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Posted: Mon Nov 15, 2010 12:53 pm Guru
Location: Twee Rivieren, KTP NAMES TELL A STORY………..I'm not sure if I have posted this a few years ago, but with the new forum members I thought it might be a good idea to put it up again.Very interesting reading.The names of the waterholes all have an interesting story to the name and the name does mean something.Local names give us an insight into the history of the region and reveal something about the lives of the people who inhabited these areas in the past. The Kalahari Gemsbok National Park is no exception. It has a curious collection of waterhole names along the Auob and Nossob rivers that provide clues as to what happened there in the past.Some of these names were simply chosen at random and have no deeper meaning, while others are self-explanatory, such as Gemsbok Plein. However, certain names tell a definite story, names that were chosen by people who had memorable experiences in the Kalahari. These names afford us a glimpse into another era, and help us to imagine what living in this vast wilderness was once like.One of the stranger features of the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park is the number of Scottish names that have been bestowed on some of the waterholes. Names such as Monro, Dalkeith and Graig Lockhart, which seem out of place in this dry and arid region. They owe their existence to a Scotsman, Rodger Jackson. The Government hired him after the War in 1914 to survey and beacon off farms in an area of the Northern Cape Province that was years later proclaimed the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park. It was during his employment, and probably while he was feeling homesick, that he gave Scottish names to these places.Thirteenth and Fourteenth Borehole did not always carry these names. Originally, they were referred to as Grootskrij and Kleinskrij. The reason for the name change was the translation of the Afrikaans word “ skrij “ into English; it means diarrhoea. A traveller’s cattle suffered this fate after eating the tsama melons and drinking the water here, and the names served as a warning to those who followed.Rooibrak waterhole on the Auob river translates into “Red Brack”, and refers to the red stone and the brackish water found in this area.Leewdril, in the southern Nossob River means “Lion Shiver”. A desert dweller named Matthys climbed a dune near this waterhole and came face to face with a lion. He did not have a gun with him, so he could only stand his ground and face the lion. The lion eyed him for a while, and then turned away. Matthys was shivering in his boots, hence the name “Leeudril”.Jan se Draai refers to a point in the Nossob river where Jan, a Nama on a trek into the Kalahari, thought better of it and turned back, “draai” being the Afrikaans word for “turn around”.Marie se Gat, or “Marie’s Hole”, tells the tale of a determined wife, who, when her husband started drinking to much and could not complete work on a borehole, rolled up her sleeves and continued with the rest of the drilling herself.The people that played a role in the history of the Kalahari are many indeed, and the stories about their exploits would consume many pages. The above serve to give just a small taste of the true flavour of the Kalahari.Khoekhoense name/names:Auob:	(Voorheen “Oub” gespel) – bitterrivier/ Previously spelled‘Oub’Bayip:	Skaapram / Male sheep Cubitji Quap:	Erdvarkgat /AntbearholeGharagab:	Blyplek van ou Hottentot-kaptein / Place of old Hottentot CaptainGunong:	Plek van duwweltjies / Place of ‘duwweltjies’Kaagaan-se-panne:	Vernoem na Kgalagadi-kaptein / Named after Kgalagadi-CaptainKamqua:	Groen kolk / Green whirlpoolKannagauss:	Kameeldoringboomkolk / Camelthorn treewhirlpoolKaribgnoos:	Dors met jong tsammas geles / Thirst quenched with TsammasKijgames:	Groot leeuwyfie / Large LionessKijgarries:	Groot bloedsiekte (miltvuur). Die beeste