| Sutherland, a little one-horse town in the Great Karoo | | | | size and made our viewing fascinating. The buildings |
| was my next weekend escape. It is known to | | | | roof folded back leaving us enclosed within 4 walls |
| experience the coldest temperatures in South Africa | | | | and therefore encumbered by less wind, which made |
| due to its high altitude (1550m ASL) and its open clear | | | | the cold a little more bearable. By 20h30 we were |
| skies and in winter one can experience -20 degrees | | | | dying to get out of the cold and into a warm fire lit |
| Celsius and lots of snow and ice. It is also known as | | | | building with some hot food in our tummies. We |
| the "Gateway to the Universe" and is the home to the | | | | returned to Sutherland to one of only 3 restaurants for |
| largest single optical telescope in the southern | | | | dinner. The food was nothing to rave about. We then |
| hemisphere, with a hexagonal mirror stretching 11 | | | | returned to our little cottage and after a quick nightcap |
| metres across. SALT (Southern African Large | | | | of old brown cherry, we climbed into our cosy warm |
| Telescope) is where astronomers from all over the | | | | beds. |
| world come to study our universe. Gathering more | | | | Besides the observatory, Sutherland offers some |
| than 25 times as much light as any existing African | | | | beautiful scenic drives. After breakfast, we packed a |
| telescope, SALT can detect objects as faint as a | | | | tasty lunch basket and departed on a scenic circular |
| candle flame on the moon. | | | | 140km drive. The colourful spring flowers had us |
| A quick 350km on good tar road from Cape Town | | | | stopping every couple of kilometres to take |
| had me arriving in Sutherland at about 17h00 on Friday. | | | | photographs of their incredible display. We travelled to |
| A truly beautiful drive through the Karoo with huge | | | | the edge of the escarpment where the Roggeveld |
| open plains covered with low lying scrub vegetation | | | | Mountains suddenly gave way to the Karoo valley |
| decorated with breathtakingly beautiful patches of | | | | 1000m below and the Ouberg pass started its |
| spring flowers of oranges, purples, whites and yellows. | | | | treacherous descent down the steep slope. The |
| Rolling hills and mountains bared fascinating folded rock | | | | viewpoint was breathtaking! |
| formations. | | | | We continued our drive north towards Calvinia |
| I met my folks at our self-catering guesthouse, | | | | following a good gravel road through sheep farmlands, |
| Rooikloof, where we would spend the weekend | | | | rolling hills, shrubland and more beautiful flowers. Being |
| together, a lovely 3 star guesthouse on a sheep farm | | | | avid birders my folks and I relished over the number of |
| just 2 km outside Sutherland. It was clean, very homely | | | | birds species we saw such as Black Eagles, Lesser |
| and had everything we needed including electric | | | | Kestrels, Rock Kestrels, Fish Eagles, Black Breasted |
| blankets for the very cold nights! | | | | Snake Eagle, Pale Chanting Goshawks, Black Harrier, |
| Our main reason for visiting Sutherland was to view | | | | Black Stilts, South African Shelduck and many more. |
| SALT (and the other smaller observatories, 7 | | | | We are still old school on the names of these birds. A |
| altogether) and to enjoy a tour of our universe with a | | | | lot of them have now had their names changed and I |
| professional astronomer. SALT is situated up on a hill | | | | would not be able to give you the new ones! |
| about 18km from Sutherland at about 1798m above | | | | Along this route there are 2 farms of interest to |
| sea level. A guided tour of the observatory can be | | | | visitors, one is Koornlandskloof, a commercial tulip farm |
| taken Monday to Friday at 10h30 and 14h30 and on | | | | and the other Fransplaas sheep farm, a dairy farm |
| Saturday at 11h30 and 14h30 and one must prebook. | | | | producing sheeps milk cheese, the only one in South |
| During the day the observatory is obviously not in use | | | | Africa. Neither of them were open on the Sunday |
| and can be visited but at night no visitors are allowed, | | | | when we passed through so unfortunately I cannot |
| as international astronomers are hard at work | | | | comment on them. The scenic drive was well worth it |
| gathering scientific information about our universe. | | | | though. |
| There is a visitor's centre about 1 km away where one | | | | One should remember when visiting Sutherland that |
| should meet to do the tour. The centre depicts some | | | | none of the shops, restaurants or accommodation |
| fascinating history of Astronomy, some recent findings, | | | | establishment take credit cards and there are no cash |
| photographs and illustrations of our universe - the kind | | | | withdrawal machines in town. Most of them do except |
| of things that are being learnt by our Astronomers in | | | | cheques as there is a Standard Bank in town but one |
| today's age with telescopes as advanced as SALT. | | | | should remember to take cash. |
| At 14h30 on Saturday we toured the observatories | | | | On our return home we stopped at the historic little |
| with one of the astronomers (duration 2 hours). He | | | | village of Matjiesfontein just 110km from Sutherland, for |
| explained what the different observatories were used | | | | a quick pub lunch in their old English pub, The Lairds |
| for and what information could be gathered with each | | | | Arms. Matjiesfontein is a national monument and takes |
| telescope and how. In the evening at 19h00 we return | | | | one back to 1889 when it was first declared a village. |
| to the visitors centre where we would experience our | | | | The main road, the only road, is all of 300m long and is |
| guided tour of the universe. Having been pre-warned | | | | looked on by a little coffee shop, a post office, The |
| of the extreme temperature we would experience up | | | | Lairds Arms pub, the 3 star Lord Milner Hotel and of |
| at the observatory at night, we dressed up in our best | | | | course the train station. There are also four museums |
| winter woollies, padded thick with winter jackets, | | | | in town, which depict its history and are quite interesting |
| beanies and scarves. As we stepped out of our car | | | | to visit. The Blue Train, Rovos Rail and the Shosholoza |
| we where it by this icy wind chill of approx -4 degrees | | | | Meyl stop here for about an hour for guests to enjoy |
| Celsius! Apparently the wind is continuous throughout | | | | a little tour of the village with a "born and bred |
| the year up on the hill creating a wind chill, which | | | | Matjiesfonteiner" by the name of John. John is |
| always dropped the air temperature radically. An | | | | Matjiesfonteins entertainer. Dressed in black waistcoat |
| astronomer met with us and walked us to a building | | | | and bowler hat, his jovial ways and Charlie Chapman |
| where the visitors' telescopes were housed. | | | | walk keeps everyone chuckling as he leads them |
| Unfortunately one doesn't get to see SALT at work, | | | | through the village telling his stories before returning |
| but these smaller telescopes are still considerable in | | | | them to the train. |