October 25, 2014, Saturday. Today we are riding through open veldt on our way to Kimberley, home to South Africa's famous, or infamous, diamond mining industry. Acacia trees are everywhere along our route, but here they have not been ravaged by elephants as they were in the reserve, and they have also received a little more rain and so are a bit greener. They dot the open plain that is covered with pale dried grasses and smallish termite mounds, our only sight of the reddish earth beneath. I noticed that these mounds have very large entrance holes and began to wonder if they really were termite mounds at all because they don’t look quite like the ones I have seen elsewhere. Yes, they are, but here, three different animals also make homes in them: foxes, anteaters, and meerkats. No wonder they look so strange! 

Approaching Kimberley

We are told that soon we will see a large gathering of flamingoes, so half the train has flocked to the observation car, the better to see this phenomenon. I am here too, although only because our room is being made up. I hope to be back in the room soon as, unlike most passengers, I don't especially like the observation car.  

LATER: Just outside of Kimberley, there is a dam and a large lake where hundreds of pale pink flamingoes congregate. It is quite a sight!

We stopped in Kimberley for today's excursion, a visit to the Big Hole. Owned by the DeBeers diamond Corporation, this was the biggest diamond mine in the world, although it is now a tourist attraction and not an active mine. The mine closed during World War II, and when DeBeers returned, all the shafts and tunnels in the lower portion had flooded. DeBeers determine that it would be unprofitable to try to restore and mine it, so now it sits. All is not lost, however. In the old days, they tossed aside off-color diamonds which are now seen as valuable, so today, the detritus of the early years is being sifted and yields many very valuable stones. 

We were taken to a very well done twenty minute movie giving us a good history of the mine. Then we walked out to a platform from which we could see the now water filled “big hole.” Down into the pit for a replica of the old mining operation but without the constant din of explosives and machinery, without the dust that reduced visibility to near zero, and with air conditioning, something the mostly black miners never enjoyed while they toiled 12 hours a day for a tiny pittance, Terrible life once deep shaft mining replaced the open surface mining of the very early days. Next we were rushed through a possibly pretty informative museum and then on to our 90 minute shopping opportunity. Mercifully, this is the only one of these we have had on this trip!  

We rested near the shops for a bit until John remembered there was a reproduction of old Kimberley outside the main building. We wandered around there for a bit, enjoying a glimpse of raucous frontier life reminiscent of the American old west. 

In the modern town of Kimberley, we are reminded this is the heart of Afrikaner country. Signs are in Dutch with English below. The vibe here is different somehow--more grit, more pioneer spirit, closer to the bone of survival.  

Then and now--there is always a pub in a mining town!

now

This is the original DeBeers brothers farmhouse. It seems primitive, but along with the rest of the town, it shows us that the Europeans here lived pretty well for the times.

The African workers didn't fare so well