We are fast nearing the end of our weekly travels with former Levubu resident Oom Willem van den Bergh. He left us a treasure trove of almost 100-year-old 16 mm films that he shot in the 1920s and 1930s of all his excursions, both locally and abroad, giving viewers a fascinating insight into a bygone era. In Episode 15, Oom Willem visits a mine, crosses the Hartbeespoort Dam wall, and pays a visit to the then world-renowned Onderstepoort government research facility.

In Episode 14 of Oom Willem van den Bergh’s travels, we find ourselves back on home soil, with Oom Willem spending some time either on the Van Beeks’ farm in the Free State or on the neighbouring Wintersvlei farm, which belonged to the Van Wyk family. In previous episodes, we reported at length on Oom Willem’s relationship with the two farms.

In part 1 of Episode 13 last week, we saw Oom Willem pay a brief visit to Spain before re-joining the cruise ship, which later docked in Walvis Bay harbour. From there, the tour group visited the coastal towns of Walvis Bay and Swakopmund. We left them as they boarded their ship again in Walvis Bay, and in part 2 of Episode 13, we join them as they continue their journey.

Episode 13 of Oom Willem van den Berg’s travels really delivered a treasure trove of interesting places, albeit that the film jumps around a bit. This does not, however, refer to the old 16 mm film running through the projector, but rather to the difficulty of keeping track of where Oom Willem and Tante Jo were and where they went.

Our more observant readers will recall that the first five episodes covered his journey by boat up the east coast of Africa to the Mediterranean, followed by visits to the Netherlands and the Swiss Alps. But we never explained how the group returned to South Africa. This week’s episode begins aboard a luxury cruise ship ...

In the film reel we discuss this week, many of the locations Oom Willem described in his later stories can be seen.

We are back on the road again with our adventurous Oom Willem van den Berg, this time trying to piece together his trip through the Western Cape almost 100 years ago. Once again, we had our work cut out for us, as the few distinguishing landmarks made it difficult to determine the exact locations visited by him, his wife Tannie Jo, and some friends.

This week, we pick up Oom Willem’s trail in what appears to be his first visit to the Bushveld. In Episode 9 of his digitised 16 mm film, we see him visiting either friends or family on a farm, seemingly in the Mokopane area, around the late 1920s or early 1930s. The film contains no distinguishing landmarks by which one can definitively determine where it was taken, but the almost 100-year-old labelling on the 16 mm reel does offer some clues.