An old friend

It is an exceedingly foul wet day today. All that I have managed in the line of photography is a portrait of an old friend from South Africa. I purchased this carved stone head when I was still working for a living and engaged in a study of African wild dogs Lycaon pictus in the Kruger National Park. One weekend we left the park and headed into the hills to the old gold mining settlement of Pilgrim's Rest. 

The village dates back to 1873 when a miner, Alex Patterson, discovered alluvial gold on the farm named Ponieskrantz. News of the discovery spread and gold panners and prospectors soon arrived from all over the World. On 22nd September 1873 Pilgrim's Rest was officially proclaimed a gold field and the scatter of tents and rudimentary shacks soon grew into a flourishing little village complete with sturdy brick houses, church, shops, canteens, a newspaper, a tramline and the Royal Hotel.

Eventually the gold deposits were depleted and the locals turned to forestry. The village has been painstakingly preserved as a "living museum" and is now a major South African tourist venue.