From
Gwaing River Mouth to the forgotten story of Chief Dikkop and
Pacaltsdorp.
There are days when you set out with
no real agenda, just a quiet plan to find a stretch of coastline
where you can hear the ocean properly. Just a short drive from
George, tucked away beyond Pacaltsdorp, lies one of the Garden
Route’s lesser-known treasures, the beautiful
Gwaing River Mouth.
While nearby beaches like Herolds Bay often attract the crowds,
Gwaing remains a quieter escape, a place where river, ocean and
rugged coastline meet in a peaceful natural setting.
But places like this have a habit of
revealing more than they promise. What looks like an ordinary coastal
stop quickly becomes a gateway into something far older, where the
landscape starts telling stories that stretch back more than two
centuries. That’s when you begin to realise that you’ve
accidentally stepped onto a forgotten discovery route, layered with
history that most people drive past without ever noticing.
So
after a short ride I find myself where the Gwaing River flows down
from the Outeniqua Mountains and eventually empties into the Indian
Ocean at a small estuary about 3 km east of Herolds Bay. The estuary
itself is relatively small, roughly 1.4 km long, and is classified as
a temporarily closed estuary,
meaning sandbanks sometimes seal the mouth from the sea
depending on tides and river flow.
But what the Gwaing lacks in size, it
more than makes up for in atmosphere. Steep cliffs frame the golden
sand beach while the river winds gently toward the ocean, creating
calm pools and sheltered spots perfect for exploring. Visitors often
come here for fishing, long beach walks, picnics or simply to sit and
watch the waves roll in.
During winter and spring, visitors
sometimes spot whales passing along the coast, while dolphins
frequently patrol the waves just offshore. At sunset the cliffs glow
warm orange and the river reflects the sky like a mirror, one of
those quiet Garden Route moments that stays with you long after you
leave.
The
nearby community of Pacaltsdorp has a long and fascinating history
dating back to the early 1800s, when the mission station of
Hoogekraal was established and later renamed after missionary Charles
Pacalt. Being a sucker for history I started looking into the history
of Pacaltsdorp, which turned into a whole adventure of its own. The
story of Pacaltsdorp is really a
story of two founders:
Charles Pacalt, whose name the town carries, and Chief Dikkop, whose
vision brought the mission station into existence. Most visitors know
one name, but few know the other. Chief Dikkop is one of the
most important, yet often overlooked, figures in the Southern Cape
story.
Chief Dikkop (Kaptein Dikkop) was the
leader of the local Khoikhoi community living at Hoogekraal, the
settlement that later became Pacaltsdorp. Without Dikkop, Pacaltsdorp
may never have existed. Chief Dikkop had the foresight to invite a
missionary because he saw opportunities for advancement for his
community.
In 1812, after meeting missionaries
from the London Missionary Society, Dikkop repeatedly requested that
a resident missionary be sent to Hoogekraal. His request was
eventually granted when Reverend Charles Pacalt was assigned to the
settlement in 1813. According to local accounts, Dikkop personally
travelled by ox wagon to Suurbraak to fetch Pacalt, a journey that
reportedly took four weeks.
After Reverend Pacalt's death in
1818, the Hoogekraal settlement was renamed Pacaltsdorp in his
honour. There are several historic sites from that time. Before a
church was built, Rev. Charles Pacalt built the “Patat Huisie”,
considered the oldest surviving structure in Pacaltsdorp.
This
was originally Rev. Pacalt's second mission cottage, built
around 1813 with sod walls, a thatched roof and a cow-dung floor. One
of the old manse buildings in Pacaltsdorp.
The
Old Manse buildings
are the houses where the ministers (or "dominees") of the
mission station lived. In church terminology, a manse
is simply the minister's residence. What's interesting about
Pacaltsdorp is that there wasn't just one manse. Over the
years, several were built as the mission grew. After Rev. Charles
Pacalt's death, Rev. William Anderson arrived and built a substantial
two-storey stone residence next to Pacalt's small cottage. The
building featured thick stone walls and extensive use of yellow-wood
timber. It was considered quite grand compared to the humble mission
cottages around it.
The “Patat Huisie” was
declared a national monument in 1976. Later, John Anderson used it to
store his famous "six months patats", which gave the
building its nickname. Rev. Anderson’s home also was declared a
National Monument in 1976.
The Andersons occupied the house for 30 years. After both Mr. and
Mrs. Andersons death the three spinster daughters moved away and the
Atkinsons took over.
The Klipkerk
of Pacaltsdorp is arguably
the most important historic building in the George area and one of
the oldest surviving churches in the Southern Cape. The church was
built between 1822 and 1825,
only a few years after the death of Rev. Charles Pacalt. It was
officially opened on 19 June
1825 by Dr. John Philip of
the London Missionary Society. The building was constructed largely
by local residents of the mission station using locally
available materials of stone, yellowwood, clay and glass.
What makes it unique is its architecture. Most early Cape churches
followed the simple Cape Dutch style, but the Pacaltsdorp
church is a rare example of early Gothic
Revival (often described locally as Norman-style)
architecture in South Africa. Architectural historians have described
it as one of the finest surviving early Gothic Revival
buildings in the country.
Some fascinating details include
walls that are nearly a metre thick in places. The tall square stone
tower that can be seen from far across Pacaltsdorp. The Gothic-style
window tracery was crafted from yellowwood. It is a design that
resembles a small medieval church rather than a typical Cape mission
church. When you stand in front of it, it feels more like something
you would expect to find in rural England than in the Garden Route.
The church stands at the heart of the mission settlement that Chief
Dikkop helped create. However, there is a poignant twist in the
story. Dikkop died in 1816, before the church was completed, and
because he apparently never formally converted to Christianity, he
was buried outside the mission cemetery. His grave is about 100
metres from the church. His grave remains one of the most
significant, and least-visited, historical sites in the Garden Route.
Located in the old cemetery near the Klipkerk, is a small enclosed
section reserved for the missionaries, their spouses, and a handful
of individuals who played key roles in the early mission community.
Among those buried in Missionaries'
Acre are Rev. Charles
Pacalt, Rev. William
Anderson, who succeeded
Pacalt and played a major role in the growth of the settlement and
Epenita Jantjies,
a particularly important figure because she was Rev. Pacalt's first
Khoi convert, baptised in 1814. She remained a member of the
church for more than four decades and is one of the few local
indigenous people buried within the Acre.
If you are ever in the area, take a Historic Walk.
Start
at the Stone Church.
See
Missionaries' Acre.
See the Patat Huisie and
old manse buildings.
Visit Chief Dikkop's grave.
This is one of the easiest and most
rewarding self-guided historical walks in the Garden Route. You're
effectively walking through a living museum, all within a few hundred
metres of one another. That concentration of early 19th-century
history is almost unmatched anywhere else in the Southern Cape.
Sometimes you set out with something
simple in mind, like a quick out-ride to the Gwaing River Mouth, only
to find yourself stepping into something far older and richer than
expected. A short turn off the main road can quietly pull you onto a
200-year-old discovery route. It is one of those reminders that
travel does not always require distance. Some of the most interesting
stories are not “somewhere out there”, but right here in your own
backyard, waiting behind familiar place names and gravel roads you’ve
driven past a hundred times without really seeing them.
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