van die Koranna het hier aan die siekte gevrek. Nadat hulle van die beesvleis geeet het, is baie mense dood. / Anthrax , Cattle of the Koranna died of this sickness, after people have eaten the meat plenty died.KijKij:	(Ky Ky-ook Melkvlei genoem) Die grootste / The largest, also named Melkvlei.Kousaunt:	Growwe wit sand / Coarse white sandKwangpan:	(Piet Mof-se-werf) Gereelde kampplek van Piet de Villiers (Inspektuer van Lande)/ Regular camp site of Piet de Villiers (Inspector of lands)Mata-Mata:	Gee en aan jou sal gegee word./ Give and unto you shall be given.Moravet:	Vernoem na n pragtige swart skilderborskoei van oom Sarel Burger wat by Kamqua weidingsreg gehad en gebly het. Die koei het haar pasgebore kalwers dae lank in die lang gras van die pan weggesteek./ Named after a beautifull black cow of Sarel Burger which had crazing rights at Kamqua, the cow had her newly born calves hidden in the tall grass.Namabies:	HartbeesNossob:	Swartwater, swartlong-vloei sag en gelymatig. / Blackwater, soft and regular.NuQuap:	Swartstraat (straat=duinestraat, swart=driedorings), Black street (Straat=Dunestreet, Swart=three thron)O’Kuip:	Brakplek / Brackish spotPolentswa:	Verdwaal rivier of skelmrivier. / astray river or rogue riverSekwatspan:	Gaan daar en sien die pan is droog / Go there and see the pan is drySitszas:	Water met slegte smaak (skalie), / Water with poor tasteTsamma:	Loop weg / Walk awayUrikaruus:	Wit kalkklip. / White LimestoneAfrikaanse name:Bedinkt:	Omdat die stammas op was, het landmeter Jackson hom hier bedink om met sy wa en span osse verder te trek. / Because the Tsammas was finished, surveyor Jackson sat here and consider if he and his oxen should go on.Bitterpan:	Die tsammas hier is bitter./ Tsammas here are bitter.Dankbaar:	Tydens n verdwaalde donderbui kon landmeter Jackson hier weer water opvang. / During a Thunderstorm surveyor Jackson could collect water.Dikbaardskolk: Jagter genaamd Dikbaard se blyplek tydens jagtyd. / A hunter by the name of Dikbaard stayed here during his hunts.Eland:	Elande dikwels onder bome gekry. / Eland were seen here regularly under the trees.Erdvarkgatpanne:	Nes van erdvarkgate rondom wit van panne / Holes of antbears seen around the white pans.Gemsbokplein:	Gemsbokke is lief om op gelyk vlakte trop te maak. / Oryx love walking on these open areas.Grasvlei:	Vleitjie langs windpomp met heelwat gras. / Stream next to windmill with plenty grass.Grootbrak:	Prominente kalkbanke waar wild brak (soute lek). / Prominent limebanks (salt lick)Grootkolk:	(Voorheen Geinab genoem)-Holte in panne net suid van rivierloop wat swart is binne waar die water draai. / (Previously named Geinab) Hollow in pans south of river where water turned.Haagner:	Vernoem na die bekende natuurfotograaf Clem Haagner wat die dorsland-landskap en sy lewensvorme oor baie jare verewig het. / Named after well known photographer Clem Haagner which took pictures of the area.Houmoed:	(Ook Deppo of Longcasing genoem)-Die boor van die gat was n toets in moed hou omdat daar baie dryfsand was wat bly inval het. Boortoetusting het die terrein later na n depot (“deppo”) laat lyk. Staalvoering (casing) het onder andere byna die probleem opgelos. Maar nadat die boorpunt geknak het, was die 2,5m voering wat nog bo uitgesteek het n lang tyd al geskeidenis van wat hier gebeur het.Jan-se-Draai:	Kortjan Matthys se draaipunt tydens sy jagtogte. / Turning point for Kortjan Matthys after his hunting expeditions.Kafirspan:	Swart driedoringstrate begrens die pan. / Black threethorns next to the pan.Kameelsleep:	Die Sandersons het die laaste rondtrekkende kameelperd hier geskiet en dit met donkies na die aangrensende Betsjoenaland (Botswana) gesleep. / Sandersons shot the last free roaming giraffe and with donkeys dragged it to Betsjoenaland.Kamfersboom:	Woonplek van boorgatwagter Kamfer. / Home of borehole watchman Kamfer.Kaspersdraai:	Kasper Sanderson se blyplek in tsammatyd. Hy het ook n puts hier gegrawe. / Kasper