If you have a yearning to really escape from the hurly-burly of the 21st century and disappear into the fascinating wilderness which makes up a great deal of the Western Cape, then there can be few places better, with more scenic situations, than Wupperthal, hidden as it is deep in the Cedarberg mountains behind Clanwilliam. Before you set out on this wonderful journey, you should be warned that the round trip can not comfortably be travelled from Cape Town in less than two days if you are to see everything there is to see. The route described here should only be undertaken in a 4-wheel drive vehicle as the latter part is not suitable for ordinary cars.
To start with, leave Cape Town on the N7 and travel to Clanwilliam (2hrs 15mins, +-225 kms); turn off the national road into Clanwilliam and stock up for the trip ahead; please remember, there will be no more petrol or diesel for about 250 kms and the going is fairly rough, so your fuel consumption will be more than usual.
Leave Clanwilliam on the R364 towards Calvinia and you will soon find yourself heading steadily upwards over the Pakhuis Pass, leaving the fertile Oliphants' River Valley behind you. The road, although now tarred in places where the gradient is particularly steep, is rough and the terrain becomes more and more wild as you head into the mountains. About 8,5 kms out of Clanwilliam you will pass along a relatively flat stretch of very sandy road between high pinnacles of typical Cedarberg rocks and lined with dense bush. On your left hand side there is a small car park where you can pull off and take in Louis Leipoldt's grave in one of the caves. Although the grave and the rock-paintings are interesting, it is the silence which deafens you and the loneliness which abounds. Take a few minutes to absorb the silence, look out for the eagles as they hover high in the blue looking for prey, and if you look carefully you will see the occasional dassie watching you from his vantage point in the rocks.
Back on the road again you soon begin to twist and turn upwards until at 1087 metres you cross the summit of the pass and begin a steep, winding drop into the valley below. Pass the turn to Bushman's Kloof on your right and head onwards across the valley floor until you see a lonely clump of trees on the right hand side, about 19 kms from the grave. Although there is no marked spot for stopping, it is well worth pulling to the side of the road and walking into the shade of the trees where you will see, surrounded by an old and weathered fence, Englishman's Grave. There can be no lonelier spot to imagine the body of Lieutenant Graham Clowes being laid to rest after he lost his life in a skirmish with Boers in one of the Anglo-Boer wars. Far from his native land and buried in the middle of this empty valley, only the ever-soughing wind in the gums keeps him company.
Almost immediately there is a right turn onto a very minor road which leads to the Biedouw Valley and Wupperthal. For some distance the road is relatively straight and the surface reasonable until you begin the long descent into the Valley and the Heuning River, which you cross approximately 11 kms after Englishman's Grave. In August and September, the flowers in this part of the world are legendary, with whole hillsides covered in orange, purple, and white; unfortunately for the driver (who can do nothing else but keep his eyes on the road) the scenery is breath-taking. There is a turning to the left which follows the Heuning River through the valley until the road comes to an abrupt end at the Doring River. Although it used to be possible to follow this road to link up with the long road from Ceres to Calvinia, the ford was washed away some years ago and, to my knowledge, has never been repaired.
From the river the road begins to ascend quite steeply again as you leave the valley behind (in our family the Biedouw Valley has become known as the Valley of the Bidets - silly!). For some distance the road climbs until it runs along the top of Taaibosberg before, almost obscured beneath a pile of unsightly rubbish, is a large green sign warning you that you are about to enter Wupperthal. On your right is a pretty old farmhouse and, looking at it, you could well believe you have been transported back nearly two hundred years. From here the Koueberg Pass begins and the road drops in a dizzying fashion down the side of the mountain to the most remote of all the Mission Villages as it straggles along the banks of the Tra-tra River.
