Text: Leilani Basson. Photography: Jannie Herbst. Article from the February 2012 issue of Leisure Wheels Magazine.
Weeping willows, bird burrows, historic sorrows and new tomorrows
Travelling through Mpumalanga on the N11 there is a sudden, tangible change in the air when nearing R543. It’s like moving through an invisible curtain or veil to a place that feels unlike any other place you’ve visited. It’s tough to describe, but there’s a certain kind of magic in the air of Wakkerstroom, as long time resident, Brenda Carter, likes to say.
It must be a cultural thing. In the same way that Portuguese settlers chose to inhabit Rosettenville, Chinese immigrants found a home away from home in Cyrildene and Indians rerooted in Fordsburg and Natal, ex-Gautengers find the lure to relocate to Wakkerstroom irresistible. Those who don’t live there permanently, own weekend and holiday property and go there at the drop of a hat. They are eager to admit that they long for the day that they can pack up and move there permanently. Almost all shops, restaurants, B&Bs and hotels are owned by GP refugees. Most merely went for a weekend, or passed through on their yearly holiday and knew instinctively that is was where they wanted to live…and die.
“After our first visit, we promptly bought property here.” Although phrased a bit differently by different people, this is in essence the response from most ‘new’ Wakkerstromers.
“Promptly” being the operative word. No one ever says that they would like to live here one day, or that it would be nice to stay here when they retire. No, the spell that Wakkerstroom cast on them demands immediate action.
And so it is that Hannie Bergen abandoned the magnificence of Menlyn to open Mooi – a decor and gift shop, Romney van Ryneveld moved from Emmarentia to become an Alpaca farmer, Susanne van der Walt left Linden to open an art glass studio and Brenda Carter deserted her Inanda garden to farm with irises.
“It either gets to you or it passes you by,” says Brenda (84) about the enchantment of Wakkerstroom. “I came here and turned my life around,” she says with a twinkle in the eye, while lighting her umpteenth cigarette of the hour. I’ve always had a sense of adventure and my husband was such a boring old fart. When he passed away 10 years ago, I packed up, came here and started growing things. If I can’t eat it, smell it or sell it, I don’t touch it,” she laughs…then coughs.
Brenda farms with irises amongst other things. She’s won an award for female entrepreneur of agriculture, although she will be the first to admit that she accidently fell into farming with flowers.
“A friend wanted to buy a working iris farm and asked if I would help. So, it started as a favour…an act of kindness. Eventually she got caught up in other things, and after she’d taught me all there is to know, I had to carry on by myself. The irises were happy in Wakkerstroom and so was I. The cold climate works for them.Luckily irises are strong flowers and easy to deal with. If not, I would have found something else to grow!”
Brenda’s Wakkerstroom Irises are distributed country wide. In a weird and wonderful synergy, Brenda’s son, artist David Carter from Joburg, runs his workshop from Brenda’s farm in Wakkerstroom.
David is renowned for his wood turned urns – giant wooden pots turned and polished to perfection and then sealed and finished off in a rich reddish colour with a mosaic-like insert at the neck of the urn. Two of David’s workers turn the wood day in and day out. “The shavings are just perfect for shipping my irises around in,” says Brenda, her eyes darting around in search of her ‘darlings’ and a lighter.
One of the first ‘imports’ to Wakkerstroom, who is unofficially, yet locally celebrated as the source that pumped tourist life into the sleepy veins of a once derelict and forgotten town, is Elna Kotze. Elna, a keen birder, closed her touring company in Pretoria to open a guest house in Wakkerstroom in 1989.
The locals thought that she was crazy. “No one ever comes to Wakkerstroom,” they would tell her while shaking their heads. Elna’s response? “But they are going to.”
She was right. In fact, since then, they had never stopped coming.
“Wakkerstroom is in the middle of nowhere,” is another mouthful of negativity that regularly came Elna’s way. “On the contrary, Wakkerstroom is in the middle of everywhere,” Elna would correct them.
Elna named her guest house Weaver’s Nest, and geared it entirely towards birders. She advertised in birding magazines and soon, bird lovers started flocking to Wakkerstroom. Many experienced the ‘magic’ in the air and bought the empty, dilapidated houses and renovated them as weekend or holiday homes.
Soon more guest houses opened and, with them, a few interesting shops. In 1992 the second guest house opened its doors and by the end of 1995, more than 5000 bed nights had been sold. Elna sadly moved to London after the loss of her husband in 2000. Today there are more than 40 listed guest houses and self-catering establishments, which are all fully booked on busy weekends.
