Taylored Trips – Places of Interest – Klein Langkloof

Klein Langkloof - the little red squiggle in the red circle on the lower right of the map

In my Taylored Trips stories of our travels around our beautiful country we have covered many different and

special places, including the Klein Langkloof, but in this story I want to touch on some other interesting aspects of this valley. The valley runs roughly east-west, beginning in the west where the N9 takes a long 180° bend at the gravel road turn-off to “Joncksrus/De Vlugt” and it follows the

Keurbooms River as it runs down to a T-junction at the R339 in the east at De Vlugt. It is roughly 30 kms long, down a lovely winding gravel road with amazing views every inch of the way.We had driven Prince Alfred’s Pass, the R339, from Knysna to Uniondale, in both directions a few times over the

years but never the Klein Langkloof road until we took it almost by mistake once out of curiosity, wondering where it went to. A few years later Cousin Mark told me about this amazing farm that a friend of his has and slowly, over the years, I became more aware of the Klein Langkloof. As you can well

imagine and see on the map above, it is a long way from Wellington where I live, so unfortunately it is not a place one can visit on a whim but at every available opportunity, I grabbed the chance to see it again and again and to get to know it a little better.K’Buku Pub & GrillStarting at the western end

where the gravel turn-off to “Joncksrus/De Vlugt” is, you travel about halfway along the roughly 30km Klein Langkloof road where you will find K’Buku Pub & Grill. Here Pierre and Val run a very hospitable pub, a few rooms for accommodation, a farming enterprise and lots more.

K'Buku Pub & Grill

K’Buku means a place to lie down and rest in Khio San.I mentioned the gravel turn-off from the N9 where the sign “Joncksrus/De Vlugt” is, well, Joncksrus is a graveyard on the farm K’Buku,

right behind the pub. This is where a few of the Jonck family have been laid to rest. The Jonck family owned and farmed virtually the entire valley in days gone by and a number of them still live in the valley.

Joncksrus

PietersrivierRoughly halfway between K’Buku and De Vlugt is a farm called Pietersrivier. Pietersrivier is significant in this valley because the travelling botanist, William

John Burchell, travelled through here on his exploration expedition of South African trees and plants in 1814. He came to South Africa in 1810 and travelled through the country between 1811 and 1815 gathering a vast amount of scientific information, a large collection of specimens and a

number of very fine drawings which he took back to England with him. He later received an honorary doctorate from Oxford University for his efforts. One specimen, of which he found only one and it has never been seen again is still in a museum in England today. His journey has been docume

nted and 4x4 enthusiasts can retrace his travels wherever he went. At Pietersrivier a very informative outdoor “classroom” has been set up where you can learn all about our different trees and plants. There is a very interesting “wagon wheel” on the ground which depicts the different types of wood used for the different

parts of a wagon and then they have name boards and a brief description at various trees and shrubs telling you what medicinal treatments the roots or leaves were used for, for the treatment of different ailments and diseases.

Pietersrivier, Klein Langkloof

An interesting point is that Burchell’s journey through the Garden Route was about 3% of the 7200km

s of his 4-year long trek in South Africa and it yielded 40% of his botanical collection of 60 000 specimens. No wonder they called it the Garden Route!His tracks were only discovered through the Klein Langkloof sometime during the 1990’s when a devastating fire swept through the

valley from east to west.There is a lot more information, flyers, brochures and boards as well as a campsite but you will have to visit there yourself to get all the other info. It is a fun visit and also very educational and informative, so don’t drive past thinking it’s not worth the stop. It definitely is!

De VlugtFrom Pietersrivier it is 6kms down to De Vlugt, the T-junction at the R339, which is the eastern end of the Klein Langkloof valley. The north-south R339 from Knysna to Avontuur/Uniondale forms the mighty Prince Alfred’s Pass, which was named after Queen Victoria’s

second son when he was hunting elephant here in 1867. The legendary pass builder, Thomas Theodolite Bain, son of the pass building pioneer, Andrew Geddes Bain, carved his way through these mountains between 1863 and 1867. The pass was officially opened in September 1868. It is strange that the signboard at De

