Day 13 - Murraysburg to Swartbosch (Murraysburg)

Early in the morning JanPaul, Hans and Marais set off for a nearby farm; where a number of local men gathered to pray for their community.. Oom Kallie started this bi-weekly meeting, and men from all churches and races came regularly.. They were quite inspired by our trip, thankful that there was still young men willing to do God’s work.. They all prayed together for our trip, for the drought in our country, as well as for the people in their community with all their struggles..

Meanwhile Gert was back at the house, tending to the horses, and sorting out some admin.. Mubarak and Zadok was still lying down, Zadok even eating while lying down.. When the others came back, we quickly saddled up and got going.. Cell phone signal was non-existent outside of town; and JanPaul and Marais was making their last phone calls for a while as we left town.. A short distance out of town, we came across the first horse-drawn cart we’ve seen, Braveheart not at all liking this approaching object, trying to flee and turning on the spot; luckily he settled down as the cart passed..

We took the first gravel road to the left and headed off into the unknown.. This countryside was a bit more hilly, and the whole the road was built over undulating ground; passing between the rocky outcrops.. Just after Hans caught up to us, we turned off at Swartbosch, the farm of Phil and Rykie de Klerk.. It was quite a long road leading up to his house, but we saw beautiful gemsbok and springbok on the way in, even a donkey (who believed that she was a gemsbok, following the herd wherever they went).. We met up with Phil at his kraal, where he was gathering his Angora goats.. From there we went through the river and the bush surrounding it towards his house.. Just as we were saddling off, Phil arrived there as well; taking our breaths away as he offered the horses a camp with lush green lucerne, grass and barley.. It was their first camp where they had proper grazing.. Mubarak didn’t even make it past the gate before engorging himself on the divine green forage..

Rykie then poured us each a glass of cooldrink, while we sat watching Frederik (their son) kicking ball; with Anja (their daughter) still hiding behind her dad, a little bit shy.. We made our way into the house, clouds building up around us, and Frederik saying : “Kyk oom, die reën kom..”; and before we could settle in for lunch the first drops started to fall.. Gert, Hans, JanPaul and Phil (Marais was taking a nap) went outside putting away our numnahs, etc. and just enjoying the cool waters falling down their backs.. We got soaked quickly, making our way back to the kitchen door where Rykie offered us towels.. The rain didn’t last long; but was enough to put a smile on everyone’s face, even little Anja’s.. We then had “roosterkoek” with honey and grape jam for lunch; each one eating his fill..

After a lekker mug of coffee, we got on Phil’s bakkie, him showing us around and taking us up to the huge erosion dam a bit upstream in the river.. We then loaded some lucerne for the Angoras, and made our way back home; where Phil treated us to “skaapstertjies” and some proper karoo tjops, Rykie making us a potato-bake as side dish; we even got peaches and ice cream for dessert..

By the time we were finished, and the kids were in bed; it was already late and after a quick shower made our way to bed.. Still flabbergasted by the green, lush pasture that Phil spoiled the horses with.. Our minds at ease, calm and relaxed; we quickly fell asleep, knowing that tomorrow is a rest day..