A destination good for the spirit

Every loved part of the world has a few real but off the beaten track corners that conjure mind magic. Otherwise, where will the collective citizen spirit be kept alive? Places with intriguing names that have mostly been visited by people one has never met, qualify for this category. Such rare, often upcountry nooks enrich the heritages held dear by patriots of the earth.

For loving one’s country in the physical sense of mountains, forests, deserts, caves and beaches is above doting on ideologies, policies and social fanaticisms that offend some, and cause wars. Such natural destinations exist in geography, ringing magical in imagination. Once chosen personally, they may be cherished for ever or for one visit in heads fixated, although in life dealt with differently: Either frequented compulsively or not visited at all lest the magic wears off, and for the indecisive Hamlets something inbetween. This would depend on personality, drive or life circumstances. And some places one could get out of one's system by what happens during a visit.

Earthly locations like Thule, Milford Sound, the Faroe Islands, Timbuktu, Lake Tahoe and Tierra del Fuego may hold magic, sticking in individual or collective memories. The names, or their auras, inspire real dreamers and would be travellers from far away, not the locals so much. For the people that know these spots well or have lived there all their lives, are mostly excluded. They have to find their own Nirvana resorts, far away physical homes for fantasy bliss. Equivalents in history that served the ancients might have included Arcadia, Delphi, Atlantis and Eden. Some were visited, others never found. Such is the risk involving utopias. 

In South Africa the Cederberg, the Magaliesberg or the Drakensberg, if you are the climbing type, the Tsitsikamma Forest, a serene river of choice like the Levubu, or a quaint town like Pilgrim’s Rest would make the list for some.

One such place not known too widely is the Kouga Valley in the Eastern Cape, south of the Baviaanskloof and north of the Langkloof. Not a halfway stop to anywhere, one goes there to go there, nowhere else until later. Long ago access wasn’t always easy, the directions often vague or confusing, until encountering a local.

The dirt road through the Kouga is today still “interesting” in parts, especially in the rainy season. This through road joins the Langkloof tarred road at Joubertina and near The Heights east of Twee Riviere, exceptional for a leisurely day’s round trip, including a picnic. Watch it if you’re the driver though, for the panoramas can captivate like the Siren songs in Homer's Odyssey.