Jongensfontein 1 - Baboon finger Traditional Cache
Jongensfontein 1 - Baboon finger
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(micro)
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Jongensfontein's first cache. We've spend our December holiday here and fell in love with this place !! Hopefully we'll be back and place more caches with every return.
Please bring along own pen.
Please keep log entries short and small.
Will need a tweezer or sharp item to remove it.
The holiday resort of Jongensfontein lies about 10 km west of Stilbaai, and has all the facilities you might need for a weekend (or longer) by the ocean.
According to archeological evidence, the earliest inhabitants of this area, some 7000 years ago, were hunter-gatherers; when domesticated cattle were introduced about 2000 years, the people became pastoralists. A Dutch expedition that visited this area around 1713 discovered a ‘fontein’ (spring) a few hundred yards away from the beach, which was used by the Khoi. The Dutch referred to them as ‘zwarte jongens’ (or black youths), which is the origin of the place name, i.e. Zwarte Jongensfontein. Over the years, the spring and its surroundings were used more and more by the European settlers for grazing and watering their livestock, and during the early part of the 20th century, the locality began to be used as a holiday destination, especially by farmers of the surrounding areas. By 1970, it was decided to develop the town properly, with roads and houses.
Rocks are piled ontop of each other in such a way that ponds of standing water remain behind when the tide recedes. These are fish traps (known in Afrikaans as ‘vis vywers’), some of which were originally built by the Khoisan and the Strandlopers, roughly 2000 years ago. Isn’t that incredible?
They are best seen at low tide. I think the idea behind them is that, at high tide, the fish are swept higher up the shore, and then left behind in these rocky ponds when the water recedes at low tide. There is even a plaque that explains what they are.
These fish traps are still maintained and in use by local fishermen. Clearly, they work!
In addition, there are also numerous middens in this area; these are piles of mollusc shells and other things, kind of like domestic refuse dumps, dating back thousands of years. We did not see any, but I found out later that there is a local museum, where the contents of some of these middens and replicas of Stone Age artefacts found in the vicinity are on display.
Another sign tells the story of the man who hid behind the baboon finger
In case you cannot read the text, it tells the story of a black or Khoi fugitive who fled into the sea at ‘Flip se Baai’ (Flip’s Bay) and who hid behind a prominent pillar of rock that is is known as the Soldier, or the Baboon Finger. Nonetheless, he was eventually shot by his pursuers.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Ng gur fvta. Gur fvqr snpvat gur Obobba svatre. Purfg uvtug. Jvyy arrq n gjrrmre be funec vgrz gb erzbir vg.