FEATURE
INCORPORATING COLD CHAIN
A well-known landmark in the centre
of Calvinia, claimed to be the world’s
largest post box. Letters posted here
carry a special post mark.
Church. In 1848, the congregation bought
1 200 hectares of the farm Hoogekraal
(Ramskop) from Abraham van Wyk. The
first reverend, NJ Hofmeyr, proposed
that the church be named after John
Calvin. On 30 October 1851, the town was
officially named Calvinia. It became a
municipality in 1904.
In 1995, an old water tower was
converted into a giant post box by the
Calvinia Chamber of Commerce and is
now claimed to be the largest in the world.
Letters posted in the box carry a special
flower stamp.
Each visit to the
Orange River is more
interesting than before
and whets your
appetite to return time
and time again.
Since my last visit to Calvinia, the
interesting ‘street of art’, with its long
display of old tractors, bicycles, donkey
carts, outdoor furniture, farming
implements, and the like, has relocated
towards the western side of the town.
LUSH GREEN SCENERY WELCOMED
After a wholesome breakfast at the
Hantam Huis, our journey continued on
the R27 towards Keimoes. We needed
to refuel at Brandvlei — certainly not a
town with much to offer, especially in
sweltering heat.
This 100-year-old building in Calvinia is home to
the Noordwester newspaper, which is distributed
across the Northern Cape.
For lunch, we stopped in Kenhardt at
what appeared to be the only coffee
shop trading. The menu is rather extensive
for such a small place. The new owner,
an Afrikaans speaking German lady, had
many interesting tales to tell.
By late afternoon, the arrival in Keimoes
with its lush green scenery was a welcome
sight after the long dry journey from
Calvinia. On the drive to the Augrabies
hotel and lodge in Marchand, we did a
detour to Kakamas Railway Station in the
hope of seeing the container train, but it
was not to be seen.
Unlike previous years, there were no
refrigerated vehicles at the Augpad
Cold Store, next to the hotel, waiting to
be loaded.
On day five, we travelled to Upington to
visit the Kalahari-Oranje Museum, housed
in an old church building with adjacent
rectory. Of interest was a display of the early
printing machines of a newspaper, which
was started by a compositor from Cape
Town just before the start of the 20th century.
The museum also has a large display of the
local people who led the anti-apartheid
movement in the 1950s and 1960s.
MINING EXPERIENCE APPLIED TO
COOLING OF GRAPES
While in Upington, we called in at
Gordonia Verkoelingsdienste (GVD),
whom I last visited in 2001. Barendeen
Potgieter, who now manages the
business, was unfortunately not in, but we
were warmly welcomed by her youngest
daughter, Marietjie. Some of the original
staff are still with the company, started
in 1990 by Johan Potgieter and his wife,
Barendeen. Johan Potgieter had worked
in the mining industry before deciding
The Kalahari–Oranje Museum in Upington is housed in an old
church and rectory.
The staff at GVD, some since the start of the business, welcomed a visit after
many years.
to relocate to Upington and applied
his ventilation experience to reduce
the cooling time of palletised export
grapes in cold stores from an average
of 56 hours to 24 hours. News of better
cooling times spread across the region
and by 1993, the staff complement had
increased to seven qualified technicians
and 20 assistants. In October 1993,
Potgieter was named the Sanlam Small
Business Development Corporation
Entrepreneur of the month.
Later, a branch was established in
Kakamas and during a visit in 1995, I visited
installations done by GVD at Oranje Co-
op, Rooipad, and Kromhout.
During a follow-up visit in December
2000, I visited other GVD installations
at Southern Farms (Skuitdrift), Augpad
Koelkamers, Vuursteenkop, Vroeë
Son Boerdery, and Triple A Farms.
COLD LINK AFRICA • March | April 2018
From kilometres away, the ball of light
above the Khi Solar One generation plant
near Upington can be seen nearly as
bright as the sun.
www.coldlinkafrica.co.za
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