‘I think you should go left here?’ I said to Frederika.
‘I donno, it’s not really a road is it, maybe we should go back, find the right road?’
‘Julie did say the road was bad, she didn’t say this bad, ugh take the left, we’ll go slow…’
We made it. It took an hour and a half to do 25 kms and sure the drive was beautiful and magnificent and wide open spaces and a couple of cows and no people but WHOA. This was real cowboy territory, more remote than we’d expected, the Karoo, the middle of nowhere, a few sheep, some dried up rivers, a couple of tractors. A bad bad road.
We arrived. A little later than planned. And Julie who runs Karoo Ranching came out to meet us, looking gorgeous, stylish and relaxed, saying…
‘Hey, so good to meet you.’
‘JULIE,’ we both yelled, ‘WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?? Your directions are terrible, there are no signs, we’ve been in the fucking car forever, how does anyone find this place, ever, jeez.’
Julie smiled – she had clearly heard this before – told us to choose our rooms (I chose the one with the stuffed and mounted lion’s head) and we sat down to lunch.
Delicious, home grown, fresh, yum.
Julie gave us the plan.
‘So over the next few days we’ll have a few walks, do a little yoga, some meditations, check out the horses…’
We nodded in agreement. We were on a retreat. Four days in the exquisite Karoo of South Africa. Four days to chill.
And we were both tense as fuck. The road was a hard one. And we’re from Johannesburg, the city where pretty much everyone is tense. But we started to relax, sat on the stoep, poured ourselves a drink, met the other guests, spoke about South Africa and farming and the terrible road and everyone laughed and we had a great night.
The next morning we went for a walk.
‘A short walk,’ Julie had suggested.
And so we walked. Wild flowers, stunning views, horses, Nguni cattle, a couple of cowboys, Julie the cowgirl, Julie went one way, we went another, we got lost, we walked, no signs, we couldn’t find a path, eventually got back to the ranch, everyone was Zen, we were not.
‘JULIE WHAT WERE YOU THINKING,’ we yelled again.
She’d left us at some point saying ‘Just head up straight, go right at the windmill, walk as long as you want, you’ll easily find a track down.’
Not so much.
No track.
No signs.
No fucking signs.
And in a way, that became a metaphor for us. There are no signs at Elandskloof Farm, home to Karoo Ranching, but also we learned, no real need for them. No signs, no deadlines and no rush. There was nothing but beauty. And us. And our thoughts.
And maybe a GPS or a compass or something, but hey…
It was BEAUTIFUL.
Karoo Ranching is all about beauty. It’s also about new generation farming where they’re making farming cool again for young people. And encouraging people to farm and grow their own food and love the land and man, we did fall in love with the land.
Over the few days we became fond of Julie. I think she became fond of us too. On the last night she even brought in a few ‘Karoo Ranching’ signs.
‘Look,’ she said, ‘I’m going to get these put up on the road.’
‘Nah,’ we said. ‘ Don’t do it. It’s cool. We may have struggled to find the farm but we found it eventually.’
And we kind of found ourselves in the process.’
Karoo Ranching. Book now. It’s magnificent.
Turn right at the windmill.
Karoo Ranching. 8, maybe 9, maybe 10 hours from Johannesburg. You can book with me. thandeka@icon.co.za
It looks very similar to our West Australian landscape. The road looks all too familiar in style 🙂 Indeed – what were you thinking 🙂 I’d love it!
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you would. this pic is still of the good road BTW!
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Tee hee hee! You just had me in stitches!
You have a wonderful style of writing.
Hope to see you both again soon.
And for the record, I think you’re both just wonderful xxx
Chat soon
Jules
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we both think you are wonderful too!
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Beautiful! I would love to visit it. Seems like you had a very good time there and lovely pictures too.
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you’ll have to come one day. and thank you.
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Looking forward to visiting South Africa someday.
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That looks and sounds gorgeous, and the attitudes sound similar to people where I live – no rush, no hurry, no stress, just get things done “dreckly” (a local word meaning whenever I get around to it).
Also, what THE HELL is it with you and stuffed animals’ heads lately, Violet???
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i know, haha, what if I take up hunting!!!
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although I think it’s a SIGN, gonna meet a fab cowboy farmer…
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Yee-haw, cowgirl!!!
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yodelhayhehoo
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Hahaha you made me snort 😛
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Oh my god Violet, that place is SO GORGEOUS!!! I totally agree with you though, if my NYC city-girl butt found myself there, I would totally LOSE IT!! But man, what a retreat that is!! I hope you find all the Zen you need while you are staying there. ❤
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back home and I miss it already…
(although I am quite enjoying my cappuccino)
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Beautiful 😍
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Do you get to go horse-riding? Because that sounds like bliss!
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you know we didn’t because they have STRICT RULES and probably not enough staff but – I hope next time.
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