Sanderson’s home in Tsamma time, he also dug a pit here.Kieliekrankie:	Byna siek (waarskynlike betekenis) / Almost sickKlein- en Groot-Skrijpanne:	Baie tsamma, komkommer en suring het die landmeter se osse laat skittery. / Plenty Tsammas, cucumbers, sorrel gave the surveyor’s oxen the “shits”Koedoebos:	Swartbasbos wat n geliefde skuilplek is vir skaars koedoes wat die streek verken. / Swartbasbos which is a favourate place for the Kudu’s to hide.Kraalpanne:	Panne le asof hulle ingeryg is. / Pans seem to have been laced.Kransbrak:	Opvallende kalkreetkranse waar menige boksoort sy dors na soute les. / Conspicuous Limsestone where antelope quench their thirst for salts. Langklaas:	Langklaas Mattys (G’Hoerdap) se tydelike blyplek./ Lanklaas Matthys’s temporary homeLekkerwater:	(Geigami)- gat met min water maar tog so lekker. / Hole with little water but so nice.Lijersdraai:	Draai van die rivier lyk soos n babadoek wat toegespeld is. / Turning of the river looks like a babynappy which is folded.Loffiesdraai:	Vernoem na prof. Fritz Eloff, voormalige Raads-voorsitter. / Named after Prof. Fritz Eloff, former board memberNelsiespan:	Waar Hottentotsvrou Nelsie tsammas bymekaargemaak het. / Where Hottentotswife Nelsie collected tsammas.Rolletjie:	Vanaf hoe panduin rol duine soos branders die verte in. / From high pandune the dunes seems they are rolling like waves.Rooikop:	N uitstaande duinkop wat soos n baken dien. / Prominent highdune which acts as marker.Rooiputs:	N puts gegrawe in byna suiwer rooibaksteen (versteende sandsteen) / Hole which has been dug in almost pure red stone (Fossilized sandstone)Samevloeing:	Waar die Nossob-en Auobrivier ontmoet. / Where Nossob and Auob rivers meet.Sewepanne:	Beperkte gebied waarin sewe panne voorkom.Stoffelsdraai:	Een van die voormaligeParkhoof Stoffet le Riche se waterwys-suksesse. / One of the previous Park Managers successes in finding water. Twee Rivieren:	Plek waar die Auobrivier die Nossobrivier bereik. / Place where Auob river the Nossob river meets.Vaalpan:	Eintlik maar net n brakholt in rooi duine wat spog met lekker water. / Just a place where there is nice water in the red dunes.Veertiende boorgat:	14de in n reeks boorgate wat in 1908 virUnie-troepe se deurtog geboor is./ 14th in a series of waterholes made in 1908.Unie-end:	(Union’s End, Werelds-end) noordelikste punt van die voormalige Kaapprovinsie-eindpunt van n vaderland. / most northern point of the old Cape province Diverse name:Ardlamont:	Betekenis onbekend / Meaning unknownAuchterlonie:	auchter = highland=hoogland; uchdar (Wallies)=summit=topBatulama:	Stamp mekaar / Bump eachotherCheleka:	Betekenis onbekend. / Meaning UnknownCopeng:	Betekenis onbekend / Meaning UnknownCraig Lockart:	Rots van Lockhart (N persoonsnaam) / Persons nameDalkeith:	Dal=field;field in wood=dal in die bosDriefendas:	Betekenis onbekend / Meaning UnknownLammermoor:	Betekenis onbekend / Meaning unknownMontrose:	Moss on the promontory=mos op die voorgebergteSt Johnsdam:	Plek waar polisieman St Johns n bek-en-klou-kordonpos in die benedeloop van die Nossob beheer het.Strathmore:	Strath=valley, glen=vallei
Post subject: Re: NAMES TELL A STORY.........
Posted: Mon Nov 15, 2010 1:08 pm Legendary Virtual Ranger
Location: In the shadow of Table MountainFAC Member (2012) Kgalagadi Guru wrote:Thirteenth and Fourteenth Borehole did not always carry these names. Originally, they were referred to as Grootskrij and Kleinskrij. The reason for the name change was the translation of the Afrikaans word “ skrij “ into English; it means diarrhoea. A traveller’s cattle suffered this fate after eating the tsama melons and drinking the water here, and the names served as a warning to those who followedThanks for all the info KG, certainly makes great reading...Just a point about the highlighted bit. We are living in an age of less sensitivity now, so maybe 13 & 14 can get their original names back.Let's start a campaign. Here is my vote.
