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Hilda, I am so pleased that you managed to find a copy of Harry Wolhuter's book. I think that it is a must for anyone with a love for Kruger.

I do hope that they start to stock it in the Kruger shops.

That is a lot of money indeed, I never thought about it like that in today's money value. It just proves to me that Mr and Mrs Orpen were truly passionate about nature conservation and Kruger as back in those days the money value must have been just as much as it is in today's terms. I never visit Opren camp without remembering them for their role in ensuring the magnificent and majestic nature conservation area that Kruger is today. Thanks Rooies and all the others for sharing some great information regarding our national parks with us

@Grantmissy. In those days the value of the land in the greater Kruger area was about a quarter of what land in the Free State was. During the 1960's, my dad had an option to buy land on the banks of the Klaserie river at 25 pounds a morgen. He then decided to buy land in the Free State instead because he was afraid the lions were going to eat his prized Brahman cattle stud. He paid R100 per morgen for the Free State land. It is now the opposite. A game farm in the greater Kruger area goes for up to R100 000,00 per hectare compared to R25 000,00 here in the FS.

A friend of mine who owns a bungalow in a private reserve said to me that this bungalow is probably his worst investment but the one that gives him the most pleasure.

Very interesting, thanks Rooies .

The Garden Route National Park (Tsitsikamma, Knysna, Wilderness) has amongst others great natural beauty. When a person thinks about historical Knysna a person might think of the Woodcutters and how they lived in the surrounding Knysna forests and for over 200 years made an existence from woodcutting. In 1939 the Knysna forests became protected and many of the Woodcutters of the bygone era retired to the small historical human settlement called Karatara and descendants from the earlier Woodcutters still reside there. George Rex is said to be the founder of Knysna (1765 -1839).

Rabelais hut is a special place to stop.



The Orpens, their generosity lives on forever.





Sunset in Orpen land.

Fantastic MM! The Orpens must have been wonderful people to know. Beautiful sunset at Orpen!

Grantmissy, what are the descendants of the woodcutters do for a living nowadays? Do you know? I was just wondering - are they farming, or maybe manufacturing furniture? You get the most beautiful furniture in the Knysna area!

Did you know that the beautiful Sable was originally called the Harris buck? The old British explorers named animals after themselves, like the Burchell's Zebra, the Burchell's Cougal, Burchell's Courser, and then you get Bradfield's Hornbill, Dickenson's Kestrel, Grey's Lark, Bulwer's Petrel, Wilson's Phalarope and many more.

I am looking for Rooies' Dodo

Hi Hilda no, I do not know what happened to the Woodcutters of the Knysna forests. Perhaps, or hopefully they are productive in all spheres of life. I agree the furniture especially those made from Yellow Wood are special indeed and I have seen many fine examples in the Karoo houses.

I so agree with MM that Rabelais Hut is a special place to stop, for me because it is so historical. It can be quite a scary place to get out (to us that is) as we have always seen predators in the Orpen area. So we usually get out there with caution. I never knew about the Harris Buck mentioned by Rooies.

That is very interesting Rooies, and it makes sense.

Hope you find your Dodo!

Dalene Matthee (1938-2005) wrote of the Woodcutters and their lives. It was hard and brutal. Not an easy life.

Apparently it was back breaking work with little income as the wood buyers did not pay much. Once when we were at the Ttsitsikamma National Park we went on a Woodcutters journey or tour that lasted about three hours. It was very interesting to hear the fascinating history of this area.

Yup. I think you still get the books. "Circles in a forest" and "Fila's Child"

Ughh use to do "circles in a forest" as my grade 11 prescribed work...

*GIVING AWAY MY AGE HERE*

Yes, I have read both of them many moons ago!

My children had Fiela se Kind as a setwork.

Now, I'm giving away my age. At least I am not writing a book, "Baffers se ma".

Table Mountain has almost 1 500 species of sensitive fynbos and the King Protea which is South Africa’s national flower can be seen in the Table Mountain National Park. Duiwelspiek (Devils Peak) which is visible from Table Mountain is the topic of a legend. Roughly according to this legend a certain Mr Jan van Hunk who lived in the Table Mountain National Park region in the 1700’s was very fond of smoking his pipe but his wife did not allow him to smoke the pipe in the house. One day when he smoked his pipe at the foothills of the mountain he met a stranger who was also fond of smoking his pipe and they started a pipe smoking competition. They smoked so much that their pipe smoke covered the mountains in a white cloud. At the end of the story it is mentioned that van Hunk has won the competition and that the stranger was none other than the devil and therefore the name Duiwelspiek .