DISCLAIMER: Excuse all the baboon
pictures - but there was this whole troop at the site when we
placed the cache and we could not resist taking lots of pictures.
Not all the inhabitants of this valley look like this!
This is the valley I
have lived in all my life. In the time I lived and worked
up-country I would drive home for holidays and get a lump in
my throat as I rounded this corner and saw this valley before
me and I would realize this is MY valley. I would stop at this
spot and look straight down the mountain and could see parts
of our farm. If you look directly down the mountain, our farm
comes up all the way to the forest reserve. You can see some
of our dams further down below. My father was born on that
same farm in 1921 and both he and I (and Mrs Pooks) still live
there.
Paarl was historically initially noted as a wine
growing area. A visitor noted in 1695 that they made wine on
the farms Laborie and Picardie in Suider Paarl that was as
good as any wine he had tasted in Champagne and he commented
on how neat the farms were. In the second half of the 19th
century when copper, diamonds and later gold was discovered in
the north there was a huge demand for wagons and Paarl
developed a thriving wagon industry. These days Paarl is well
known for its schools and many people send there children from
far and away to attend these schools. It also has a vibrant
industrial sector.
When we placed the
cache there was a large troop of baboons at the site and Mrs
Pooks had a wonderful time photographing them. Later they
sauntered off and we could place the hide safely.
This is a somewhat cheeky spot for a cache, so
please do not compromise the hide by having muggles spot
you.
Geocacher looking at
his GPS
SEE PICTURES BELOW FOR A PANORAMIC
VIEW OF THE VALLEY WITH ANNOTATIONS