Forgotten Towns of the Karoo - a photojournalistic essay

Prieska
Day 2: 17 December 2005 SATURDAY

It was a breathtaking moment to see this wide river in the middle of the Karoo. As soon as I saw it, I just wanted Etienne to stop the car so that we could take pictures, but he thought of our passengers and asked them where we could drop them of. But our three passengers where trying to be considerate and just wanted to climb of as soon as our tires reached the first stone that had the name Prieska on it. Etienne was persisted and insisted on dropping them off at their family or friends house. Maybe it was because of the incident of the car sliding, or that they where squashed up, but the closest we got to their destination was in another main street. So we eventually gave in and stopped on a hill on the far side of Prieska. They climbed out like sardines and thanked us profusely. We made sure that they were alright and we left them standing beside the road waving at us, before we turned back to explore the town.

Prieska had the oddest looking church I had seen in a long time. I definitely didn’t like it very much, neither did Etienne. It was too modern for this old town that it definitely didn’t fit in with the rest of the town, which had been founded in 1882. It was the only piece of architecture that stuck out like a pimple and was situated on one side of town on a slight hill with only a few buildings around it. A new development was built on the other side, but I think the architect could have done better. The church could be seen from quite far with its roof slanting so low to the ground and reflecting a much unwanted glare from the sun in the direction of the centre of town. Hence why I mentioned it looked like a pimple. Was this the initial intention of the architect? I wonder. But nevertheless, Prieska was a very impressive town. We came upon a very old church dated back to 1947. But it was in a total state of despair. The timber floor was non existent, with only the brick columns that had supported the timber planks standing scattered all over the ground. The inside walls inevitably had graffiti all over it and I won’t begin to describe the smells that were there. It was a shame that such a building had been neglected to such a state. The building was structurally sound, so I do hope they will restore it some time soon. We explored around the church before we went to the river. It was interesting to see that Prieska no longer had any bus services…

It was about lunch time before we decided to look for a shop. In the centre of town we found a road that ran dead into another church, there we found a small little take away / restaurant. It looked inviting with its checker clothed tables on the outside and wooden windows. An old man was sitting on the outside as if he wanted to welcome every visitor, and smiled as we went in. Inside the smell of food lured my taste buds awake, but the morning’s breakfast was still happily settled in our stomachs, so we just bought some snacks and drinks. On our way out, a beggar walked up to Etienne, with his hands stretched out asking for small change. Just then the man who had been sitting outside the shop came walking up alongside us. I immediately expected the worst, but he only came to chase the beggar away. He waved his arms aggressively at the beggar and odd grunts and sighs came from him, and I figured out he was deaf. Through his wordless gestures, the beggar eventually walked away in confusion, but I think it was more in fright. Etienne thanked the man and refused to take the tip Etienne held out in his hand. I was quite surprised by his reaction. But this was the only time we ever came upon a beggar during our whole trip in the Karoo.

Prieska was the biggest town we came across, but unfortunately also quite dirty, because litter was lying everywhere. If it wasn’t for that, I would have had more respect for the town. They have a lot of potential, it was a pity that they neglected what they had. It wasn’t very late in the afternoon, so we decided to move on to the next town, Van Wyksvlei. It was about 120km from Prieska.

We drove along Karoo trees, with short little bushes everywhere. Until suddenly we came upon this massive - and I mean vast - flat area where nothing grew. Etienne guessed that it was a saltpan; I had never seen anything like it before. We found a gate to go into it, and saw old 4x4 tracks leading into it, so we knew we would be able to go in and explore it by ourselves. I honestly won’t be able to estimate how far it stretches, but only that it stretches as far as the horizon, because I climbed on top of a little hill which was man-made most probably to create a waterhole, because wet clay was seen there. Only from the little hill could I make out the greenery growing again in the far horizon. I was surprised to see a wire fence going right thought the centre of it, for a reason I just couldn’t figure out. Who knows what it was supposed to separate, because nothing walked around there that I could see.

It was the ideal setting for a mid day nap. So Etienne took a blanket and we had a very peaceful and comfortable are to lie down underneath a tall thorny shrub, which gave enough shade to cover the car as well as us. But our peaceful setting was disturbed by very persistent little annoying insects. At first it was bearable to flick the occasional ant running around your arm. But then our natural charm must have attracted them, because not long afterwards we where covered in ants. So we stood up, shook out the blanket and found another spot before we tried again to get some sleep. I think it worked, for about ten minutes only! Then these fat loud flying insects discovered that they could annoy Etienne. I think they deliberately flew down right past his face, to see how patient he really could be, or how desperately he wanted to sleep. When the third bug zoomed right passed his ear, he jumped up in anger and told me he was going to chase these ‘destroyers of peace’ away. I laughed and wondered how he was going to do it. So he took the handle of my butterfly stick, which was quite long, and walked up to the tall thorny shrub and started swinging at the insects. He was running around and getting himself more exhausted and he looked incredibly funny swinging a stick at such a slow pace at an insect that flies three times as fast if not more! The determination on his face kept me quiet for a while, but it wasn’t long before couldn’t keep my laughter in any further before I burst out laughing, and he was obviously not impressed with me, although I actually were trying to be sympathetic. After all he was the driver and I would have preferred that he should have a peaceful rest if he needed one. I think he realised how futile his attempts actually where, so he eventually gave up and sat down to have a drink. As the sun was getting lower, the insects seemed to calm down.

Etienne eventually managed to squeeze in a few snores, before he climbed back onto the long endless, but beautiful dirt roads. Or so we thought, because the road became incredibly bumpy and loose gravel caused the car to slide around from one side of the eight meter wide road to the other. So we had ample space to find the least bumpy spot. I would normally have been able to scribble in my notebook as we drove on the dirt roads, but this time, I basically had to pack everything away and shove any loose odds and ends lying around tightly into hollows so that the constant rattle won’t drive us insane. It was at this moment that I thanked God sport-bras had been invented…

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A short history:

Prieska is situated on the southern riverbank of the Orange River, the centre point of a successful sheep farming area.
The town developed from being a (afklimplek) at a safe drift over the river and its original name was a Khoisan word that meant ‘place of the lost she-goat.’
One of the worlds richest coppermines are situated in Copperton, southwest from the town and the surrounding area provides blue (asbes), salt and (tieroog).
The site of the town, founded in 1882 and renowned for its semiprecious stones, was a fording place used by early travellers.

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