Posted: Mon Nov 15, 2010 6:00 pm Junior Virtual Ranger
Location: Near Paris, France. Splendid KG !I knew a few, but many were missing... now I can pretend I am an expert!Can I suggest that you translate, for the foreigners like me, the Afrikkans names into English?For exemple, you say that Bedinkt takes its name from "Because the Tsammas was finished, surveyor Jackson sat here and consider if he and his oxen should go on", but am I right assuming that Bedinkt means "to think" in Afrikaans (ok, I could check into a dictionary..)?Same thing for Dikbaardskolk: does kolk means something? Maybe a forumer could do it too...Probably this will make you laugh: It took me a few trips to realize that Dertiende and Vertiende were 13 and 14! I was always wondering how people knew it was the thirteens and fourteens waterholes (did they count them?)
Posted: Tue Nov 16, 2010 9:19 am Guru
Location: Twee Rivieren, KTP I will investigate further about certain names of the waterholes and places of interest in the park. Regarding changing the names back of 13th and 14th waterhole......dont know if that kite will fly but i will mention it to management.@Picasso, I will try and translate the afrikaans names to english, it will not be easy and it might be direct translations becaue the names which was given as they were seen.
Posted: Fri Nov 19, 2010 12:19 pm Guru
Location: Twee Rivieren, KTP Its only a pleasure, im currently looking at better english explinations for the names, hopefully will be able to update soon.
Posted: Fri Nov 19, 2010 3:33 pm Guru
Location: Twee Rivieren, KTP The following I have taken from the book "Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park by Peter Derichs" Great book for newcomers to the park.His interpretation of the names are as follow:Houmoed;Afrikaans - Hou=keep ; moed=courageMonro:Named by land surveyor Jackson, to remember a policeman called Munro, who was shot by German raiders.Auchterlonie:Old Irish - uachdar - summit ; loinn = joy, glade, areaKamfersboom:Afrikaans: boom - treeBatulama:Khoekhoen - Bump each otherGemsbokplein:Afrikaans - plein = square , open areaMontrose:Irish - moin = mossy place : ros = promontory or woodKamqua:Khoekhoen - Green PotholeRooibrak:Afrikaans - rooi = red ; brak = salt lick, brackish spotUrikaruus:Khoekhoen - White calcareous rockSitzas:Khoekhoen = Water with a bad taste (Shale)Craig Lockhart:Welsh - craig = rockDalkeith:Welsh - dal = fieldRooiputs:Afrikaans - rooi = red ; put = wellLeeudril:Afrikaans - leeu = lion ; dril = trembleSamevloeiing:Afrikaans - Confluence; saam = together ; vloei = flowKij Kij:Khoekhoen - big bigJan se draai:Afrikaans - draai = turn ; Kortjan = 'short' janKransbrak:Afrikaans - krans = cliff ; brak = salt lick; brackish spotGunong:Khoekhoen - place of many devil's thornDikbaardskolk:Afrikaans - dikbaard = bushy beard ; colloquial = lionKameelsleep:Afrikaans - kameel (perd) = giraffe ; sleep = dragMarie se gat:Afrikaans - gat = holeKaspersdraai:Afrikaans - draai = turnLanklaas:Afrikaans - lang = long ; Klaas = name of personBedinkt:Afrikaans - bedinkt = reflectLijersdraai:Afrikaans - luier = baby nappyVaalpan:Afrikaans - vaal = drab, dun ; pan = panMorevet:Afrikaans - more = tomorrow ; vet = fatKij Gamies:Big lionessTier Kop:Afrikaans - tier = leopard ; kop = headIf there is anything else you would like to know more about the park, please let me know and I will post it after doing some investigation, or if I do have the info on hand I will post ASAP.
Posted: Fri Nov 19, 2010 6:15 pm Joined: Mon Sep 08, 2008 2:50 pm
Location: Bingham Nottinghamshire UK Hi K G thanks for explaining the names, re Kieliekrankie I had assumed it was taken from the Scots. there is a famous pass in Scotland name Killicrankie, in 1689 the Scots beat the Brits at a famous battle holding the pass against an army sent by the King, William of Orange; he had come to England and ousted James the Second. Long story but the name is so unusual I wondered if the Scotsman who you mentioned had remembered his homeland and the battle.
