Go! Starstruck in Sutherland

Starstruck in Sutherland

By Jon Minster | Published 1 September 2008

It’s a busy Friday near the end of the winter school holidays and visitors pour into Sutherland. They pull over on Piet Retief Street and bundle out into the cold, stomp their feet and blow into their hands. Moms wrap extra scarves around children and dads compare temperature readings in their cars. It’s midday and the consensus is that it’s 4°C.
    “Yisss, it’s cold!”
    “Apparently last night it was minus seven!”
    “Check that puddle – it’s frozen!”
    Sutherland really is cold. In a country famous for sunny skies and flip-flops, the weather here feels more Siberian than South African. During winter the temperature rarely exceeds 10°C and, according to local historian Vernon Marais, summer isn’t much warmer.
    “There isn’t a single month when Sutherland hasn’t recorded a snowfall,” says Vernon. “I remember a heavy snowfall in December 1970, a few weeks before Christmas. There’s been snow in January and February too.”
    Popular opinion is that Sutherland is the coldest town in South Africa, but that award actually goes to a little place called Buffelsfontein near Molteno in the Eastern Cape, where the mercury once fell to -18,6°C – South Africa’s lowest ever recorded temperature (Sutherland’s lowest is a respectable -16° C). But it’s Sutherland, not Buffelsfontein, that makes the news every night, when the weatherman sweeps his hand over the Roggeveld plateau, sending a collective shiver through the country.
    The town was named after Henry Sutherland, a minister who would trek from Worcester once a year to conduct services for farmers in the area. Like most remote Karoo towns, the farmers eventually decided that they needed their own congregation and a town was proclaimed on a farm called De List. The first plots were auctioned in 1858.
    It’s sheep farming country with sparse vegetation and low, flinty hills, but Sutherland has a special secret that is only revealed when the sun goes down…

As the sky fades from pink to burnt orange to a deep velvet blue, the temperature drops below freezing. Patches of frozen snow shine ethereally in the twilight. Most people are indoors by now, indulging in Sutherland’s favourite winter sport, sipping sherry by the fire, but I’m huddled on a hill 20 km from town with a few other brave people, waiting for the stars to come out.
    Sutherland’s night skies are world-famous. At an altitude of nearly 1 500 m, with sparse rainfall and zero light pollution, it feels as if you could reach up and dip your fingers into the Milky Way. It’s for this reason that the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO) chose a site close to Sutherland as its headquarters when it was formed in 1972.
    We’re at the observatory now, waiting for tour guide Glenda Stoffels to fix her telescope on Saturn. Then we all take turns to peer through the eyepiece at the distinctive ringed planet, which looks exactly as it does in schoolbook illustrations of the solar system. This causes quite a bit of oohing and aahing.
    “Saturn’s always a crowd pleaser,” says Glenda, before training the telescope on Jupiter with its tiny moons, and The Jewellery Box, a cluster of stars with three bright ones in the middle that glow like a celestial traffic light.
    The observatory is also the home of SALT, Southern African Large Telescope, the most powerful optical telescope in the southern hemisphere. SALT lords over the high plateau like a prop from a Hollywood sci-fi movie, gathering data from specks of light a billion times too faint for us to see with the naked eye.
    “Lots of people think they can look at the stars through SALT,” Grant Southey explained to me earlier. Grant is an electronics systems specialist who works at the observatory. “They expect Hubble-like visions of space, like the ones they’ve seen in Time and National Geographic. But SALT isn’t the kind of telescope that takes pretty pictures. Astronomers use it to decode the light received from distant stars, which helps them to understand the age and makeup of the universe better.”
But there’s more to Sutherland than cold and stars. It’s got some impressive architecture, cosy restaurants and an interesting museum.
    In spring, the town is also a gateway to the flower paradise of the Tanqua Karoo to the southwest. Just don’t forget your beanie and mittens…

6 things to do in Sutherland:

1. Book an observatory tour

SALT isn’t the only telescope at the observatory; there are five other optical telescopes, as well as an infrared telescope owned by Japan, a British solar telescope and other astronomical instruments owned by Germany and Korea.
    The official tour of the observatory starts at the visitors’ centre, which has interesting exhibits that demonstrate how white light is broken into its colour spectrum, and how gases are identified according to the light they emit. Some stars are so far away that the light we see in the sky has taken millions of years to reach us, and there’s a mind-bending exhibit that seeks to correlate what was happening on earth at the time that light first started its journey. Fantastic stuff.
    The tour then moves up the hill to the inside of an older research telescope and finally to SALT, where the mechanics of Africa’s giant eye are explained. Tour guide Dave O’Hearns is incredibly knowledgeable. He tailors each tour to suit the group.
    “If I have a group of amateur astronomers then we can spend hours in the visitors’ centre,” Dave says. “But if everyone just wants a picture of themselves next to SALT without the scientific hoo-ha then that’s fine too. When you book your tour, it’s a good idea to mention your level of interest so you can be put in a group with similar people.”
    Spaces on the official tour are limited, so it’s crucial to book well in advance. If the official tour is fully booked, you can still have a look around the observatory and a peek inside SALT on one of the informal tours conducted by local guides accredited by the tourist information office.

When? Mondays to Fridays at 10.30 am and 2.30 pm; Saturdays at 11.30 am and 2.30 pm.
Cost: R20 per person for the official tour.
Contact: SAAO 023 571 2436, karel@saao.ac.za; or consult the guest house you plan to stay at.
If the official tour is fully booked, contact the Karoo Hoogland Tourism Office 023 571 1265 to reserve a place on one of the informal tours.

