Rouxne van der Westhuizen

With White Shark Africa, tourists get the chance to go within bubble-breathing distance from the great whites of Mossel Bay, from the convenience of a submerged cage. As for me, I’ve gotten into White Shark Africa’s cage twice now, and each time has been unforgettable. As soon as one of the crew members spot a fin or a long dark shape in the water, the first six people rush to pull on some wetsuits and get into the cage. Not much time for breathing, as the crew shouted again when the great white beauty made his way past the cage again.

That’s exactly what the local Garden Route artist, Ingrid Nuss, calls her exhibition: Oases of the Mind. Ingrid’s work is inspired by artist such as Salvador Dali and Frida Kahlo, but also by her own active imagination and childhood exposure to nature through family camping trips and their temporary stay in Namibia. But this particular piece spoke to me, as if it was a literal piece of indigenous Garden Route that I would always be able to take with me, no matter where my path leads me. During this particular Thursday night, I certainly experienced my own oasis of the mind by being able to attend the exhibition, meeting the incredible artist and sharing a love for art with other inspiring people in the art community.

The horizon of flat Great Karoo is interrupted only by large, canyon-like mountains that rise like exponential chart lines in the distance. Driving to Graaff-Reinet at the foot of the Sneeuberg mountain range, one cannot help but wonder if you’re even still in the same country (especially if you’re coming from the Western Cape, which basically consists of green fields, mountains and the ocean). Nevertheless, our Africa Media group drove through the flat valley to the mountains and arrived safely at Mount Camdeboo Private Game Reserve, one of several adjoining reserves situated in the centre of this beautiful region. But we were willing to brave it with scarves and gloves on board the vehicle we lovingly dubbed the Safari Ferrari, in order to meet the rest of Camdeboo’s inhabitants: giraffe, oryx, black wildebeest, zebra, pale chanting goshawks, buffalo, blesbok, eland, warthogs and many, many baboons.

The comical drama has just finished showing at the annual KKNK (Klein Karoo Nasionale Kunstefees) in Oudtshoorn, and since I couldn’t attend the festival this year, I was excited to attend a show I wouldn’t otherwise have gotten the chance to see. The show, written by renowned writer Dana Snyman, is a monologue by Opperman who plays the principal, Mr. Barry Swart (nicknamed Donkie), of Hans Oosthuizen High School. He leads the assembly period from the stage, as is the tradition in South African school, and touches on various topics typical to primary schools, such as sport results, the school’s core moral values, et cetera. It portrays the role and work of modern South African school principals and influential factors such as language transformation and the increasing pressure to incorporate English in schools, post-apartheid regulations, syllabus changes, declining discipline among students, the laws against corporal punishment and, of course, racism.