The Vredefort Impact Dome

We visited our last UNESCO World Heritage Site in South Africa, the Vredefort Impact Dome, the site of the biggest meteorite impact that geologists have yet found on earth. (SA's other World Heritage Sites are Robben Island,  iSimangaliso Wetland Park, the Cradle of Humankind, uKhahlamba-Drakensberg Park, Mapungubwe Cultural Landscape, the Richtersveld Cultural and Botanical Landscape and the Cape Floral Region.)

World Heritage Sites are designated for a variety of reasons. Cultural significance. The site of significant historic events. Scientific importance. The UNESCO World Heritage committee gave three reasons why Vredefort was considered worthy of its designation. First, for the preservation of the unique geology due to the meteor impact and its affect on the surrounding area. Second, the fact that the rings marking the impact are still visible for viewing and third, that it is located in a safe and quiet area which provides enjoyment for visitors.

the Eiffel Tower in Parys

The gateway to the Vredefort Dome area is Parys. On the banks of the Vaal River, Parys has a very relaxed riverside feel. The small town is filled with art galleries and antique shops and is known as a purveyor of Afrikaans culture and food.

We stopped at the information center to get the lay of the land and contact information for a local guide to take us to the Vredefort Dome. We were given Christo's name and contact information. Christo owns a 200 hectare farm within the World Heritage Site. His farm near Parys has the distinction of containing a high point where you can see the rings of the impact crater. (His contact number is 083 406 0841.)

Christo's farm is also home to the Kopieskrall Country Lodge and that is where we met him to drop of our car and start our tour.

close up of the black veins

Make a right at the granite slab.

Vredefort granophyre and pseudotachylite are the names given to the black crystallized impact melt-rock that flowed into the cracks of the granite. They contain broken pieces from many rock types as well as very small chemical traces of the meteorite that caused the impact.

blesbok

Most of the World Heritage Site is privately owned by individual farms and families.

"Hey, a farm dog!"

We brought Lou & Serge with us and they immediately made friends with Christo's dog Milo.

Christo and Vince and the 40 year old Landcruiser

back of the bakkie with Lou & Serge for an African massage

First, Christo gave us some history in the lapa before heading up to the view site

ready for the ride to the top!

inside the ancient kraal

On the top of the ridge is an old abandoned Tswana kraal. The former inhabitants were chased into what is now Botswana by Shaka during his conquest across southern Africa to unite the tribes.

We took our sons to visit USA's Meteor Crater in Arizona once so I thought I was prepared for what we were about to see. But the numbers make it impossible to recreate an image in a photograph that would convey the impact of the meteor on the landscape. The meteor is estimated to have been between 10 and 15 kms in diameter and upon impact - traveling at an estimated 10 kms per second - with the earth, it made a crater that was more than 300 kms in diameter!

It was nearly twice as big as the impact that killed the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. Besides being the biggest impact crater, Vredefort is also the oldest impact event. The meteor impact happened some 2023 million years ago at a time when there were no people nor animals and plants like the ones we see today. Probably the only thing living at the time of the impact were single-celled organisms. And curiously, scientists speculate that the incident may have increased the planet's oxygen level's to the point of making life possible.

The Vredefort Dome is only the central part of the impact crater. It was called a dome because the rock layers were bent into the shape of an upside-down bowl 90 kms across by the impact.

Today the edges of the Vredefort Dome are exposed in several rings which can been seen from the top of Christo's hill.

Probably the biggest effect the meteor impact had on the area though concerns the accessibility of the gold in the Witwatersrand. Gold sediment originally lie buried deep on the bottom of the ridge. But when the meteor hit, it caused the Wits gold layer to tilt and reach the surface. It is possible that if it had not been for the Vredefort impact, the gold of Johannesburg would never have been discovered.

All over the floor of the impact area you can also see a number of outcroppings of Parys granite, a rare pink granite that was mined in the last century.

"Enough of the African massage. We want to ride up front on the way back!"

Lekker Skiing

We had to postpone our trip to Tiffindell in July until this past weekend in August because Vince had a business conflict. Unfortunately this also meant we missed seeing the South African Alpine Ski Championships held there which featured the pride of South African skiing, Alex Heath.

Like the Jamaican Olympic Bobsled team documented in "Cool Runnings," skiing does not seem like a sport synonymous with South Africa. And indeed Alex is somewhat of an anomaly here. In his first World Championships in Sierra Nevada in 1996, Alex surprised everyone by achieving two top 30 results in Slalom and Giant Slalom.

He has represented South Africa well in Alpine skiing since 1994. His career has included 7 World Championships and he appeared in the last three Olympic Games in Nagano, Salt Lake City and in Torino where he placed 19th. He is training for his next Olympic appearance in Sochi in 2014. 

Although it would have been nice to have seen Alex on his home turf - or rather snow - in Tiffindell where he regularly trains, I will be happy to cheer him on next February when the Olympics are broadcast on television. Another South African ski-nom to watch, Sive Speelman has his sights firmly set on Sochi as well. Born in nearby Barkly East, Sive's talent was honed at Tiffindell's own youth ski development program called the Ski Pups. He moved one notch closer to his goal at the Tiffindell Ski Championship and needs just one more qualification time to realize his Olympic dream and join Alex in representing South Africa in the Alpine events. Best of luck Sive!

