsites, Mountain Zebra’s was
superb; nice grassy sites, clean and well-kept ablution area, nearby swimming
pool, and a real washing machine! We did
our first machine wash in a couple of week’s time. The terrain in Mountain Zebra reminded us of
areas on the Colorado Plateau and eastern Oregon. We met a vary nice South African couple at
the campsite and enjoyed exchanging anecdotes on our respective travels, as
well as getting insights into life in South Africa from a resident’s
perspective.
From Mountain Zebra NP, we traveled up further into the
Karoo with the small village of New Bethesda as our destination. New Bethesda is renowned for a couple of
different things: (1) the Owl House Museum and (2) dinosaur fossils and the
former paleontology research center of Dr. James Kitching. All of the kids wanted to weigh in on
separate stories from the Karoo. Rock will start us out with a recap of our
first vehicle mishap…
A flat tire on our way to New Bethesda really slowed us down.
It was a very hot day driving in the middle of nowhere, when we got a flat
tire. It was quite tricky to work the high lift jack. When we first lifted the
truck, we picked the wrong lifting location. We had to go back down and start
over. Also, the bolts on the flat tire were so tight that we had to sleeve the
tire iron into the high lift jack handle to create an extension for more power.
That worked.
In New Bethesda we were planning to go to the Owl House and
James Kitching Fossil Center. First, we stopped by the fossil center to find
out where the Owl House was located. A nice African told us where to go. He was
part of the fossil center. At the Owl House we purchased the combo ticket for
the fossil center and the owl house! There was an introductory movie of Helen
Martins, the owner of world famous Owl House. Shortly after, we visited the
camel garden. It was amazing!! She and her friend had made statues of everything
imaginable! You had to be VERY careful because part of the art was pieces of
glass. The actual house had walls made of glass shards! It was cool.
The nice guy that we met before the Owl House was still there
to show us around the Fossil Center. There were a mix of reptiles and mammals
that existed before the dinosaur period. We went through two rooms that had
plaques of the different creatures. The guy told us that to tell the difference
between the rock and the fossil you poured water over it. So we had a chance to
find fossils ourselves in the nearby riverbed!
First of all, let me just say that it was a VERY blistering,
smoldering, hot day in Nieu Bethesda (I spell it the Afrikaans way). Even the
locals were saying that it was one of the hottest days of the summer! Anyways,
after going through a flat tire, experiencing the funky Owl House, and becoming
fossil pros at KFEC (Kitching Fossil Exploration Centre), we were all ready for
something good to eat! We had seen a sign for a particular brewery/deli that
looked very appealing. We decided to give it a shot. When we first pulled up at
the Two Goats Brewery and Deli, I was kind of surprised with the building. It
was a run down adobe building. The winery restaurant in Burma was nicer than
this. I was beginning to have some doubts… Another influence of these doubts
was that when we walked into the building, not a soul was there. Eventually
(after saying “hello?” about 10 times), a man came around. My dad asked if he
was serving meals at the moment. The good news was that he was serving. The bad
news was that it was only one thing. But the meal sounded great so we decided
to try it. When it came out, it far exceeded my expectations: a four-person
platter with a variety of homemade cheeses, bread, and kudu salami! Goat
cheese, two types of cheddar, four different cream chesses, a whole loaf of
delectable bread, homemade butter and beetroot jam! I was in heaven!
Have I made you hungry now?
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