Posted: Fri Nov 19, 2010 9:37 pm Legendary Virtual Ranger
Location: In the shadow of Table MountainFAC Member (2012) Grootkolk KG?Groot = bigKolk?
Posted: Fri Nov 19, 2010 9:45 pm Forum Assistant
Location: Upington RSAFAC Member (2012) BBKolk = Pond
Posted: Sat Nov 20, 2010 7:24 am Guru
Location: Twee Rivieren, KTP Ladylucy,Thanks for the explanation now I have learnt something.Thanks.
Posted: Thu Dec 02, 2010 10:55 am Guru
Location: Twee Rivieren, KTP INTRODUCTION TO THE KGALAGADI TRANSFRONTIER PARKINTRODUCTION TO THE AREA (SOUTH AFRICAN SIDE)The term Kalahari was derived from the black tribe, the Kgalagadi, who used to inhabit this area.Dr. Andrew Smith probably used the word, as we know it, for the first time in 1834.The word Kgalagadi is a SeTswana word and the likeliest interpretation for this word would be “The land who dried up” or “The dry land” (Nussey 1993).It is the largest continuous sand area in the world (Eloff, 1984).The Kalahari is a large sand filled basin in the west of the southern African subcontinent, covering nearly one third of the area and forming what is probably the largest sand-veld area in the world (King 1963).It stretches from 1ºS in Zaire to the Orange River in the south (29ºS) and from 14ºE in Angola to 28ºE in Zimbabwe (Leistner 1967).The Southern Kalahari is defined as the area to the south of the Bakalahari Schwelle (first described by Passarge (1904), an indiscernible ridge from the ground that runs roughly from Gobabis (in Namibia) in the north-east to lobatse in the south-east of Botswana. The Schwelle separates the two drainage basins, the Okwa and Hanahai river system in the North and the Nossob, Auob, Molopo and Kuruman in the South.The Southern Kalahari has a gentle southwesterly slope from the Schwelle. Both parks, out of which the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park was formed, lay more than 900m above sea level, with the lowest point lying at Twee Rivieren and Two Rivers in the southwest.Both the Nossob (meaning dark clay) and the Auob (meaning bitter water) rivers have their sources in the Anas Mountains near Windhoek, Namibia. They flow southeasterly joining in the former Kalahari Gemsbok Park 6Km north of Twee Rivieren and continue as the Nossob to the Molopo and Kuruman rivers 60Km to the south. The Molopo River with it’s origin near Mafikeng, no longer reaches the Orange River as sand dunes near Noeneput have blocked its course for at least the last 100 years.These rivers are predominantly dry, only flowing for short periods after abnormal high rainfall. The Auob last flowed in 1973 and 1974, the Nossob in 1964. The Auob and Nossob rivers differ in that the Auob cuts a steep sided, narrow valley (100-500m wide) through the calcrete along its course through the former Kalahari Gemsbok Park.While the Nossob flows in a shallow, sandy trough until it cuts through the calcrete near Kameelsleep windmill south of which it continues in a similar form to the Auob (Leistner and Werger 1973).The Polentswa, a fossil river, joins the Nossob River near Grootbrak windmill.The ancient river is now represented by a string of pans that run north to beyond the border of the former Gemsbok National Park.The Kalahari sands, of which five groups are recognised, range in colour from red in the dunes through to yellow-brown on the pans and riverbeds (Leistner 1967; Van Rooyen 1984).The sands are predominantly of Aeolian origin, emanating from within the basin itself. In the Southwest, the sands are piled into vegetated linear or self-dunes. The break down into a more gentle undulating terrain about 40Km east of the Nossob River (SANP & DW & NP-B: South African National Parks & Department of Wild life & National Parks-Botswana, 1997).
