Since we wanted to go back home to check our building project, our planned weeklong holiday was reduced to 2 nights in Groot Marico (South Africa), only two hours driving away from our Botswana village Morwa.
Groot Marico’s claim to fame is that the author Herman Charles Bosman was a schoolteacher there. So we do the Bosman-tour, starting in the ‘living museum’, with stories, music, and some history-lessons.
Special for the mostly South African tourists, but not for us: traditional Tswana bread for breakfast in the Bosman museum.
The second half of the tour is a totally different touch of culture: the mampoerboer. Mampoer is distilled fruits – 55 to 90 percent alcohol fluids made of figs, peaches, lemons, and etcetera.
Tasting, tasting, tasting – followed by a big traditional Afrikaner lunch cooked by die oumissie mampoerboer.
One can’t live on mampoer alone, so the farmer also has cattle and game. That’s where the typical water mills come in – though the warthogs, kudu and other antelopes prefer the leftover broth from the mampoer factory. They should be nicely marinated!
We stay in a small cottage in a valley, near to the river. It’s so nice to hear running water and be in between big trees!
After a year of good rains.
It’s hard to resist digging out succulents for our dry garden to be.
Bram’s Pretoria Uni colleagues told him there’s a famous sculptor living a hermit’s life in Groot Marico. With a little bit of asking around we get an introduction and have a nice time with Johann Moolman. Somehow every other South African we meet has been in the Netherlands, more specifically Amsterdam. Johann especially remembers the Kröller-Müller Museum.
Driving back home via Zeerust we get more and more exited about seeing the building progress.
The footing for the bedroom is ready! That’s the trenches filled with reinforced concrete down left in the picture.
During our first night at home Bram gets to be ambulance again: our neighbour Rachel phones she is in labour, and her husband Melvin is far away.
Twelve hours later baby Anele can be picked up from the hospital!
While Bram is teaching in Pretoria, Maud spends two fabulous weeks with Louis in Potchefstroom. The first evening we honour a tradition: have dinner with Steven & Richardt.
Party animals! After this first hard night Bram left for Pretoria, and Maud was far too busy to take more pictures…
July 23 we will be back in Botswana, enjoying both seswaa and world foods.
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