I am planning a trip to Nababeep in October. Why go there or do that, and, what is it, is it a place or an activity? Sounds like a sort of ‘road runner’ with a hooter attached!
For those of you who have not had the privilege of studying African Geography, Nababeep is a place in the North West Cape Province of South Africa, where I spent part of my teenage years before being shunted off to boarding school in Cape Town by my parents, with the help of the O’okiep Copper Company. The company not so kindly were instrumental in sending off most of the town’s English speaking children to Cape Town, where it was believed we would be given an education in English, rather than in Afrikaans at the local high school.
Approximately 50 years has passed since I left Nababeep and when the opportunity came up to attend a niece’s wedding in Pretoria (now I believe Tswane?) my wife Dedrie and I thought it a good idea to travel up the west coast of South Africa and Namibia, partly for me to relive the Namaqualand experience again, the subject of a vast number of ‘remember when’ and ‘only in Nababeep…” tales which my longsuffering family have had to digest over the years.
I am in the planning stage of this trip and rather anxious about what awaits us as we embark on our journey into those arid parts again. I intend to provide those of you who can stomach tales of this nature and a recounting of stories of folly, bravado, tragedy and great joy.