Sounds like it may be time for a sequel to "Cool Runnings,"  "Lekker Skiing." 

The highest working pub in South Africa

The only road access to the highest peak in the Drakensberg, Thabana Ntlenyana, is via Sani Pass, which at the top, boasts the highest pub in Africa, 3000 meters above sea level. 

Good thing Vince has his trusty ski flask!

Yetti's pub at the Tiffindell mid-station claims to be the highest pub in South Africa. And at 2750 meters it may be. But it wasn't always open when we needed it to be.
















So we decided to make our own private pub on the deck of our ski condo. We dubbed it the Highest Working Bar in South Africa.

It had the advantage of being open whenever we wanted!

Southern Hemi Skiing

Australia

There is something definitely weird about skiing in the Southern Hemisphere. It's winter, there's snow, but oh yeah it's August! Still we had to experience it while we were here. And it was a little less weird coming from Joburg where at least it is also winter as opposed to coming straight from the dog days of summer in NJ as we had in the past.

Argentina

 
Vince and I had skied below the equator before in Australia and Patagonia in Argentina. We had always figured if we ever skied in Africa it would probably be North Africa in the Atlas Mountains, and we may still ski there someday, but while in Rome ...

South Africa

South Africa's one and only real ski resort is Tiffindell in the Drakensberg Mountains on the border of Lesotho. There are other places that get snow where you can ski in South Africa, but Tiffindell is as close to what we would call a ski resort in the west. Lifts, equipment rental, an assortment of accommodations, restaurants and the all important après ski establishments. All in a self-contained ski village. Actually it reminded me a little of a miniature Smugglers' Notch, Vermont where we have a ski condo.

Like driving to Smuggs from NJ, getting to Tiffindell was a bit of a chore. It is a nine hour drive from Joburg through the veld of the Free State. You can fly to the capital of the Free State, Bloemfontein, but you would still have to rent a car for another four hour drive to Rhodes and the recommended one hour shuttle up a steep unpaved incline to the resort. We opted to skip the flight, rental car, and shuttle and just drive the whole thing from Joburg in a rented 4 X 4. We love to road trip so we can stop and explore.

We left at the crack of dawn. It was pretty much highway all the way until we got to Barkly East which had the last gas station and ATM before Tiffindell. We stocked up at both. Once we got to Rhodes, the gateway to Tiffindell, the road turned unpaved and narrow and the final leg was a harrowing, switchback-filled, guardrail-less, 45 degree climb up what was really a glorified goat path. My 4-wheeling fool of a husband thought it was a blast but I was glad we had at least left plenty of time to do it in broad daylight.

Tiffindell just reopened this year after four years of being closed for a complete overhaul by new management. I wish them well. The staff were really nice, the food was good and the accommodations were quite comfortable. Nearby Rhodes is apparently a trout fly-fishing destination too. (If they read this, they could use an airstrip with regular shuttles from Cape Town and Joburg. Just sayin'.)

I guess the last ski frontier for us in the Southern Hemisphere is the all-snow-all-the-time continent of Antarctica. There are some expeditions I am considering that include cross-country skiing but there are no downhill resorts there. Yet.

Circumnavigating Lesotho

We visited the Women's War Memorial in Bloemfontein in anticipation of Women's Day on August 9. The memorial is dedicated to the over 127,000 women  and children who perished in the British concentration camps in South Africa during the Anglo Boer Wars. Brutal. 

Bloemfontein is the capital of the Free State which we drove through to get to Tiffindell to go skiing for the long weekend. We skirted around the western side of Lesotho where it borders the Free State to get to the Drakensberg Mountains which forms the southern border of Lesotho with the northern border of the East Cape. Lesotho is an independent country which is located in the middle of South Africa and is completely land-locked. 

 


After our ski adventure, we drove back to Joburg a different way, going east through the Drakensberg and then up along the eastern side of Lesotho bordering on the western side of KwaZulu-Natal and through Clarens and Golden Gate Highlands National Park. We basically circumnavigated Lesotho. Beautiful country! Dramatic mountain range, big sky, rock art caves, trout-filled lakes, and except when we were on the highway, some really crappy roads.

Much of the area we drove through surrounding Lesotho in the Free State and KwaZulu-Natal was a war zone during the Anglo Boer conflicts and there are many historic sights and memorials dedicated to its significant battles as well as the Battle of Vegkop between the Vooktreckers and the Ndebele, and the Battle of Blood River with the Zulu.

I must admit I do not know much about these conflicts since the United States was not directly involved. In fact the sum total of my acquired knowledge about the Anglo Boer Wars was only derived from repeatedly watching one of my favorite movies, Breaker Morant.

But just like the years of apartheid, it was a formative era in South African history and I am sure my book club can suggest a few novels which may help me better understand it.