Those who think they are familiar with Addo Elephant National Park in the Eastern Cape may not be as familiar as they originally thought. Not with all the new add-ons, land expansions, marine protected areas, dune seas, lakes and mountains that have been added in recent years. It would take a month or two to fully explore it all. Recently, I discovered a very charming and little known attraction in Addo called the Bedrogfontein trail, a beautiful 45km dirt track that takes the intrepid explorer through attractive forests, up and over the Zuurberg Mountains and then down into the Nama Karoo, where the silvery waters of Darlington Lake await.
With a blend of history, wildlife and scenery, the Bedrogfontein trail is the gateway to a different side of Addo Elephant National Park.
The trail, which I undertook with my husband, two little nippers and an additional car full of friends, is situated in the far north of the park, well above the traditional stomping grounds of Addo main camp.
There are no elephants in this particular sector - not yet anyhow - but there are plenty of other animals, including a vibrantly healthy population of the rare and endangered black rhino. Their presence, although not frequently revealed, makes the simple act of relieving yourself behind a bush quite an exciting thing to do.
Our weekend break began with an evening spent at the charming Kabouga house, a quaint little solar-powered cottage positioned in a splendid valley in the absolute middle of nowhere. At night, the stars, unfettered light pollution. shone like crystals. Owls 'hooed' and jackals sang with all the finesse of drunkards. We braaied, ate, drank and were merry, and Sam and Mia (my two little angels), lulled by the sound of melodious crickets, slept like, well, babies.
The bowl-shaped amphitheatre to which this delightful little cottage belongs is full of trees and bushes and is a wonderful place to escape for the weekend, even if you don't want to do the drive the following morning.
There is also a nearby SANParks campsite (tents included) on the banks of the Sunday's Riven called Mvubu, a name which is derived from the Zulu word for hippo, several of which reside in the shallows.
The following morning we were roused from our slumber long before the sun had risen by a rambunctious flock of Hadedas and Guineafowl; but we didn't mind. After all, early mornings are such a delight in the bush, don't you think?
Coffee, porridge and a few boiled eggs later and we were on the road at the stately pace of an anaesthetised land snail.
The Bedrogfontein trail is in excellent shape thanks to regular maintenance by SANParks, but none the less, this was no place for speeding. Rocky tracks are not forgiving of accelerator junkies, and besides, we had no intention of running over any tortoises. I was also a bit nervous seeing as this was the first time I had ever taken a vehicle on a 4x4 trail before, but the chap in the booking office at Addo main camp had already informed us that the route would not be too hard. He looked me up and down and then across at my battered bakkie,"Not even for you madam," he had said. "It's more or less grade two all the way." Whatever that meant... "And the grade five river crossing you have probably read about in the leaflet as being very, very scary. Well, madam, this can be circumnavigated if you do not want to do it" He took one more look at me and my vehicle and then said "And I am quite sure, madam, that you will NOT want to do it."
Sounded like sound advice to me. Last thing I wanted was to drown our vehicle in a river full of hippos. However, I needn't have worried - the man had been right, of course, and the track turned out to be an easy enough route for those happy to travel at a snail's pace.
And so, trundling along in second gear, we had ample time to drink in all of the beauty around us. And oh what beauty it was... Mountains soared, streams trickled, trees swayed and wildlife scurried this way and that in front of us. I felt compelled to leap from the car, swing my kids in circles and burst into aVonTrap family song. But I didn't because there were rhinos out there and they might have taken offence.
The Bedrogfontein trail is not designed to be a technical challenge for 4x4 fanatics, but rather a spiritually uplifting journey - a sort of uneven and bumpy massage for the soul.
The lowland forests through which we initially travelled were such a contrast from the spekboom dominated Addo I have seen on previous visit to the park, Gone were the open vistas and gently rolling scenery, and instead there were giant yellowwoods draped in old man's beards and curly lianas.
The dappled light was soothing and the shadows were cool. Bright green KnysnaTouracos croaked like frogs amongst their mossy branches.
Soon enough though, we found ourselves departing the womb-like envelope of the forest for a steep climb uphill into fluffy fragrant fynbos. Proteas decorated the scenery, and long-tailed sugarbirds flitted between them like iridescent fairies.
Once at the summit we stopped our cars and lounged around in a grassy clearing that once upon a time must have been a homestead. It was also the scene of one of the Anglo-Boer War's most gruesome and bloody battles.
This, the Bedrogfontein pass, was the precise spot where General Jan Smuts, in charge of a Boer Commando, was nearly caught off guard by an advancing column of a thousand British troops.
His soldiers had been resting and relaxing in the very same area where we were eating our sandwiches when, much to their surprise, they had heard the enemy slowly making their way up the steep pass.
Apparently, the English were not expecting to encounter any foes either so when the ambush came, it came as a deadly surprise. Bullets flew, echoing off the hills, and in the tight confines of the valley there was no chance of escape. In the ensuing panic more than 200 men and 700 horses were slaughtered.
I looked at the gently swaying flowers and the beautiful butterflies feeding from them and I breathed in the majestic scenery around me. I watched my children playing, carefree, amongst the grasses in this, one of the world's most lovely national parks, and it made me feel profoundly sad that right here, on this seemingly peaceful spot, so many children had lost their fathers and so many mothers had lost their sons.
After lunch and a moment's silence for those who perished here, we continued through the fynbos and past a series of giant cycad trees that must have been several centuries old, at least, even when the Boers and English fought amongst them.
"These are probably the trees that poisoned Smuts's men" said my husband, reading from a historical book on the region he had brought along.
"It says here, 'Hungry and ignorant of the local flora, Smuts's Commando unit set about eating the cycad seeds which resulted in their near deaths.'" For days the soldiers, including Smuts himself, were incapacitated to such a degree that they could barely move, and should the one thousand British military men have discovered them then, prone in agony upon the ground... Well, no doubt history would be quite different.
The Bedrogfontein trail can take as little as a few hours to complete, but we were happy to drag the day out and it was almost sunset when we reached the glittering shores of Darlington Lake. Here, beneath the glassy surface, lies the long dead village of Darlington, a small community of farmers who had to sacrifice their homes in 1922 when the man-made darn was officially established to irrigate what is now a thriving citrus industry downstream.
I wonder if the people back then could ever have imagined that their homes would become a Karoo version of Atlantis, a sunken museum buried beneath 3 500 hectares of water?
I doubt it.
But things change, even the landscapes, and what was once a route to busy agriculture and a thoroughfare for war, is now one of the most peaceful wildernesses one could ever hope to find.
All in all, the Bedrogfontein trail had been a remarkably lovely trip, and by travelling it I had seen a side of Addo Elephant National Park that I had previously never imagined existed.
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