Over the weekend of the 2nd February 2019, we were blessed with a wonderful 10mm of rain. This is close to the most rainfall we’ve had in the past 5 years.
Not only did the rain bring clarity to our parched Klein Karoo souls, that have had to watch our world getting drier and drier, but it has re-gifted us our much loved river.
The Touws River is finally flowing again, which it hasn’t done in over 4 years. The Touws is a perennial river, so continues to flow deep underground in the dry season, only flowing above ground when we get rain. Unfortunately we have had no sufficient rain since 2015, and the river has been dry as a bone since then.
It makes for an impressive sight when it flows, cutting down the valley in front of Wolverfontein Karoo Cottages, and brings with it a huge amount of life.
It has been many years since we’ve heard the wonderful sound of flowing water from our front stoep, and although we’ve been fortunate enough to stay on top of our guest house water requirements, the sound of the Touws River has lifted our spirits. It has also, hopefully, raised our ground water levels.
At night, when we’re overcome with the stars in the Milky Way, we’re now also blessed with the sound of frogs coming from the river. It was a sound we’d grown familiar with when we bought Wolverfontein in 2002, and our rain fall had been plentiful, so it is a most welcome return.
The birds are also back in profusion, and we hope to hear the beautiful call of a fish eagle in the near future, which even though rare; is classical Africa. It was a call we heard on an irregular basis before the drought, and brought comfort to the soul.
We have no guarantee of future rain, but for the moment being, we are feeling blessed and grateful.