Posted: Tue Dec 07, 2010 8:50 am Guru
Location: Twee Rivieren, KTP THE HISTORY OF THE AREABefore the Park’s inception.Of the first black tribes to penetrate the northern Kalahari were the Kgalagadi who lived in comparative peace with the San. They were eventually out but the name gave the area was to remain. (Kalahari is derived from the Kgalagadi work Makgadikgadi, meaning saltpans or the great thirstland). The first white people entering the area came to trade with the Kalahari people, usually paying for their goods with livestock.In 1891, the Park area as well as the area to the southwest presently known as The Mier, was annexed to British Bechuanaland. Approximately ten years later, just across the border, the Hottentots rebelled against the German colonial rule in South West Africa (Present-day Namibia). Although well inside British territory, German troops had set up a station at Groot Kolk to transmit messages to South West Africa. An enormous camel thorn tree served as an ideal lookout post but despite the Hottentots, under leader Captain Dirk Filander, attacked at daybreak killing the Germans as they rose from their beds. Unfortunately, the tree, still bearing horseshoes, which the Germans nailed to the trunk as a ladder, burnt down in a large veldfire in 1976. After World War 1 was over, Scottish born Rodger “Malkop” Jackson surveyed the region and a theoretical subdivision was made into farms of 10 200 and 12 800 hectares. Jackson named many of the farms after landmarks in homeland Scotland, most of which are still in use today as boreholes in the Park. Several white farmers settled as borehole caretakers along the Auob River and they stayed rent-free as long as the boreholes were kept in good repair.Additional farms were allocated to more white farmers along the Auob and along the Nossob River. However, this is a harsh environment and neither these farmers nor their coloured counterparts, to whom the land was eventually given, could make a comfortable living. If not for the tsama melons, an essential plant in this semi-arid ecosystem, which in dry times are the principle source of water, many would not have survived. Under very dry conditions, even the tsamas disappear and only animals that are well adapted to the harsh conditions survive.They therefore took to hunting and they, and biltong hunters from further a field, gradually denuded the game.Only in the more remote reaches of the upper Nossob River was the balance of nature maintained, for here the San lived in harmony with animals and plants.If this remarkable eco-system was to survive a conservation plan of action had to come into play……A short history of the ParkA short history would give some perspective on the sequence of events that relate to the history of the farms. It is necessary to briefly underline the historic events and dates leading up to the proclamation of the park (in 1931) and the events that happened after the Park’s proclamation. These events had bearing on time frames and may suggest the origins of the structures along the Auob River, artefacts and ruins in the Park. Before White settlements, or exploitation, of the Area now included in the Park, the land was part of the San people’s domain for hunting and gathering food. During the 19th century, explorers discovered that the riverbeds of the Auob and Nossob were easier to follow by wagon, than trying to cross the sand dunes. For years, no government claimed the land and the San were the only people residing here. One of the last and oldest sources on the times relating to that era is Regopstaan Kruiper who died in 1996 at the age of 96. Eventually the land became attached to the Cape Colony. The government, from 1897, began to survey the land and subdividing it into farms for White settlers.In 1904, the authorities in German South West Africa (Namibia) sent soldiers to blockade the water holes in the Nossob and force Khoikhoi rebels into submission. Unfortunately for them, at Grootkolk, an entire German patrol was slaughtered. The White settlers were slow to take advantage of the newly surveyed farms and the Cape Government decided to give them to Coloured (“Basters”) farmers instead. The farms had names like KoKo, Kameelsleep, Kaspers Draai en Kwang.In 1884, the Germans occupied South West Africa and it was during these years that Stoffel (Christoffel) le Riche first ventured into the Kalahari. In 1899, he and his wife Martie moved from Rietfontein, just south of the existing Park. In 1899 there first son Johannes and in 1904 their second son Joseph (Later known as Joep) was born.With the outbreak of World War 1 in 1914, the (Union of) South Africa (n) Government drilled a series of boreholes along the Auob to provide their troops with water in case South Africa wanted to use corridor to invade South West Africa. Guards were recruited mainly from the local community and hired to protect and maintain the boreholes. They were permitted to settle next to the holes with their families and livestock. It was expected that they would live of the veld (with dire consequences to the environment). Because of lack of firewood and appropriate clay To make