Suzuki Baleno to Augrabies
When is a Suzuki not a Suzuki?, asked Jim Freeman while on a trip to see the Augrabies Falls in the Northern Cape Province in full flow … The answer? When it is “ford”-ing a stream …
The Italian word for lightning is “Baleno” and there was plenty of that around when Cyclone Eloise made landfall in Southern Africa in late January. Torrential rain inundated across the sub-continent and rivers in Mpumalanga, Limpopo, and Gauteng reached their highest levels in decades.
One of these was the Orange (also known as the Gariep) which, at 2 200 km, is the longest river in South Africa. One of its main tributaries is the Vaal River and, between them, their catchment areas encompass an area of nearly one million square kilometres.
Dams filled rapidly and when three of the main water storage facilities in the Northern Cape – Bloemhof, Gariep, and Vanderkloof – announced in mid-january that they were opening their sluice gates, I began to pay attention down in Stellenbosch.
When I visited the Augrabies Falls National Park in June 2016, I was overawed by the geological beauty and majesty of the place but completely under-whelmed by the paltry trickle of water over the 56 m falls and through the 18 km downstream gorge. This “disappointment” made me more determined to revisit Augrabies when the Gariep was in greater flow and a quick call to Genevieve Maasdorp of Sanparks revealed two things.
First, that flow over the falls was expected to exceed 2 000 cumets (cubic metres per second … about which more later) during the first weekend of February and, second, there was still plenty of accommodation available at the park at that time. The water, she added, would take about a week to reach the falls.
Some frantic scurrying and pleading saw the perfectly timed delivery of a sparkling new Suzuki Baleno 1.4 GLX. Even though earlier models provided fizzle rather than sizzle, I was convinced the vehicle would suffice for the long trip. The Augrabies is a national treasure and insisted not everyone who wanted to witness this possible once-in-a-lifetime spectacle of the Gariep in spate would be travelling there in bakkies, 4×4s, and luxury SUVS. (I was wrong.)
IN NO RUSH
Augrabies – nearest town Kakamas – is almost equidistant from Stellenbosch and Johannesburg, about 800 km. I picked up friend and colleague Peter Voigt from his home in Riebeek Kasteel in early February and we set off up the N7. We decided we were not going to rush to the Augrabies Falls National Park and booked into The Overlook guesthouse at Keimoes, 42 km further towards Upington from Kakamas.
Not only are the three rondavels inexpensive and well-appointed but the owner or The Overlook, Eric Husing, is an ex-member of the Chef’s Institute of America and his al fresco dinners make the place my go-to stop in the region. Husing, by the way, was a chef at a popular New York restaurant the night a senior Mafia boss and his bodyguard got whacked in 1985.
We phoned ahead to tell Eric we would be late – a stop at a biker bar outside Clanwilliam to catch up with the owner took longer than expected – and we got to The Overlook after dark to find our dinner table decked and butter-basted steaks ready to go on the grill. Heaven!
The Baleno performed beautifully throughout the day. Obviously, the fact that it was pretty heavily loaded and that the aircon was on for most of the climb to the sweltering Northern Cape somewhat strained the 1 400 cc engine but fuelconsumption was more than acceptable given the circumstances.
We refuelled at Garies and Pofadder (the latter because we did not want to waste time filling up the following morning as we had a busy day ahead) but the 37 l tank meant top-ups did not exactly break the bank. We took turns driving and Peter echoed my feelings that it was a fine little car … nothing like what we had been led to expect.
WATER CROSSING
The Suzuki did nothing to disappoint and even presented us with some hilarity after we reached the almost deserted park. Driving into the game-viewing section of the 80 000 ha reserve from the central camp one has to cross a series of streams, all of which – though reasonably shallow – were flowing quite strongly.
I would wade through the water to test depth and Peter would follow in the car, ensuring momentum was maintained. It was rather fun and, on the way back, we even took pictures of the hatchback doing its “ford”-ing thing …
While the Oranjekom Gorge was spectacular, nothing prepared me for the falls themselves. Peter had been there during the mammoth floods of the late
1980s and knew what to expect but he was still impressed by the sound and fury of the flow, which was fast approaching the peak of 2,500 cumecs.
To put it into perspective:
2 500 cumecs equates to 2.5 million litres of water a second, a flow that would fill all 44 of the dams around Cape Town to capacity in just over 12 minutes. I stood on the main observation desk in the gathering dusk revelling in the spray. There was only a handful of spectators on hand but they clearly enjoyed the cooling precipitation as much as I did.
After finishing our braai, we walked back down to the floodlit falls (our twobedroom chalet was about 300 m away) and were astounded: the water level had risen appreciably in four hours. The night remained hot, which meant all the air-conditioners and fans in our dwelling worked as tirelessly and effectively as that of the Baleno on the road.
I must take my hat off to Sanparks; the chalet was equipped for a very comfortable stay. The camp shop was a disappointment but, since it is an outsourced operation you cannot blame Sanparks (and the restaurant was closed due to Covid-19 restrictions).
BRANDY HOMES
Few people are aware that there is a burgeoning wine-producing industry on the banks of the Gariep and the estates Bezalel (Keimoes) and Die Mas (Kakamas) are at the forefront of the Northern Cape “brandy homes”. In addition, Bezalel pioneered brandy-making in the region, and it was a pleasure to be reacquainted with the Bezuidenhout family who have been distilling and bottling on the farm Dyasonsklip for four generations.
Die Mas is far more visitor-focused and its tasting room and restaurant overlooking the vineyards that line the river got busier and busier. While many of them were local, there were a lot of people from further afield … and guess where they were all headed?
We returned to the park to find that all accommodation in the park, 58 chalets (sleeping a total of 152 people) and 50 campsites (240 campers), had been snapped up.
This, however, was nothing like the scene that greeted us as we got ready to depart on Saturday morning. “We had our hands full,” section ranger Nardus du Plessis admitted later. “It was not so much that there were 3 000 day visitors,” he says, “it was more that we had to adhere to Covid protocols and, at the same time, keep everyone happy.”
The main viewing deck over the falls can admit about 25 people but, because of social distancing, this had to be halved. People waiting to get to the deck – including those with children in tow – had to maintain spacing. While everyone wanted to revel in the moment and do the requisite “selfies”, they had to keep moving.
The camp lot was full to overflowing and vehicles were parked alongside the road for hundreds of metres, with occupants strolling towards the great attraction. There was a queue a couple of kilometres long outside the gate. Most of them were bakkies, 4×4s, and SUVS – and in this homogenous crowd the little Suzuki looked like a celebrity.