#1: [28-Dec-03]

06-Mar-2004 -- We were very disappointed to discover, just three days before our proposed visit, that this degree confluence had already been visited. But because I'd gone to a lot of trouble getting detailed maps and tracking down the owner of the farm, we decided to go ahead and visit the Confluence anyway.

The Confluence is on the farm Jagpoort that is managed by Johan van Jaarsveldt. When we arrived at the farm we met Johan who was busy counting his Dorper sheep (these are kept for their meat and skins) with the help of his farm worker, Gert. We (my wife Nolene, our daughter Victoria and I) set off in his 'bakkie' (pickup truck) together with his son Johanes, a friend Eugene and Gert. The roads were pretty rough and we passed through a number of gates to get to the camp, which contained the Confluence. Johan insisted that we drive over the rough 'veld' (Afrikaans for countryside) until we were just about on the Confluence. He had his own GPS and had in fact been to the site the previous evening to check it out.

Our GPS's indicated a place a few metres from where he had been the day before. The exact spot is on a clear patch of ground, luckily just away from a large 'kriedoring', a very thorny shrub. The surrounding area consists of low bushes of flat ground. Away to the southwest is the hill called Tafelberg ('Table Mountain'). Many flat topped hills in South Africa are called Tafelberg, the most famous one, of course, is Cape Town's beautiful Table Mountain.

We took the necessary photographs and then headed back to the farmhouse. The rest of the weekend was spent visiting the nearby towns of De Aar and Hanover. Both contain houses previously lived in by the famous authoress, Olive Schreiner. We can definitely recommend a stopover in Hanover. There are lots of interesting things to see and a good restaurant co-owned by the comedian Mark Banks and a book shop serving delicious coffee.