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Spektakel Pass Traditional Geocache

Hidden : 4/3/2015
Difficulty:
2 out of 5
Terrain:
4 out of 5

Size: Size:   small (small)

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Geocache Description:

Spektakel Pass, the gate way between the Namakwaland Klipkoppe and the Sandvlakte.

 


The cache is hidden close to a grave.  Private Stephanus Ramsden from the 1st Namaqualand Border Scouts (NBS), on the side of the British during the Anglo Boer War (1899 to 1902), was killed while on a mission for the NBS on 2 February 1902, and the headstone was laid in commemoration on the site of the original grave.  Private Ramsden served the NBS during the siege of Okiep, whose copper mines was one of the things General Jan Smuts was after when he ordered his forces into the Northern Cape in 1901.  Lieutenant-Colonel Shelton, dispatched by Sir Alfred Milner to protect the region, recruited local coloured and white men from the mines to supplement his meagre troops, many eventually serving in the NBS.  Under siege for a month from April to May 1902, Okiep became the only town in Namaqualand not to surrender to the Boers.


Just around the corner is Spektakel Pass, a mountain pass on the tarred R355 east of the Buffels River about 22km west of Springbok, which was constructed in 1896.  There are two stories around the name.  One, it is said to have been named by Simon van der Stel in the late 17th Century.  Arriving at the top, he is said to have exclaimed something to the effect of "Wat een spektakel".  Two, the name stems from an incident in which an ox wagon overturned and it’s female passengers fell head over heels in an undignified, rather embarrassing manner, causing a spectacle.  The Khoikoi name of the pass is “Hamgurakgubus”.

 

Additional Hints (No hints available.)