SANDSTONE BEAST

The sandstone koppies of the Eastern Free State are ancient forms, weathered by time and wind, some carrying San rock paintings of animals, fish and celestial signs. This is a landscape of deep history, where geology and human presence sit closely together.

Tall grass moved in the roadside wind as I looked towards the Lesotho border. Farmers here live with the continual threat of stock theft, and stories of pursuit and conflict are part of the region’s character. Yet on that Sunday morning near Fouriesburg, the air was full of gentler things, church bells, the scent of lemons and peaches, and the stillness that comes before a storm.

I had waited five days for Nimbus. On the sixth morning she arrived in a vast sweep from horizon to horizon, dark clouds layered with tones from pearl grey to black. I watched until the sandstone deepened in colour and the koppie began to gleam under the shifting light. For half an hour I stood completely absorbed, waiting for the next change, until the sun finally dropped below the horizon.