Page 8 - Cornwall_Issue 3_2022

LIFESTYLE

FOLLOW THE OUBAAS TRAIL

BY N I C O L E Z E R W I C K • P H O T O G R A P H S BY I VA N M U L L E R

ooking south from Cornwall Hill,
Smuts Koppie is visible with its
landmark obelisk. The koppie, on
La portion of the farm Doornkloof,
formed part of the home of General Jan
Christian Smuts (1870-1950), a South African
general and statesman who excelled as a
general during the Boer War (1899 – 1902).
After the war, Smuts served as Prime Minister
of the Union of South Africa from 1919
until 1924 and again from 1939 until 1948.
His former home is now the Smuts House
Museum which showcases the lifestyle and
career of this great South African.

The museum is now open to visitors after
the easing of Covid restrictions by President
Ramaphosa. The open-air facilities at
Doornkloof are also open as before, including
the Oubaas hiking trail. The trail is a gentle
2.3km climb up the Smuts Koppie, which
retains some of the classic dolomite based
Bakenveld grassland characteristics such as
tussock grasses and rock-climbing plants.
The koppie is one of very few sites left where
a unique and endangered beetle flourishes,
namely the species Ichnestoma stobbai or
fruit chafer beetle, inhabiting the tussocks of
Eragrostis grasses. It is this beetle, together
6 6 Cornwall View • Issue 3 2022
Cornwall View • Issue 2 2022