Thursday, June 17, 2010

View from the Top


















Krömhoogte

(literally Crooked Heights) is the most readily identifiable point on the farm, and can be seen for miles around. Our western boundary runs along the bottom third of the mountain, though the summit is on the neighbouring farm. The whole area is approximately 1600m amsl, although the summit of Krömhoogte towers another 220m above the table land.


Brother R and some of the neighbours climbed to the top and took some photographs which I think are exceptional and give a great perspective of the layout of the farm.


















The farmhouse is in amongst the trees towards the left of the picture. The large dam may be seen in the distance at the top of the photograph.


The mountain has attracted, like most high points in an area, numerous visitors over the years. It was also a lookout post for British soldiers during the Boer War at the end of the niniteenth century. I am still doing research on the part played by the farm and the town during this period and it will hopefully be the subject of a future post.






















One of the visitors, not suprisingly, was the original owner of the farm - Cornelius C. Vermaak - who left his initials on the summit in 1900.



















The above series of photographs, give a good idea of the general topography of the region, as well as showing that all the dams in the immediate area are full to overflowing. For at least the past 8 years, the area has had exceptionally good rains. Climate change (although I dispute totally that the cause is anthropogenic) seems to be a reality, and is certainly benefitting the area - rainfall wise.