In 2012 a group of us undertook a
trip by road to Lesotho. We were going to stay at the Katse Village.
Katze village is approximately 110km from the Caledonspoort border
post outside Fouriesburg in the eastern Free State.
We should probably have realised
during the trip to Fouriesburg that the trip will not be what we
expected. At Frankfort we saw the temperature drop to -7°C.
And when we entered Clarens we saw our first real snow. The freshly
ploughed fields were covered in snow. Even the golden gate national
park mountains showed mountains covered in snow. It was roughly at
this time that we did start to worry about the road ahead.
But wait more was to come. Nothing
prepared us for the snow and ice that we would be driving on for the
next 6 hours. As we drove along it just became worse and worse,
testing a number of photographers who tried a 4x4 trip for the first
time. There is however one point that nobody could argue with, and
that was the beauty of the surroundings. In the short periods of
time when you were not trying to keep the car on the road, you could
admire the beauty around you.
From deep soft snow that is
untouched to grass that peaked through the snow. Photographically
you asked yourself a number of time where you should start. There was
so many beautiful scenes. Travelling on through the mountains, ice
and snow, you eventually reach Katse dam. When you see the dam for
the first time, you think: We are there !!! Well you are so wrong. At
that stage you are at least 40km away from your overnight village,
such is the vastness of Katse dam.
Katse dam is 42km in length and
135m deep in places. It easily measures 500 to 800m wide in most
places. Around every corner there is a new view of the dam. It is
here where you start to realise that this country is presenting a
face that you did not expect. It is barren, it is harsh but its
natural resources are well utilised. These resources have be gathered
and provide a number of excellent opportunities to its people.
We later learned how poor the
rural people were. However, many of the poor households in rural areas
had electricity, stone built toilets and access to water for their
farming activities.