2. Peer through a telescope

Stargazing (and planet-gazing) is a popular pastime in Sutherland and there are a number of places where you can get a magnified view of the universe. The moon’s craters are visible in all their pockmarked glory and Saturn’s rings are crystal clear. You’ll also be able to see Jupiter’s moons and its distinctive bands of swirling gas, as well as pinprick clusters of stars in distant galaxies millions of light years away.
    The observatory conducts stargazing tours at a venue near the visitors’ centre. As on the day tours, numbers are limited. Note that all the research telescopes at the observatory, including SALT, are out of bounds at night. That’s because real scientists from all over the world who have booked their time there are actually at work.
    Local businessman Jurg Wagener also has a couple of telescopes at his stargazing campsite on the Matjiesfontein side of the town.
    And if you happen to stay at Southern Cross B&B, Grant and Elizabeth Southey will be more than willing to set up their own telescope for you to use.

When? Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday (SAAO tours). Contact Jurg to find out when he conducts his tours.
Cost: R40 per person for the SAAO tour; R50 per person for Jurg’s tour.
Contact: 023 571 1413 (SAAO); 082 556 9589 (Jurg Wagener); 023 571 1477 (Grant & Elizabeth Southey of Southern Cross B&B).

3. Take a picture of an extinct volcano

Halfway along the road to the observatory you’ll see a picnic site on the side of the road, with a low, knobbly mountain in the distance. That’s Salpeterskop, South Africa’s last active volcano. But don’t hold your breath waiting for a lava display; the last time Salpeterkop erupted was during the Cretaceous period, about 65 million years ago.
The earth has calmed down since then. Japanese seismologists recently determined that Sutherland is one of the most geologically stable places on the planet, which means that the town is in little danger of being swallowed by an earthquake.
Take a picture of Salpeterkop and see if anyone back home can guess its significance.

4. Visit the museum

Quite a few interesting people were born in Sutherland, some better known than others. Esteemed Afrikaans poet NP van Wyk Louw (of Raka fame), was raised in Sutherland and the town’s museum was once the Louw family home.
Adriaan Vlok, the minister of law and order during the latter years of apartheid, also comes from Sutherland, although his bronze bust has been moved to the corner of one of the back rooms in the museum.
Then there was a man who lived his life behind the scenes, preferring to let his work speak for itself. Although you might not recognise Dr Henry Olivier’s name, his influence is undeniable. Olivier was born in Sutherland and went on to become the chief engineer during the construction of most of the well-known dams in southern Africa, including Kariba, Cahora Bassa and Gariep. His passion was hydroelectricity, and one of his final ventures (he died in 1994) was the Lesotho Highlands Project. There are walls of accolades to Olivier in the museum, including a personal letter from Queen Elizabeth II thanking Olivier for the work he’d done in Uganda.

Cost: A R10 donation gets you in.
Contact: Vernon Marais has the key to the museum. Call 023 571 1204 to arrange for him to let you in. If you’re lucky, he’ll give you a guided tour at no extra cost.

5. Get to know the town

If you’re a fan of Karoo history and architecture, there’s a comprehensive pamphlet on sale at the tourist information office called Sutherland Nostalgic Stroll, compiled by Elna Marais, the curator of the museum in Williston. Pick one up and explore.
The Dutch Reformed Church probably has the most chequered history of any building in Sutherland. Construction was completed in 1900, but barely a year later it was taken over by the occupying British army, who used it as a fort and a barracks during the Anglo-Boer War. Graffiti scratched onto the walls of the church by the soldiers is still visible today, more than 100 years later.

Cost: The walk is free, but the pamphlet costs R20.
Contact: Karoo Hoogland Tourism Office 023 571 1265.

6. Drive home via the Ouberg Pass

Sutherland is normally reached via the impressive Verlatekloof Pass, but if you want an exhilarating descent back into the Tanqua Karoo, drive home via the Ouberg Pass, which was one of the first wagon routes into the Roggeveld.
As you leave Sutherland on the R354, turn right about a kilometre south of the town, where a signboard points to Blesfontein Guest Farm. After about 43 km you’ll reach the summit of the pass.
Your heart will be in your mouth all the way down, with sheer drops on the sides of the road. About 27 km from the bottom of the pass, on the other side of the Tankwa River, you can either carry on all the way to Ceres on dirt, or you can rejoin the R354 back to the N1.

Take note! The Ouberg Pass isn’t for Tazzes. Take a good map or ask directions before you set off. If the Tankwa River is flooded you won’t be able to cross it – contact the Tankwa Karoo National Park ( 027 341 1927) beforehand to check.

Sutherland in a nutshell

How do I get there?
Sutherland is about 360 km from Cape Town. The easiest way to get there is to turn off the N1 opposite the Matjiesfontein turn-off, onto the R354.

Where can I stay over?
There are lots of accommodation options in Sutherland, ranging from backpacker dorms at The White House to four-star bed-and-breakfast accommodation at Kambrokind Guest House. For more information, contact the tourist information office ( 023 571 1265) or visit www.karoohoogland.co.za/Sutherraccom.htm.

Where can I eat out?
• Cluster d’Hote Restaurant
023 571 1436
• Perlman House Restaurant
023 571 1454
• Jupiter Guest House
023 571 1340
• Halley Sê Kom Eet coffee shop
023 571 1405

Is there cellphone reception?
There’s good Vodacom reception in town and at the observatory. MTN reception is patchy at best.

Fuel and money?
Petrol and diesel are available from Monday to Saturday until 5 pm at the Shell garage on Sarel Cilliers Street. The garage is closed on Sundays. There aren’t many places in town that accept credit cards, but there is a Standard Bank ATM on Piet Retief Street.