Road Trip

Today was a big travel day for me and a few co-workers, travelling four hours north to Barberton for our medicals. We left Klipwal at 5 in the morning in a pick-up truck driven by Tace, the mine timberman. I sat in the passenger seat and we left my house, taking the dirt road around a small knoll that sits between the houses and plant at the mine. As we approached the exit gate,

TIME OUT

As I was typing this, Lloyd entered the house all dirtied from being underground today. Wearing a belt with a handgun strapped to it, he proceeded to tell me that they could hear illegals (locals who illegally enter the mine and dig and process gold right then and there. They then sell it on to corrupt individuals for cheap, who then sell it on to the market for the real gold price and make big bucks) on 7 level (that’s the 7^th level down from the top, about 200 meters). He said he was scared because his night vision goggles weren’t working. Now, for the record, the gun is for self defence as illegals in gold mines in South Africa have been known to carry weapons (supplied by these corrupt purchasers) from time to time. It is very rare that they actually do but Lloyd takes it as a precaution when he knows there are illegals in the mine. He has assured me I will be nowhere near illegals when I go underground, so you can relax, Madre.

Okay time in...

As we approached the exit gate, 4 local workers hopped in the covered back of the truck and we were off. The drive out of Klipwal starts out with a steep ascent on a dirt road, passing along many of the typical local Zulu dwellings here made of mud, rocks, and bush wood. After gaining 100 or so metres of elevation, we reach the plateau and head north over rolling hills. The closest shop to the mine is a 5 by 5-foot cement building with a rusty piece of corrugated iron sitting on top for the roof. It sits on the side of the road with the words “TUK SHOP” scrawled on a wooden sign above a window. A few miles further along there is a town square with a bar, general grocery store and mobile phone shop sitting by a taxi rank on the dirt road. It’s the fact that all these buildings are what the Western world would consider to be makeshift, decrepit shacks that makes you realize you’re in rural, poor South Africa. That doesn’t stop the people from being happy and going about their daily business though. It’s just so different for me that it’s hard to comprehend at first.

After eventually passing through Piet Retief an hour later, we continued north through the massive timber plantations and over a mountain pass into Barberton. Before arriving at the medical clinic, Tace drove around the town a bit, perched on the side of one of the mountains surrounding the area. This is where the whole gold-mining boom in South Africa began in the late 19^th century. The Barberton greenstone belt has produced many successful mines in the 15 miles surrounding the town, the most famous being Sheba to the east and Agnes to the west. We saw the building that was home to the original exchange that was built in Barberton, where miners would take their gold nuggets and trade them in for cash.

Getting the medical was pretty much the same as any other medical except I got a chest x-ray which was cool to look at and also did a hearing test. I passed as being “fit” (yessss!) and so did the other guys, so we piled in the truck and drove back home. Time for a braai and a good night’s sleep.