Thank you for all the interesting letters I receive and the positive remarks on our paintings. I have also received letters of people who would like to visit South Africa and especially our parks – yes you are very welcome to write to me and ask any questions. If I am able to answer them, I will do so.

We were in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park from April to May – what an experience! The veld and dunes were covered in grass and plenty of water, and all the animals were in a beautiful condition. We came home with excellent photographs, and very good material to paint from. While the road to the park is almost completed, those in the park were in a bad condition and its not getting better.

Concerning our work, quite a few people have asked if we do commission work. We do take commissions, but never duplicate our work. Every painting is unique and we have records off all our paintings. I would still like to do a big mural of the Namib Desert one day. My latest commission work was a big painting of the Victoria Falls – it was very successful. Please do not hesitate to write, when you look at our work or want to give any comments. It’s always a pleasure to hear you.

Looking back on our trip we try to take every year, it was so good to meet people from England, Canada, Belgium and the Netherlands. I would like to give you a brief history on this wonderful park. The Kgalagadi were some of the first people to pass through the northern Kalahari and lived in comparative peace with the Khoe speaking inhabitants.

Although they did not always remain there, the name they gave the area remained. Kalahari is derived from the Kgalagadi word Makgadikgadi, meaning saltpans or the great thirst land. The first English speaking settlers in the area came to trade with the people living in the Kalahari. In 1884, the Germans occupied South West Africa and
it was during these years that Stoffel (Christoffel) le Riche first ventured into the Kalahari. In 1899, he and his wife Martie moved from Rietfontein, just south of the existing Park. In 1899 their first son Johannes was born, and in 1904 the second Joseph (Later known as Joep).

In 1891, the Park area as well as the area to the southwest, presently known as The Mier, was annexed to what was formerly British Bechuanaland. About ten years later, just across the border, a rebellion against the German colonial rule in former South West Africa led to German troops setting up a station at Grootkolk, in British territory, to transmit messages to South West Africa. An enormous camel thorn tree served as an ideal lookout post. A daybreak raid killed many of the Germans as they rose from their beds. Unfortunately, the tree still bearing horseshoes, which the Germans nailed to the trunk as a ladder, burnt down in a large veldfire in 1976.

In the next newsletter I will give the second part of this brief history on the park. I would also then like to talk about the animals, plants and trees. Stay well and keep in contact.

 

Gerrit Pitout	Alida Pitout
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