Only an hour away from George, near Vleesbaai, is the Kanon Private Nature Reserve at Cape Vacca, a truly unique enclave of natural and cultural abundance, says Chantal Rutter.
This is a place where the ethos, based on thousands of years of heritage, remains to take what you need and leave the balance of nature intact. Family-owned for generations, the private reserve is untainted by over-population and excess fishing, and the owners have recently opened a tented camp to guests.
“It must be shared, and we’re inviting people who respect nature to visit and enjoy the history we have here,” say Roger and Jane Johnson and Dinny Nussey (nee Johnson). They are the current custodians of 187 hectares of rehabilitated land that sweeps down to a 3.2 km stretch of pristine coastline, outside Vleesbaai. It’s here your beach footprints are solitary and temporary, and the shells washed up by the sea yield a world of hidden treasure. But the treasure doesn’t just lie beneath the ocean swells. It lies in the history of the land which Roger has fastidiously uncovered, dusted off and documented and is now ready to share with guests who come to stay in any of their four dwellings, designed to respect the environment but still echo the past.
The main property was bought by Roger’s father in the 60s and takes its name from three cannons salvaged, using ox wagons, from a sunken French Man O’ War vessel, Le Fortune, in 1763. A dubious plan to fire the cannons on New Year’s Eve was thankfully thwarted by distressed wives, and the Long Toms are now safely preserved at the entrance to the reserve. Just before he passed away, Roger’s father, John McKenzie Johnson (5th generation Johnson born in Mossel Bay), purchased a piece of land on the Peninsular, which Roger recalls his father adamantly referring to as Cape Vacca. A notorious spot for shipwrecks, it too is steeped in history. Here, Roger erected The Padros, with a plaque reading,
“ Had you stood here on the first two days of February 1488, you may have seen a Portuguese caravel sailing slowly eastwards.”Before Bartholomew Dias rounded the Cape of Storms, reports claim he sighted land ‘near the mouth of the Gouritz River’. In doing so, he became the first navigator from the northern hemisphere to see the east coast of the Southern Cape before sailing eastwards to Sao Bras, or Mossel Bay.
At this oceanic juncture, isolated and surrounded by waves, is the quaint white guest cottage, Periwinkel. Built to emulate a traditional fisherman’s cottage, it sleeps eight with indoor and outdoor fireplaces, cosy soft furnishings and solitude in abundance.
UNCOVERING A LOST TRIBE
With a thirst for history, Roger dug deep to source the origin of the word ‘vacca’. In Portuguese, it means ‘cows’, but nobody other than the Dutch settlers had ever mentioned anything about them in this region. Then, after randomly finding a history book in a secondhand book shop, Roger discovered that 2000 years ago, this spot was favoured by the little known Khoekhoen tribe. They were a nomadic tribe and had travelled from Tanzania with their cattle and fat-tailed sheep. Unravelling this mystery, Roger learned that the Khoekhoen were related to the San people. The ‘Khoekhoen’, meaning ‘The Real People’, were believed to be much taller than the San due to their diet of perlemoen and fish, harvested from stone fish traps or vyvers, dating to the later Stone Age some 6000 years ago. These traps are still clearly visible at low tide today. “As kids, we used to play in the sand dunes here and we’d find pottery and Stone Age implements, but no one took any interest at that time. It was only when I got older that I became fascinated by this tribe. They were special people, never taking more than what was absolutely necessary. They were also wonderful with animals, being hunters, gatherers and herders,” says Roger. To pay homage to this forgotten people, the Johnsons have erected a luxury tented, catered lodge, Khoekhoen, right on the water’s edge overlooking the fish traps. Resting in solitary splendour and in sync with the surrounding dunes and wildlife, its three ensuite rooms and lodge offer a sanctuary, a stone’s throw away from the beach.
REHABILITATION AND RESTORATION
In consultation with conservation and scientific luminaries such as Dave Pepler from Stellenbosch University and Kobus Jooste, the former Director of Cape Nature, over time the Johnson family have rehabilitated the reserve. Together they have registered every plant and flower to ensure they’re preserved in perpetuity.
With drinking water a historic challenge in this region, Roger has built a reverse osmosis plant and introduced waterholes throughout the property. The result has been astounding with the return of bushbuck, caracal, tortoises, Cape spurfowl (francolin) and the endangered oystercatcher. Dr Colin Davies, who was married to the late Stephanie (nee Johnson), longtime resident of Kanon, wrote a field guide to Cape Vacca, which documents the fauna and flora found in the reserve and along the adjacent coastline
Aside from the Khoekhoen Beach Lodge and Periwinkel House, the reserve also offers Shell Catcher, a building dating back to 1890 which fuses wooden floors with home comforts and Nguni View, recently renovated to accommodate families.
Written by Chantal Rutter of southmagazine.co.za
PHOTOGRAPHS RUAN REDELINGHUYS