Vlugt says 1866.As mentioned the pass was built by Thomas Bain but he and his father did the reconnaissance together in 1857 already. There was a bridle path (foot path) following the Keurbooms River from Plettenberg Bay north-ish and then west through the Klein Langkloof, passing

through De Vlugt. The path from Plett was in such demand that wagons had started using it as well. The first recorded passage of a wagon on this route was in 1803 and when the Bain’s surveyed it, it had been in use for 90-odd years already. The southern section of this road is called Paardek

loof. There was also a bridle path north from De Vlugt to Avontuur. Bain decided to cut out the Paardekloof section from Plett at that stage and suggested a north-south route directly from Knysna to Avontuur, so this is what Thomas set out to accomplish when he started in Knysna in 1863.

The first mission was to hack their way through the very dense forest which was quite an ordeal. While they were busy with this southern forest section, Thomas and his family lived in George Rex of Knysna’s original house. Just by the way, George Rex’s fourth son Frederick, married one of Andrew Geddes Bain’s

daughters, Joanna, making Frederick and Thomas brothers-in-law. Frederick was a lyricist/versifier and the two of them wrote a few poems together. The most famous of their joint production is Kaatje Kekkelbek. Once that section was complete, Thomas and his crew moved to De Vlugt and set up station

there. He first stayed in a house called Die Stasie while having his house built and when it was complete he moved his family here too. Apparently Die Stasie was so named because it belonged to the Station Commander.Quite a little community took shape here due to the road building

and all the crew but De Vlugt was first a little town called Edmonton, so named by, I think, a female Scottish school teacher. There was a police station, post office, school and a few other buildings. Some reports say that it was called Edmonton after Bain left but I’m not sure about that. I have heard that De Vlugt

was so named because anyone running from the law, fled to De Vlugt because it is so remote and no-one would find you there.De Vlugt in more recent years is also known for two other things and they are trout fishing and Angie’s G Spot. We are not going to delve too deep into the trout fishing or the

proximity of where Angie’s G Spot actually is other than that when Harold and Angie found this spot, she said to him that she thinks she has just found her G Spot. I thought it was supposed to be the other way around but as I said, we are not going to delve into that. We can however talk a little about the very

basic and rustic food, drinks and accommodation spot called Angie’s G Spot.

A popular pit stop, just like K’Buku, for bikers, adventure riders, off-road enthusiasts and the like,

here they will serve you drinks, make you food in a glass kitchen or put you up in a caravan for a small fee. Ideally situated right on the bank of the Keurbooms River, I think that Angie did in fact find the right spot.

Diagonally across the road is a very pleasant farm stall/antique shop called Die Plaaskind Padstal where you can

get all kinds of mouth-watering cakes and food as well as gifts, curious and antiques. They also sell a very informative book on Prince Alfred’s Pass. This farmstall and the pass has just been featured in the April edition of Weg and Go travel magazines. The landlady, Adri, also rents out Thomas Bain’s cottage where you can

overnight and drift back in time dreaming of those early nostalgic days. On a sadder note, Thomas Bain’s four-year-old daughter was bumped off the stoep at this house by a turkey. She died from the fall and was buried here. Adri told me that they only recently found the headstone of the little girl’s grave.

Another bit of sad news is that Thomas’ father Andrew Geddes Bain died while he was here but he was not granted a leave of absence to attend his father’s funeral. Some say because he was behind schedule with the pass and other reports say it was because there was no-one to take his place while he

was away.

Die Plaaskind Padstal

Just a short distance from De Vlugt, heading north towards Avontuur are some lovely features

of Prince Alfred’s Pass that are worth driving to even if you are not heading that way. These features include a few tranquil rock pools, some waterfalls, Bain’s Pillar and lots of very sharp corners as you criss-cross the river with some amazing rock formations as a backdrop. Park your car at a safe spot and

walk around and marvel at the ingenuity of a road builder who was seriously on top of his game as well as Mother Nature who was seriously on top of her game while creating this natural wonder for us to enjoy.

The amazing Prince Alfred's Pass

There is so much more in this wonderful valley just waiting to be explored so why not make this your next

holiday destination so that you can also experience the beauty, the tranquillity, the vistas and the people.Until next time, “Keep on Tripping!”