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Wakkerstroom is in the middle

Photograph by George Angus


Wakkerstroom is in the middle.
Not of South Africa.
That spot is usually reserved for Bloemfontein.
It is in the middle for us.

Matilda loves the warmer, wetter northern part of our country.
Tzaneen, Magoebaskloof
with its mountains and forests.

I am more of a plains person.
The vast expanses and far off
horizons of the Karoo stir my soul.

We meet each other somewhere
in the middle.

Wakkerstroom is not warm,
but it is wet.
It does not have forests
but we’ve discovered klofies1
with beautiful streams,
shady spots under big Ouhout2 trees,
larger than we’ve ever expected them to grow.
Mist often covers the landscape,
making everything silent and soft.
On clear days
you can see for miles on end,
across vast valleys that are held
by gentle mountains and hills on the edges.
During the cold winters
frost turns the delicate greens
into all shades of brown, yellows.
I have seen the grey gravel road
that goes past Zaaihoek dam before,
near Petrusville I think.
It folds over the hills
like a carelessly forgotten ribbon –
dipping out of sight, appearing, dipping out of sight…
And draped over everything is the quiet.

When you love someone
you move to Wakkerstroom.

Often.

__________
1      "klofie” – diminutive of “kloof”, an Afrikaans word for a deep glen or ravine. It is commonly used by English speaking South Africans as well.
2       Name of an evergreen shrub or tree. The name literally means “old wood”, an indication of its straggly growth that resembles a plant growing for many years amidst many hardships.

George


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