Rocky Mountain High

TRAIL REVIEW DABERAS GUEST FARM, AUGRABIES, NORTHERN CAPE

- Nick Yell

I have always been mildly obsessed by rocks of all kinds. Apart from the purported ‘New Age’ healing qualities of some of them (particularly quartz crystals), I just love the way they look and feel in my hands. But they also contain detailed stories of how the landscape in which they were found was formed.

A man who knows this better than most is Kobus Van Coppenhagen, our host at Daberas Guest Farm − a conservation area and veritable treasure chest of geomorphic wonders on the western border of the Augrabies National Park.

“Here’s a good example of how various types of rock come together in one place,” said Kobus at one of our numerous stops in the sandy riverbed we were driving through — the Kwaaiputs se Loop. “You can clearly see how the white gneiss at the bottom here has been overlaid with this kinzigite rock, and then above that you see a different rock layer: an igneous rock called grey granite. One of the interesting things about this kinzigite is all the garnet embedded in it; see − they look like rosyntjies in a rosyntjiekoek!”

Daberas Guest Farm, formerly known as Daberas Adventures, now focuses mainly on ecotourism, and more specifically what Kobus calls ‘Geo-tourism’. And, although you can choose to be left completely to your own devices at either of the two guest cottages or campsite and can drive the engaging 4x4 track on your own, the guided sand dune driving at Vaalsand as well as the half-day guided ‘Geo-tour’ around the farm (it includes parts of the neighbouring national park and sundowners at the Swartberg view site) are both a must.