ROBIN LAMPLOUGH SHARES THE TALE OF ALAN PATON AND CO’S EXPEDITION FROM KLOOF TO KALAHARI
Late in June 1956, seven Natal men mounted an expedition into the western Kalahari. The plan was to find the fabled Lost City. They did not find it.
Although their story was being covered by the Natal Witness, it is unlikely that it would still be remembered. But one member of the party was Alan Paton, who had recently achieved international recognition as a best-selling author. Paton made copious notes of the expedition, preserved after his death in the Alan Paton Centre of the former University of Natal in Pietermaritzburg. And, an academic from the Western Cape, Hermann Wittenberg, produced a book based on those notes. The book was published by the UKZN Press in 2011.
The story began in 1955, when Paton, driving back to Kloof from a meeting of the leaders of the newly formed Liberal Party, picked up a hitch-hiker. This man, Reg “Sailor” Ibbetson, who had a farm at Hammarsdale, started speaking about a flight he had taken over Botswana’s Aha mountains. He was certain that from the air he had distinguished stone walls and that they belonged to the legendary Lost City.
At this point, Paton was at a crossroads in his career. In spite of his wife’s reservations, he agreed to join Ibbetson’s expedition, one of the senior members in terms of years, as “cook and bottlewasher”. The leader of the team was Major Jock Flower, a Midlands farmer who had seen service in Hitler’s war. A geography master from Michaelhouse acted as navigator, and two young motor mechanics shared responsibility for keeping the vehicle in good order. Ibbetson had acquired the use of a venerable Austin truck, which proved to be too big and too heavy for the task ahead. It was also too old. At the last minute, the father of one of the mechanics stepped in to fill the gap created when another man, discouraged by the lack of proper planning, withdrew.
The expedition set off only three minutes after H-hour. Paton recalled wryly that it was the last efficient thing they did. They saw the Aha mountains, but did not find the Lost City. Paton had encounters with some San people they met on the trip, known as “tame Bushmen” because they had adapted to living alongside people of other cultures. One was an old man who wore a pair of spectacles with one lens missing. He found them very useful, he explained, for keeping the wind out of his eyes.
Paton played his part in the daily life of the expedition. An avid bird-watcher, he added to his tally more than 20 species he had never before encountered. During the evenings in camp, a witty raconteur, he kept the group entertained. He also made copious notes which became the framework for Wittenberg’s publication more than 50 years later.
His final contribution came to light only towards the end of Paton’s life. He revealed then that, some while after the party had returned, Ibbetson turned up at Paton’s home. He reported that the owner of the truck was demanding 400 pounds for its use. And, he was threatening to take over Ibbetson’s farm. So Paton ended up financing the expedition, for a sum that would be the total earnings of either of the mechanics for four months.
Paton’s notes, however, show plainly that he thoroughly enjoyed the outing. From that point in his life going forward, his championship of the liberal cause would become his abiding preoccupation and main concern. So, from a personal point of view, the expedition was well worth it.
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Photo credit: from the Ibbetson family scrapbook, in Lost City of the Kalahari – University of KwaZulu-Natal Press