Lesego Malatsi - SouthAfrica.TO

a photograph of fruit pickers at work.
Barely a few minutes previously,
standing beside a driverless Massey
Ferguson I wondered why the farms
along this stretch were so deserted
until I realised it was teatime.
Surely it can’t last. Some of this
peace and quiet is bound to wane,
considering the breathless excitement
over at Elgin Valley Tourism. “For
years tourism in the valley was
crowds. Get in your car and take the
turn off just after Peregrine farmstall.
What’s the name of that road? Who
cares. Let’s see where we end up –
you know it’s going to be amazing.
Take South Africa’s official space
programme, for example. It’s on a
hillside in Elgin that you’ll find one
of the apartheid government’s top
secret rocket research bases likely
to be used as the initiative builds
a farmers market for the blues, baby?
Sure, you can hare down several
mountain tracks through rare Cape
fynbos on a souped up bicycle, but
where else will you get to watch an
international star like Imogen Heap
sing in a remote Eucalyptus forest?
It never used to be like this, I
thought, and sure enough some of
it still isn’t. One of the most uttered
phrases about the valley’s ragged
looking commercial centre, which has
seen a big influx of migrant workers
over the years, has to be: “Grabouw
used to be such a beautiful town...”
And sure enough, those are the words
from Tony Jardim’s mouth when I stop
for a chat. His roadside cafe is housed
in one of Grabouw’s oldest buildings,
which dates all the way back to 1908.
It’s a very different place since
the town’s establishment on
the farm Grietjiesgat in the mid
1800s – just pay a visit to the local
museum of the apple industry to
get a glimpse. But that’s history.
While there are various reasons
for town’s burgeoning population
of poor migrant families and
festering social ills, the Development
Bank of South Africa has come
up with a plan to inject renewed
vibrancy into the local economy.
From a regional perspective at
SOUTH AFRICA'S SPACE
PROGRAM IS IN ELGIN
hampered by tiny budgets,” says
Charmaine du Toit. “Two years ago
we put together a great management
committee and Appletiser [based in
Elgin since the 1960s] committed as
a sponsor.” Now there are pamphlets
and signs and tours for journalists,
all promoting wine tasting and events
and quad biking and waterskiing
and mountain biking and hikes.
Some will argue that the best thing
about the Elgin Valley has always
been one’s ability to roam without
steam. You won’t get past security
without clearance or wire cutters,
but you can see the place on Google.
Or what about Eskom’s hydro
electric scheme on the Palmiet
dam that demonstrates to visitors
how electricity gets to us
This is the message: the region may
well be the largest single export fruit
producer of Southern Africa, but
where else can you stay in a vintage
Airstream caravan decorated like a
submarine? Or gorge on pancakes at
INDWE NOVEMBER 2011 37