Exploring small towns in the Eastern Cape province is always a captivating experience. Old mountain passes tower above the road as you drive through. The rolling hills are dotted with colourfully painted, stone rondavels. Livestock graze along and across the roads as herders direct them home. Driving through the province, it’s vast and beautiful landscape create stark contrasts between urban and rural life. Kilometres of untouched coastlines, lush mountains and arid spaces in the Karoo region. Nieu Bethesda is unique stop when taking a road trip through the province.
Nieu Bethesda in the Karoo
The Karoo is an semi-desert region in South Africa. A portion of it is on the eastern periphery of this region. Nieu Bethesda is in a pretty valley lined with hills in the Karoo. We stopped in Nieu Bethesda as the halfway point on a drive to Johannesburg. We ordinarily drive straight up the N1 on this trip but we were aiming for less annoying trucks on the road; also that single lane road through Beaufort West can be multiple podcast episodes long.
The Owl House
Nieu-Bethesda is also home to the Owl House, a museum which is many ways is synonymous with the small village. Whose signature concrete owl shapes, I’m sure you’ve seen around. The artist, Helen Martins, created artwork using cement, glass and wire as a creative outlet to get away from the dreariness if her life. She created many of these with the help of local labourers and notably, a local man named Koos Malgas who spend many years on these projects.
The artist’s story is one of hardships, and loneliness. She was a recluse and ultimate created the garden to bring in a some light and magic into her world. People walk away with different feelings around the house. It’s either very creative or super weird. I found it to be very intriguing and moving but I also left feeling sad. In many ways, it felt like we were trespassing through a home with many dark days and how people can get engulfed by it. But who knows, on another day I may walk out feeling very inspired.
Nieu Bethesda is about an hour outside Graaff Reinet, a lovely town we’ve visited in the past. If you haven’t already, you need to add a drive to the gorgeous Valley of Desolation to your bucket list.
Arts and Culture
The village is small enough to walk around and explore in a short time. As with many small towns such as this in South Africa, higher up in the mountains is a predominantly black settlement where you will find many local community. It has familiar issues of poverty and unemployment that all too prevalent in South Africa. Just off the man road, you’ll find the Bethesda Arts Centre housing the artwork from that local community members. It hosts training programmes, workshops and gathering. The centre includes accommodation, the bushman museum and an outreach house.
Apart from this, there are also other curio shops and galleries in the village. Horse drawn carriages are a form of public transportation should you not be up for a long walk. Or you could get lost in the world of books at the Dusty Covers Books shops, where there have a selection of contemporary as well as rare book collections.
Where to eat
Our host at our accommodation recommended the restaurant at “Die Waenhuis,” although there seem to be many spots along the road for dinner. We ordered the lamb as you do in the Karoo and enjoyed dinner overlooking a very pretty garden. It then started to rain, much to the delight of the hole community.
After dinner, the women sitting at the table next to us told us to come through for drinks at the local up the street where a live band from out of town was performing. We had some trepidation at first because small town puns always end up awkward for us. But it turned out to be a pretty cool night. The band was great (I forgot their name), there was lots of singing along, drinks and laughter. They sang a rendition of Miriam Makeba’s ‘Pata Pata. and people got up and danced’ There was a bit of ad libing, phonentic singing and possibly made up words – it mostly came together through. The lead singer then apologised to me for getting some of the words wrong (when you’re the only black person in the room). Everyone seemed to just be enjoying the vibe but it wouldn’t be a small town pub, if it didn’t also get a bit awkward.
Where to stay in Nieu Bethesda
There are are quite a few options for accommodation in Nieu Bethesda. We stayed a few roads off the Main road at a self catering place we found on Airbnb, called “And The Cow Jumped Over The Moon.” It has a lovely pool area in the centre of the property. Given that it’s the such a hot and dry area, this is the perfect amenity.
I only spent a few quick hours in Nieu Bethesda, several years ago now. Really need to go back and see it properly!