Paula and Danny Leahy can testify to this. They own the Wakkerstroom Country Inn, or, “the hotel”, as it is referred to by locals. Paula, originally from Pretoria, met Danny in London. He was the head chef of a well-known restaurant in Knight’s Bridge, when Paula, who just finished her chefs training in South Africa, knocked on his door for a job.
Paula got the job…and got married to Danny not long after.
They moved to South Africa, and bought the old Utaga Hotel in Wakkerstroom in 2003 after searching for the perfect place to build their culinary dreams together. No other place had the appeal of Wakkerstroom. The hotel was in a regretful state and the couple had many a sleepless night – thinking that they might have made the wrong decision. What convinced Danny, however, was the surreal peace and quiet he experienced when landing at the foot of Ossewakop after a paragliding session.
“All I could hear was the sound of a cow herder cracking his whip,” says Danny. The other amazing thing was Danny witnessing two thunderstorms in Wakkerstroom – one in the north and one in the south – simultaneously. Stereophonic thunder, wild lightning flashes in opposite poles and absolutely no sign of a storm directly overhead. “I instinctively knew that this was where I wanted to live.”
Paula needed no convincing. She is as a part of Wakkerstroom as the willows and krismisrose that thrive in this little town. Everyone loves Paula. Since the arrival of their two daughters a few years ago, Paula is not as active in the running of the beautiful, stylish, and well-appointed hotel they have created. She however remains passionate about Wakkerstroom as chairman of the Tourist Association and runs various charity projects in and around town.
Romney van Ryneveld and his wife, Fenella, left the al fresco lifestyle of Emmarentia to farm with alpacas in Wakkerstroom. “I moved my IT business to Volksrust, which is nearby, but we needed something extra…and something to keep Fenella busy. Since we love animals, we tried our hand at a few things until we decided to farm with alpacas,” says Romney, a gentle guy whose love for animals is obvious in the way he speaks about them. “Our little plot with its water riches is called the Caprivi Strip,” Romney jokes. “And that little hill down there, that is Mount Action – where new alpacas are made!”
Amongst his herd of insanely cute, but ever so odd alpacas, there is Lady Rose, Bridgette, Indiana, Sweetie Pie, Bella and Daniella. “The boys are called Avalanche and Chocochino.” The white and brown explains it.
The already eccentric Fenella went for a spinning course, bought a spinning wheel and now spins and produces the most marvellous alpaca wool products. She has a host of ladies who knit and crochet for her and whatever you want made from alpaca, Fenella can make it for you.
“Alpaca wool has hollow fibres, which makes it the warmest wool there is,” she explains while rocking her foot gently on the pedal to spin the wheel. She brings the romance back to this age old skill that is just about extinct in South Africa – apart from a few ladies in Prince Albert who are still at it.
Chris Smit is Wakkerstroom’s own living legend. He is one of the oldest life-long residents and has played an integral part in the establishment, prosperity and birding life of the town.
Chris is the stuff that remarkable story book characters are made of. A major in the Bush War, with mysterious, speckled eyes shaded by unruly eyebrows, a radio voice that is as well- sounding in English as it is in Afrikaans, and a knowledge of history that is second to none.
Chris knows more than something about everything. He was the town clerk for 14 years and mayor of Wakkerstroom for 16 years.
He knows the land like the back of his hand. This is exactly what led to him establishing the only museum (Oppi Koppi) in Wakkerstroom that houses an astonishing collection of Anglo Boer War memorabilia, as well as artefacts that Chris excavated at the many historic sites – including concentration camps – in the surrounding area. The remnants of dolls and miniature porcelain tea sets are heart breaking. A one-eyed, haggard and hard-to-identify teddy bear plays on one’s emotions. Chris also leads tours to all the Bushmen cave drawings in the area.
Apart from the thousands of bottles, military uniform buttons, horse shoes and horse thorns that Chris has dug up, and the antiques and collectable people have donated to, most of the items on display are family items. “More than 160 000 horses died during the wars,” says Chris, his speckled eyes darken momentarily.
A quick visit to Chris can effortlessly turn into hours. Chris loves sharing his knowledge and anecdotes – some on hard core history and others on the lighter things in life, such as the fact that the Afrikaans volksliedjie, Suikerbossie, was never an original Afrikaans song at all. And Chris has the dates, names and original gramophone record to prove it!
Getting back to the role Chris played in the conservation and promotion of the wetlands, author and conservationist, Dr Warwick Tarboton summed it up perfectly: “Chris Smit was the first champion of the wetlands.”
