Exploring Historic Ox Wagon Trails... ...and Other Scenic Dirt Tracks.

When I Set Off for a Few Night’s R&r, My Plan Was to Conjure Up a Back-roads Route Labelled the Garden Route Unplugged. Although I Did Pilot a Pretty Novel Alternative Route, I Stumbled Across Some Even More Interesting Historical Ox Wagon Routes.

- Nick Yell

AS MUCH as I appreciated my family bestowing the Beacon Isle corner suite on me this year, with its 270 degrees of jaw-dropping vistas and sumptuous accommodation, I’m just not a fancy timeshare guy. I find it too much for my simple tastes and loner sensibilities: things like the lobby pianist’s muzak; the long list of rules (don’t even think of having a cigarillo on your balcony) and the carpet bowls in the lobby and bingo in the bar. Yes, I’m the oddball, I know.

Which is why, after I’d done my time there, I was looking forward to camping at Pietersrivier Nature Reserve with my friend, Raimund. The difference between the offerings of these two resorts could not be starker. You realise this as soon as you enter this pristine wilderness and meet its barefoot custodian, Katot Meyer.

Katot is as small and tough as his Afrikaans nickname – Katot is Afrikaans for billy can – and his wild appearance and keen sense of humour make him a diminutive blend of Oom Schalk Lourens crossed with a veteran game ranger of yesterday. But when you listen carefully to his novel ideas on conservation, like his initiative to save the Keurbooms River and his innovative ideas on waste management and recycling on the move (he has designed a green box for your 4×4 – see www.pnaturereserve.co.za), you realise this is a man who walks his talk.

Although the recent fires which ravaged Knysna and Plett laid waste to much of the vegetation on the southern two-thirds of this reserve, fortunately it did not spread to the section containing the variety of campsites and hiking trails which are thankfully still in pristine condition. But it was the one activity that wasn’t on offer due to the fire damage, the exacting Burchell’s 4×4 trail (due to reopen in 2020) that reminded me of the historical ox-wagon route that veteran 4×4 legend Nico Hesterman had told me about some years back.