I recently traveled to Laingsburg on business and promptly mixed in as much pleasure as I could. I LOVE the Central Karoo and all the interesting little stops, history, eats, antiques and landscapes. I would pack up our little house and move this whole little family over there if I could. It is just so beautiful and just my kind of 'middle of nowhere'. There is nothing more exciting than an open road on the way to somewhere that you have never, ever been to before. You never know what's coming around the very next bend.
Lainsburg is rich in history! My mom told me to look out for the flood line on the main road of this teensy little town. What flood? On 25 January 1981, Laingsburg was almost completely swept away in a matter of hours in one of South Africa's biggest natural disasters in history. A quick extract from the Laingsburg Tourism website:
The Laingsburg flood of 25 January 1981 is known as the
most serious disaster in the history of South Africa. On Friday,
Saturday and Sunday the 25th rain fell continuously in and around
Laingsburg, a small town in the Karoo between Cape Town and Beaufort
West. At first the rain was gentle as a result of a low pressure
system. But from Saturday afternoon to Sunday a high pressure system
brought heavy thunder showers to the catchment area. Up to 425 mm
rainfall was recorded that week-end, whereas the normal rainfall per
annum is only 175 mm.
By 08:00 on the Sunday morning the Buffels River,
on whose banks the town is built, was in flood and overflowing into the
town. Simultaneously there was a confluence of two rivers, the
Baviaans and the Wilgerhout, flowing from the area to the north known as
the Moordenaars Karoo, which caused a high volume of water to
accumulate at one time. This water entered the main stream just in front
of the railway bridge towards the south of the town causing a natural
blockage. Pressure against the railway bridge is estimated to have been
8000 tons per second. The level of the Buffels River rose dramatically
at about 12:00 and by 14:00 the town (CBD) was under water.
Residents of Laingsburg, who were used to seeing
the Buffels River in flood from time to time, thought that it would soon
subside again, not realizing that this was a devastating flood that
would hit the town with masses of water coming from an extensive
catchment area. Moreover, the railway bridge and the road bridge over
the N1 caused a huge obstruction as trees, plants, rocks, animals and
many other objects blocked the flow of the river. Within seconds, the
town was turned into a dam. People climbed onto the roofs of their
houses or into trees and fled to higher ground wherever possible, but
everything happened so quickly and so unexpectedly that many lives were
lost. When the gravel embankments leading to the bridges gave way, the
water ran at a tremendous speed carrying everything away. In the blink
of an eye, houses, people, almost the whole town disappeared.
The loss of life in Laingsburg was a hundred and
four men, women and children. A hundred and eighty five houses, a home
for the aged, school hostels, four rondawels and twenty-three business
premises were destroyed. Survivors of the flood tell stories of how
they were washed down river, some clinging to anything that would float,
how they clambered to safety along the banks or found themselves
floating in the Floriskraal Dam among heaps of debris, 21 km from town.
The number of bodies that were recovered was 32 and 72 were never
found.
We stayed at a little bed & breakfast called Golf View. A very sweet place with beautiful gardens, great hospitality and everything you need - including a delicious Karoo farm breakfast! You can view all the accommodation options in and around Laingsburg here. It's about 2.5 hours out of Cape Town, so please put this little picturesque town in your travel calendar!
The town is so small it pretty much only has ONE restaurant if you exclude the take away spots at the petrol station. It's called the Laingsburg Country Hotel and you will be delighted. It was like stepping back in time - the walls are covered in old family photos, plates, antiques, crockery, brass pots and all sorts or kitsch and wonderful things. Not many patrons, but a seriously great menu with delicious Karoo Lamb Potjies, cheese cake that will set your heart on fire and apple pie just like your granny made it when you were a kid.
I really love small, middle-of-nowhere sort of places. Visit the Laingsburg tourism website, follow them on Twitter, Facebook and the hash tag #dicoverKaroo
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