Eco fest highlights the magical Karoo

Published Sep 15, 2014

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Cape Town - It could be an ostrich festival, a pumpkin festival or even an onion festival – all important agriculturally in De Rust – but when Pretoria paediatrician Dr Suzanne Delport organises a festival in her home village, she opts to highlight its natural beauty by organising an eco festival at the end of September each year.

Delport, an academic at the University of Pretoria who spent almost all her childhood holidays on her family’s farm in the Little Karoo, has always been aware of the area’s special appeal. Now she is intent not only on promoting her second home but on creating jobs for unemployed young people in De Rust.

The farms here all have neatly ploughed fields, well-watered crops and organised dairy herds and sheep farms. The village itself is home to a number of artists and writers who find inspiration in its peaceful ambience. The scenic beauty is irrefutable, particularly when the swallows herald the return of spring and the De Rust Eco Festival takes place.

This is when the veld is magically transformed into a carpet of wild flowers. Fields of yellow, purple, white, even blue, turn the countryside into a floral wonderland for six or eight colourful weeks.

The hot summer that follows sees human activity slowing down, just as the porcupines and meercats become increasingly active in the bushy undergrowth. Autumn follows, a season of purple sunsets, chocolate-coloured rocks and golden leaves. In winter, snow lies heavily on the Swartberg mountains, the sky a misty blue. The mornings are crisp, the days sunny with spring momentarily just beyond reach.

If there is a problem in this earthly paradise, it is the poverty and unemployment among the descendants of the Khoisan.

Dr Delport hopes an upsurge of visitors to the area will help solve the job problem. Sometimes the unemployed head for the cities hoping for work, others make a living of sorts offering visitors donkey cart rides or selling prickly pears and flowers harvested in the veld. A few survive on small government grants.

By creating environmental awareness among visitors, Dr Delport believes, work could be created for trained field guides and conservationists.

“Awareness,” she stresses, “will not only protect our environment but will create badly needed opportunities for the poor.”

The Little Karoo is a place of extraordinary diversity. It is home to about 2 000 plant species of which 250 are endemic. They are part of three global biodiversity hot spots – fynbos, succulent Karoo and subtropical thicket.

The village of De Rust, at the foot of the Swartberg mountains, was named the “best town in South Africa” in 2011. It has one main street and a collection of olde world houses. At one end is Meiringspoort, the pass connecting the Little and Great Karoos. It draws visitors from far and wide, all coming to wonder at the amazing geological rock formations. So impressive is the pass that the authorities have created a number of picnic places for motorists wanting to take a closer look – or swim in the deep mountain pool below the waterfall.

The flowers, too, are exceptional. The Karoo, part of the Cape Floral Kingdom – the smallest of the world’s six floral kingdoms – is one of the richest floras. The thicket, the aloes, the succulents and wildflowers attract an impressive array of insects and beetles – another interesting aspect of the ecology. The birdlife ranges from “little brown jobs” to raptors and owls.

In good years, the rivers run full with waterfalls giving life to the “dry” Karoo. Mammals such as bat-eared foxes, meercats and porcupines abound. The occasional genet comes around to hassle farmers with a chicken run.

But possibly the most appreciated aspect of the Karoo are the stars and planets, all clearly visible on the darkest nights.

To get the eco festival under way, Delport approached a number of experts and asked if they would do field tours or lectures on the various subjects that make the area what it is.

Among those who have agreed to come are botanists, ornithologists, geologists, wildflower specialists and experts on Nama rocks and fossils, stars and planets.

Barry Meijer, a local cattle breeder, has invited hikers to trek in the Swartberg and overnight at one of his luxury chalets.

There are a number of bed-and-breakfast establishments and camping facilities. Every villager is involved. This is tranquil South Africa: come for the experience – and the fun.

* The eco festival in the Little Karoo from September 24 to 28.

Pretoria News

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