Browsing through the Fransie Pienaar museum in Prince Albert I came across a small booklet with stories of Gamkaskloof (βDie Helβ) compiled by Helena Marincowitz. I couldnβt help smiling at some of the old anecdotes from people who visited or lived in this isolated community in the Swartberg mountains before the road was built in 1962, when the only way in or out was by foot or donkey along the Gamka riverbed or on the footpaths through the mountains.
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One of the funniest recounts the story of the time when Dr van Wyk from Prince Albert was asked to go to Gamkaskloof immediately to attend to an old man who needed urgent medical attention. As it was raining, the doctor said that he would gladly come if the Gamkasklowers would provide a horse. With this agreement made, the doctor drove his Ford to the riverbed and sat waiting for his horse. When it didnβt come, he started walking in the riverbed in the direction of the hamlet. Clutching his heavy doctorβs case, the good doc was soon drenched as he stumbled over the rocks, always hoping that the horse would appear around the next bend. It never did and after a 10km walk he eventually reached Gamkaskloof, which now felt like βDie Helβ.
When he arrived he asked what happened to the horse he was promised. The patient replied that when it started raining he felt too sorry for the horse to send it out in such foul weather.
Dr van Wyk flet his blood pressure rise dramatically. The old man wasnβt so sick, but received an injection nonetheless with one of the bluntest and thickest needles the doc had in his bag.
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Being far from the towns, coffee in Gamkaskloof was a scarce and precious commodity. In 1945, Giel Hough, the Swartberg forest warden, and Josiah, the Rev JS Theronβs son, walked to Gamkaskloof. They were warmly welcomed and were offered a variety of home produce, fruit and biltong, and asked to be forgiven for not having any coffee. When they reached the house of an old lady, she asked her husband to quickly go and fetch a little coffee. He returned carrying a jam jar half-filled with coffee beans, which were soon ground for coffee. That was when Giel recalled that his father had told him that coffee was so precious in the kloof that residents buried their coffee in jam jars in the garden to keep it safe.
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Rev du Toit, the minister at Prince Albert between 1937 and 1943, recalled the Gamkaskloof weddings of the time. He explained that when there was a Gamaksakloof couple to be married, they travelled to the church in Prince Albert. They would stay overnight, be married at 8am and then would return to the valley for the reception.
As the story is told, when Koot Cordier was to be married, he and his fiancΓ© walked through Northpoort to the road where a car was waiting to take them to the town. When they reached the vehicle Koot, who had never been in a car, took fright and made a hasty retreat back home.
A few weeksβ later, the couple and their friends tried again. This time Koot managed to stem his fear and made it to the altar.
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The route from the south into the valley along the Gamka River is narrow, rocky and difficult to traverse. One day a group of visitors walked in via this route. When they reached the house of the Nel family, who lived on the farm nearest Southpoort on the route to Calitzdorp, they stopped to ask if they were on the correct road to Hell.
Mr Nel first thought about the question for a while before he gave this apt and amusing answer: βMister, my bible tells me that the road to Hell is broad and filled with many people. The road to Heaven is narrow, rocky and has very few people. Have a good look at the road on which you find yourselves and make up your own minds!β
(Ref: Gamkaskloof Stories (The Hell) by Helena Marincowitz, Fransie Pienaar Museum, 2002)