ESCAPE: After the storm in the Klein Karoo: A book tour becomes a post-flood journey

Chris Marais and Julienne du Toit embarked on a mission from Cradock, Eastern Cape, down to Route 62 in the Western Cape to introduce the region to their new book, Klein Karoo Magic.

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The first days of May brought early rains to our stomping grounds, the Karoo Heartland, and it was a thrill to see Robert Sobukwe Town’s (formerly Graaff-Reinet) Nqweba Dam overflowing like gangbusters. We’ve been there in past years, when it resembled a giant cracked dustbowl. Up here, we never say no to rain. Well, almost never.

Heading south, we passed the uncharacteristically full Beervlei Dam, which controls the floodwaters of the Sout River, which then becomes the Groot River. That’s the one that eventually hits Meiringspoort near De Rust.

First stop was supposed to be at Toorwater Poort, but the raging Traka River had isolated our friends in their cottage at the little railway siding near the canyon, so we continued to Uniondale.

The northern entrance to the little town was closed, because the Kammanassie River had swept away the bridge. We took the second entrance into Uniondale, to discover everyone busy repairing storm damage to their shops and homes. We suddenly realised the seriousness of the May 4 deluge that had befallen the Klein Karoo. More than 300mm of rain in less than three days, we heard.

“Go look at the Ghost Lady statue,” someone said. “She’s lost her head, and there’s a reward out for it.”

We dutifully went off to find her and yes, either the storm or a human had decapitated her.

“She’s probably lurking on someone’s bar counter at home,” a local said. Not everyone in Uniondale is crazy about the ghost-branding of their town.

Standing at the broken bridge and marvelling at the immense power of the waters, a couple in a Suzuki Jimny who hail from the nearby community of Noll told us they’d measured an incredible 400mm of rain in 48 hours at their home.

Our overnight destination was the tiny hamlet of Herold, on the cusp of the Langkloof and the Klein Karoo, to prepare for Klein Karoo Magic slideshow at the Dalene Matthee Book Festival the next morning. Herold nudges up against the Montagu Pass, which has been closed for repairs for ages.

The N9 highway had only just been opened for traffic. We drove through a land glutted with water. Streams were pouring out of the mountains, a shiny tracery of water spilling across farms and fields, paddocks turned into lakes, water flowing across the road in places. There were shallow lakes that once were fields, rivulets flowing over the r