When you drive north out of Pretoria on the N1 towards Modimolle, the bustle fades quickly. You still have to keep an eye out for traffic officers and have your bank card ready for a few toll gates, but before long the Pienaars River appears and the agricultural fields of the Springbok Flats fan out next to the highway.
Barely an hour and a half after you set the house alarm in Garsfontein, you can be in Modimolle, where the R33 splits off to Vaalwater. The Waterberg is now under your tyres and the first nice place to pull over, surprisingly enough, is the Viva filling station about 40km further. Get out, stretch your legs and admire the garden. The OK MiniMark sells everything you’ll need for your weekend away in this part of Limpopo, from firewood to really delicious meat (especially beef).
This is also where you’ll start to get a view of the mountains – the Sandrivierberg makes a triumphant rise to the north over the Alma Valley, which stretches from west to east in a big, wide strip of calm. You’ll also see the characteristic peaks known as the Seven Sisters. Look at them closely and wind back your mind’s clock… They’ve stood there in slumber for about 300 million years. The R33 runs straight towards the mountains, cutting a line through Sandrivierpoort. Soon you’ll reach the plateau section of the Waterberg, and Vaalwater, the no-frills “capital” of the region.
Sweet to sour
My first overnight stop is Mokabi Lodge in the Moletadikgwa Wildlife Sanctuary north-east of Vaalwater. A few big kudu bulls wander over to welcome me when I park at the lodge. In the late afternoon, owner Richard Wadley, who runs the lodge with his wife Lyn, takes me for a drive in his Landy, accompanied by his excited Staffies, Duma and Pula.
Richard is the author of the book , which takes a detailed look at the history of the region. He’s a retired geologist: As we drive the winding road, he explains how the sweetveld section of the farm differs from the sourveld section. The sweetveld grows on dolerite soil where wild olive, weeping boerbean and jacket plum trees are abundant, and red grass and several kinds
