Heritage day continued

We had a picnic lunch sitting under the shady trees beside a stream with huge red cliffs rising on all sides...idyllic! We chatted, stretched our legs and enjoyed the delicious picnic lunch Retief had packed for us. Outside Prince Albert we had found a Bush Pub full of Afrikaans speakers enjoying their holiday, smoking (!) and drinking beer. We sat under a thatched roof overlooking a small pond which was great for birdwatching. The inevitable weaver birds were there again, building their hanging nests and Cape wagtails, shrike and red bishops to name just a few. It was a hot sleepy afternoon with bees buzzing around...

We returned to Calitzdorp by the lower road through Meiringspoort and returned to the Soerus Guest House in time for a refreshing cup of Rooibos tea. Friends of our hosts had arrived and we joined them a little later for wine and braaid beef ribs and conversation. They were all Afrikaans. About an hour or so later we were asked to go into the dining room where a long table had been set with candles and wine glasses. We sat down with Retief, Loius and their three friends to a scrumptious meal and interesting conversation...if a little stilted.

'So' I was asked, 'as you were at school here do you speak any Afrikaans?' No I replied just a very few phrases and I know Die Stem (the old South African national anthem) of course, we had to learn that. 'Ah...then say it!' said Louis. So I did, just as I had been taught by Miss Van Aarde all those years ago....in my best Afrikaans accent. Well it worked, they all applauded amid grins and smiles and we were 'in'! My rendition of Die Stem (The Source) had won us friends. It had never been as useful before!

I have always loved the words of Die Stem in both languages for they speak of the deep love of their land by all South Africans. Of course the song was revered by the Afrikaans population so there had to be a new more relevant anthem which really covers all of Africa...and all Africans. It is "Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika" ("Lord Bless Africa" in Xhosa), which was originally composed as a hymn by a Johannesburg Methodist mission school teacher, Enoch Sontonga in 1897. Sometimes now both anthems will be sung before football or rugby matches, at other events only the new one.

Translation of Die Stem.

Out of the blue of our sky
Out of the depth of our sea
Where our eternal mountain ranges
And the cliffs respond to us
From our far deserted plains
And the groan of our ox wagons
Rises the call of our beloved,
Of our land South Africa.
We shall answer what you ask of us
We shall offer what you need
We shall live, we shall die
We for you South Africa!

It goes on for another few verses but this is the verse that was universally used for the National anthem. My translation is a bit rough but you get the idea...when you have travelled across the country and gasped at its beauty and when you have learned the history of the Dutch Voortrekkers in their ox wagons you can picture it easily and understand the huge attachment to the land common to the Boers. The inhabitants of the Cape at that time did not include Bantu tribes, although of course they were shipped there as slaves coming primarily from other parts of Africa. Later Bantu tribes came down from the North including the Xhosa and Zulu.


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Our next day was much more relaxed: we had another lovely breakfast (my English teacher at school always used to say 'Margaret you seem to go from one meal to the next in your essays about your holidays'...t'was ever thus I fear!) We drove to Calitzdorp Spa some 20 miles away through flat bush country dotted with the small clay houses, (two small windows and a front door), we had become so used to. Families were working and playing outside, washing was blowing on lines in the breeze and children waved to us as we passed. It was another stunning day with the bluest of skies over the dry scrub earth, dotted with the dense reds, yellows and blues of the veld flowers. This was probably the worst road we had driven on, narrow and bumpy, the old Oudtshoorn road.

We stopped at a restaurant/pub near the Spa and drank beers and shandies on the long wooden veranda. There were two African Grey parrots in side by side cages being very quiet. I had a soft conversation with one of them and he made that lovely throaty sound that parrots make, back to me. Jeannie and I remembered our parrots in Nigeria, both African Greys, whom we had taught to talk (Who are you? You're a bloody Sassenach!" I had taught mine...)and who both disliked men! Joey talked alot to my eldest daughter Sheona, whose first word was not "Mama" but "Joeeey!" said in a high excited voice as she greeted him each day. He could imitate children's voices, the hacking smoker's cough of a friend who looked after him when we were on leave and even...if he was sitting near the dining table...our voices and the sound of water being poured from a jug. He could perfectly mimic John's voice calling "Margaret!" and I was often caught out.

There were other animals in cages around the property, monkeys, marmosettes,(spelling please Chris?) and there were zebras on the grass in the distance. The cages needed cleaning and we wanted to remove all the debris from the cages to make the animals and birds...if they noticed...more comfortable and cared for.

We had lunch that day with Joan and Trevor again and then visited their rented cottage where we had been meant to go. It was lovely, with lots of sweet smelling flowers in the garden and a patio overlooking the Calitzdorp valley. 'Our' cottage there had been closed to visitors because of family illness but we felt we had landed squarely on our feet at the Roeterus with our two wonderful hosts. We were being utterly spoiled. Hard to say good bye to the Teetons because who knows when, if ever, we shall meet again. I feel this sadness every time I leave Africa and my friends there.