bricks they erected timber frame structures as dwellings and stock shelters. Dwellings that are more permanent were erected with the locally abundant calcrete stone. None of the timber frame shelters were recorded and nothing remained. The only evidence of these times are the calcrete walls of circular cattle kraals, the foundations of square and rectangular huts and some larger multi roomed dwellings.This corridor was never used to invade South West Africa and the borehole guards stayed on, largely forgotten by the authorities. Instead, the Government appointed a Scottish land surveyor Rodger “Malkop” Duke Jackson to survey the area and divide it into farms. About this time, six farms were purchased by the South African Government, but were not occupied before the Government decided that Coloured people should rather settle the region. The British Government, then already in control of Bechuanaland, had already settled Coulred people on the east bank of the Nossob between Rooiputs and its confluence with the Auob River (the ruins of an old dwelling is still located at Rooiputs).Biltong hunters penetrated the area and by the late 1920s, several species were in danger of becoming extinct. Two conservationists invited the then Minister of Lands, Piet Grobler to inspect the region. Grobler piloted the National Parks Act through parliament and played a major role in the proclamation of Kruger National Park in 1926. By 1931, Piet Grobler had decided to proclaim the area between the Nossob River and the Auob River and the SWA Border a national park. Land was purchased south of the Park to resettle “Coloured” people and the borehole structures were abandoned. All but a few farms that had been sold by the Government were brought back and the Park was finally proclaimed in 1931.Johannes le Riche (the son of a local trader Christoffel, Francois, Albertyn Le Riche), the first warden of the Park (and his family), settled at Gemsbok Plain (later referred to as Gemsbok plein) in a house, which had been abandoned by a borehole guard. From this point, onwards Le Riche and his assistant Gert Januarie became involved in the protection of wildlife in the area. For three years, they patrolled the Park on horseback. In 1934, the park experienced an exceptional rainy season and both the Nossob and Auob came down in flood. This was followed by an epidemic of malaria and both Le Riche and Januarie died of this illness. A few days later after their death Le Riche’s brother Joep was appointed ranger in his place.In 1935, a row of farms along the southern bank of the Auob River was purchased by the Union Government to ensure that both banks of the river would have national conservation protection. Twee Rivieren was also bought to include the confluence of the rivers into the Park. The resulting jagged boundary was straightened through “give-and-take” between the Government and neighbouring farmers.In 1935, a corrugated iron house was built for the Warden at Samevloeiing and shortly afterwards a brick house built at Twee Rivieren. Joep le Riche who was supposed to be appointed temporarily eventually stayed in the post for 36 years. He and his assistant Gert Mouton re-commissioned the old boreholes in the riverbeds in order to “persuade” the animals to remain in the Park instead of leaving the unfenced boundaries where they were poached and killed.In 1938 the British Government proclaimed a new game reserve across the Nossob in what is today Botswana. Joep le Riche was put in charge. During World War 11 Poachers were short of bullets and game numbers increased dramatically. After the War, game fences were erected along the Park’s western and southern boundaries. The eastern boundary remained unfenced leaving this border open to animals that needed to migrate from east to west. From the 1950s, more emphasis was put in 1940 near the confluence of the Nossob and Auob.The Botswana Gemsbok National Park was proclaimed in 1938 by what was then called Bechuanaland. Mabuasehube Game Reserve was added in 1971 and was incorporated into Gembok National Park in 1992.
Posted: Tue Dec 07, 2010 12:11 pm Joined: Sun Nov 25, 2007 7:23 am
Location: Australia Thank you Kgalagadi Guru for the very informative history. It will make our visit in July 2011 so much more interesting if we have this information to reflect upon. Our Australian knowledge of South African history is sadly lacking in detail so your posts in this regard are very welcome. Top
Posted: Tue Dec 07, 2010 12:35 pm Guru
Location: Twee Rivieren, KTP @Majura13,No problem at all, im glad if the information will enhance your KTP experience when you visit.
Posted: Tue Dec 07, 2010 2:39 pm Junior Virtual Ranger
Location: Vale of Belvoir, UK For those of us freezing our butts off in the cold, icy, snowy north, how about telling is what Christmas in the Kgalagadi is like? Never had the opportunity to spend Christmas there, but wonder what it is like for those working in the Park at Christmas, what do you do, how much time do you have to yourselves?(From someone who is maybe lucky to have 2 days off at Christmas before returning to work at a frozen wetlands Nature Reserve again!)