Someone asks whether or not Sutherland has a Woolworths Food store. No, you reply, this little place is hopelessly too small for something like that. "But there must surely be a Checkers or Pick n Pay?" No, no! The only proper shop in the town is the small OK Foods. "What about restaurants and coffee shops?"
Why would anyone think that Sutherland is so full of options?
"It's not too far from Cape Town and one hears so much about the place and people who have visited that it sounds like quite a busy town - the Clarens of the Karoo."
INDEED, EVERYONE DOES know about Sutherland. Even if you haven't been there, you would most likely have heard much about its bright stars and icy winters. In the 18th and 19th centuries, the trek route through the Roggeveld, as this area is called, was the main one between the Cape and the north. Today, only the road from Matjiesfontein to Sutherland is tarred. If you're arriving from any other direction, or want to go further, you'll be travelling on an untarred road.
This is why Sutherland has not yet grown to a size that warrants having a Woolworths, says Jurg Wagener.
"There is a limit to the number of people who will tolerate our gravel roads. It's quite easy to get here, but then travelling further becomes more difficult. This is one of the reasons why, for a long time, Sutherland was not a tourist destination."
Before the construction of the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) in 2000, Sutherland was just a Karoo town where farmers would stop off to go to the co-op. But it has since joined the Milky Way and, today, you can visit The Blue Moon, the Mars Bar, Oggend Ster (Morning Star) and Alien Inn. Jurg and his wife, Rita, have played a big role in bringing the stars and planets to the town and attracting visitors.
"It's really Rita's doing. She has an incredible sensibility for this kind of thing. She's the one who said we should come to Sutherland."
Denne historien er fra Winter 2024-utgaven av go! Platteland.
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Denne historien er fra Winter 2024-utgaven av go! Platteland.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
There are few secrets in Verlorenvallei
All platteland towns have that one famous (or infamous) character who knows everyone's business. Meet Livia Hoogenboezem, the keeper of every piece of gossip in Verlorenvallei...
Make magic with winter's abundance
This winter menu is our invitation to look beyond the bewildered herb garden, move out of your comfort zone and bake a loaf of bread, appreciate the beauty of a head of cabbage, and invite the rain gods to the table to feast with you on venison pie, pudding and cake.
It takes a family
Christian Fry and his fiancé, Pippa de Lange, arrived at Dombeya with just a day to spare before the Covid-19 hard lockdown commenced in 2020. Their purpose was to save the Fry family farm from being sold. They've settled into life in their Elands River Valley haven now but continue to dream big and work hard.
For the love of birds...
They may be called birdwatchers but they are in fact using their ears. As Johan van Zyl discovered on his maiden outing as an \"avian tourist\" with BirdLife South Africa to find the 450 bird species that live in the Garden Route and Little Karoo.
To the babbling brooks of Sabie
Roughly every five years, Jaco and Jens Reverchon get itchy feet. They hopped around Cape Town, moved up north to the Greater Kruger and then, recently, put down roots next to the Sabie River where they live a peaceful life with their animals.
Creativity & community in Dinokeng
The driving force behind the successful Makers Village in Irene has now implemented the same concept in Cullinan, creating an incubator and exhibition space for entrepreneurs and artists. Platteland dropped in at this budding creative hub to find out what it's all about and came away impressed.
Willie Strauss Never an idle moment
A variety concert... that is how to approach your life and career when you want to survive as an artist living in the platteland. So says singer, lyricist and radio food expert Willie Strauss, who entices visitors to Die Sinkstoor in Cullinan with traditional offal and his mother's Bushmanland boerekos.
To die for
How do you avoid the tourist avalanche if you live in an Afromontane forest where holidaymakers descend in December? You drive to lonely outposts in the mountains of the Cape, says photographer Obie Oberholzer, and you make pictures rather than take them.
1 Fiat 500 2ha 4 boys...19000 miles!
When the go-cart that an engineer father had built for his four sons couldn't handle the tufty terrain on their 2-hectare plot in Montana, Pretoria, they hunted down a Fiat 500 in a salvage yard. They only wanted its suspension system, but Mom intervened, the car was saved, and those little daredevils clocked up an impressive 19000 miles - all without leaving the plot.
SUTHERLAND Cold town, warm hearts
Life in Sutherland in the Northern Cape isn't always easy, but even those who leave tend to return. Come with us to find out why.
