When I was a boy my dad used to read John Buchan novels to me. Anachronistic tales of empire, they expose the now antiquated values of their time. But as great stories they are timeless. One of my favourite Buchan novels is ‘Prester John’, set in South Africa in and around the town of Blauwildebeestefontein – The Spring of the Blue Wildebeest. The name is surely fictitious, but this corner of Africa has its fair share of poetic place names. Alan Ellis named his Gorteria diffusa floral types after geographical vicinities, and as a result, obscure localities such as Oubees, Okiep, Kleinsee, Koebus and Soebatsfontein have all entered our botanical lexicon. Place names here are a mix of the Afrikaans and Khoisan languages, reflecting the competing cultural claims in the region. The turbulent contact between these cultures is nicely captured in the name Soebatsfontein or 'The Begging Spring'. It was here that an Afrikaans voortrekker and his Khoi-Khoi companion settled on the fertile lands around the spring, unaware that the waters were considered holy by the indigenous San bushmen. Angry about the desecration, the San bushmen seized the intruders and performed a sacrificial ceremony, during which the captives begged for their lives. The voortrekker died but his Khoi-Khoi companion lived to tell the tale, and so the spring was named. Soebatsfontein is also famous as the place where my left buttock accidentally made contact with the Namaqualand National Park fence. It's electrified. Somewhat stronger than your average sheep fence. They have to keep the rhinos in you see.
