Graaff-Reinet to Mountain Zebra National Park, South Africa

24 - 25 Nov 07

The highlands of Eastern Karoo

The remote Karoo village of Nieu Bethesda was only a short detour on our way to Mountain Zebra National Park near Cradock. It had been raining a lot recently and the dirt track that led to the village from the main road was quite muddy in places but we were rewarded with great views. Nieu Bethesda was very quiet, almost a ghost town. It seemed that most of its inhabitants had shut up their houses and gone away. Apart from a few small farms in the area, the ‘locals’ (many of them European immigrants) make their living from handicrafts and artwork so they probably planned to return in December when they generally get more visitors. We had lunch at a small restaurant and chatted to the Swiss German woman who was running it while her sister was on holiday.
The main tourist attraction is the Owl House where an eccentric woman artist used to live. Bored with life in Nieu Bethesda where she was considered an outcast, she decided to brighten up her life by adorning the inside of her house with crushed glass and brightly coloured paint. Then she filled up the yard with giant cement sculptures of such creatures as owls, camels, blue cranes and humans. Worn down by arthritis and blindness, she committed suicide at the age of 78.
After Nieu Bethesda, the dirt track continued back to the main road for another half hour and we enjoyed a beautiful drive through the Karoo highlands to Mountain Zebra National Park. We booked into our spacious bungalow with French windows and a terrace overlooking more superb highland scenery.