In the late 70s and early 80s, many locals were in favour of draining the wetlands to create canals and plant maize and wheat. As town clerk, Chris refused to let it happen and consulted with the Transvaal Nature Conservation Division for assistance in conserving the natural heritage sites in Wakkerstroom and promotes their use for tourism. Together with Elna Kotze, Dr Tarboton and John McAllister, the Wakkerstroom Natural Heritage Association was established. In 1997, the WNHA and the town council arranged for the Mpumalanga Parks Board to take over the lease. In this way the wetland could gain the status of provincial reserve. In 2007 the Wakkerstroom’s ecological importance was realised and the Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency applied to the national Department of Environmental affairs and Tourism to have the wetland registered as a Ramsar site. (Ramsar is a treaty to conserve wetlands around the globe.)
Today Wakkerstroom is a world renowned birding destination. Since the area consists of wetlands, grasslands and forests, and has a wide altitude range, birding opportunities are unparalleled. There are nine endemic bird species in the grasslands that lure birders from around the world.
In 1998, Bird Life South Africa came to Wakkerstroom to formalise the birding industry, erect bird hides, train guides and conduct annual bird ringing projects for research and conservation reasons.
At the steer of Bird Life South Africa centre in Wakkerstroom, are Kirsti Garland and Andre Steenkamp. They are bird educators who gained their knowledge and experience in Durban as environmentalists for various organisations.
“The biggest bird attraction in Wakkersroom are the larks and pippets,” says Kristi. “These are high-altitude bird species that are not found in lower regions. Our main function is to record, count and monitor birds in the wetlands. We arrange guided bird tours and take school groups on bird-sighting expeditions.”
Another resident who has created a career from the birds and birders of Wakkerstroom, is Muzi Makhubu. Muzi has the biggest smile and an almost tangible zest for life about him. “My paintings always sold well, but then too many artists made their way to Wakkerstroom,” says Muzi, carving away at a wooden block in the shade of a huge willow. “I had to do something better than them,” he laughs. So, Muzi got himself a birding book and started carving the most amazing birds from wood and paints them as lifelike as he possibly can. “I’ve been doing this for eight years now and I keep getting better all the time! Sometimes I go collect my old birds from guest houses and shops in Wakkerstroom to improve them, so that visitors can see the standard of what I do.
After seeing my work, they must feel that they cannot leave Wakkerstroom without taking a few of the birds they saw along.”
The list of interesting people in Wakkerstroom just goes on and on. There is the Glass Art Studio that is owned by Susanne van der Walt – an art lecturer from Linden, Johannesburg who hosts glass workshops for adults and children. Her husband, Hannes, breeds Arabian horses.
Lizzie Lack and Paul Grobler from The Bistro at Metamorphosis run the most interesting restaurant with an ever changing menu. They also have a dinner theatre on the same premises and host top class productions, music evenings and weddings. And wherever food is involved, it is always free range.
“The people are free-range in this place,” says Lizzie with a mysterious smile, referring to the residents of Wakkerstroom. She is right. According to research, one of the important minimum standards for all things ‘free- range’ is:
Allowing for the freedom to express natural behaviour by providing sufficient space in suitable facilities and the company of the animal’s own kind.
More info
The Bistro: 072 252 5781
Birdlife SA Wakkerstroom: 084 396 6853, email
Oppi Koppi Museum and Bushmen paintings tours: 082 348 5782, 017 730 0284
Indalo Carvings (Muzi): 078 769 2219
Wakkerstroom Irises: 076 218 1902, email
The Glass Art Studio: 017 730 0657
The Roost (alpacas and wheel spinning): 017 730 0739
Wakkerstroom Country Inn: 017 730 0620
Wetlands Country House and Sheds: 017 730 0101, website
- Wakkerstroom is undoubtedly one of the most effective towns we’ve come across in so far as marketing themselves. Apart from the many information booklets in and around Wakkerstroom that make it easy to find all the places of interest, a professionally written, photographed, edited and published coffee table book is on sale containing all and any history on Wakkerstroom – starting about 300 million years ago. Wakkerstroom, jewel of Mpumalanga is a must for all visitors to Wakkerstroom. The detailed and numbered map at the back of the book is of immeasurable value in anyone’s quest to decipher the secrets of this magical town.
Contact The Wakkerstroom Trading Company on 072 177 0805.
| More info on the town of Wakkerstroom | More info on the Highlands Meander area |
Related Content
