In Good Company

[On The Road] Buffelspoort ATKV, NC.

- Richard Van Rynveld

The sun’s rays were just peeping over the mountains to the east of the Buffelspoort holiday resort. Those must be the Magaliesberg Mountains, I realized.

I was wondering around the caravan park with my camera, trying to get my bearings as I had arrived in the dark the night before.

Pitching up in darkness can either be a pleasant surprise or a total disaster. In the case of Buffelspoort, it proved to be a pleasure no matter the time of day.

It got even better as I got chatting to a gentleman that was busy with a team of workers laying down a series of slabs close to my Echo Kavango off-road caravan. He stuck out a work-hardened hand and said: “Spook Groenewald, pleased to meet you.”

Spook Groenewald was the caravan park manager and an absolute mine of information.

I obviously asked him where he got his name from, to which he replied: “My mother gave me that name as a kid. I would disappear like a ‘ghost’, always gravitating towards anything mechanical.”

He laughs at the memory.

Spook continues that he grew up on a small farm, and tells how his father had a trucking and coal delivery business.

As a child he was always helping his dad, fixing and servicing the vehicles.

Spook went on to build numerous stock cars as he grew up. I quickly learnt that he can do anything with his hands: electrician, plumber, builder.

He also worked underground on the mines for many years. Spook is a qualified sewing machine technician, including large industrial embroidery machines. This handyman helps his wife Bev, who is originally from England, to run a successful home embroidery business in nearby town of Mooinooi.

I know he’s going to be the hell in with me for talking so much about him, so I’d better get down to the business of sharing some of the information he gave me.