The Oubaas Trail - Smuts Koppie 0620233672, 9780620233675

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SMUTS HOUSE MUSEUM

"THE OUBAAS TRAIL" SMUTS KOPPIE

Oubaas Trail

Information Senes: No. 4 INTRODUCTION

"IN LOVE OF THE LAND AND THE DESIRE TO PROTECT IT,IS FOUND THE TRUE PATRIOTISIN' - J C SMUTS

The Oubaas Trail is a circular route of 2.4km. Butl

You can stdde in time, back to an era when all you can see today was home to the herds of grazers and browsers. Or, you can go back furlher still to when, where you are now, was the scene of past climatic changes; events that have left behind the beetle and the plants like driftwood at the high water mark. As you scramble over the rocks, take a stride back 2 billion years to when, what is now Irene, was in the centre of a large sea-basin, and wonder at what forces were unleashed to transform the sandy seabed into rocks and raise them to 1509 metres above present sea level. This is where Smuts used to walk, to collat his thoughts, but mainly to restore his balance when dealing with the huge national and international problems of his day. We know from his writing, that although world-acclaimed as statesman, soldier, scholar and scientist with a strong humanist component, it was to Nature that he turned for sanity and solace. On a visit to the Transkei territory in 1935, Jan Smuts said:

"l feel sad at the complete absence of game where once it abounded. By living among beauty we treat it as commonplace.... We destroy flowers, cut down forests, bum mountains, and in time, all is destroyed. It is to the young generation l speak. I ask them to love

South Africa. I appeal to them to preserve the flora and fauna. Humans are the most destructive creatures on earth" Walk this trail with your senses sharpened. Note Ihe plants, the trees; hear the birds and the age of the rocks Rejoice in the rough. the uphill, and at the top, add the sky and the weather. See the whole - feel whole yourself. Discover Holism where it started - in Nature, And il you are young, run, walk, skip, stop and inspect. Be free and know that this place will be here for your children.

PLEASE DO NOT STRAY FROM THE PATH OR PICK WILD FLOWERS YOU MAY CAUSE DAMAGE TO THE VELD >>' x»" »»>> > >> > . >': k » >xd>>>»> ">". '>>> t>»>>. >>> ac

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Oubaas Trail

Information Series: No. 4

PLACE OF QUIET "THIS PLACE OF QUIET IS DEDICATED TO ALL WHO IN SILENCE, SEEK PEACE AND HARMONY FOR ALL MANKIND.' 'BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD."

The Place of Quiet was inspired by Guy Brathwaite, the first Chairman of the

General Smuts Foundation, who bought the +~™ Big House, in 1960, from the Smuts family, ~ and foundedthe Smuts House Museum as a living memorial to Jan Smuts. The simple lynch-gate structure was designed by s

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