I recently came across The Heritage Portal when I was researching the Piketberg area – Kapteins Kloof specifically Banghoek Farm (now Banghoek Private Game Reserve) and read the excellent detail on  Poortermans paintings circa 1849 – I have been looking for this info since 1991 and was so thrilled to find it.

Could anyone from the community assist with more history of Kapteins Kloof Valley? Specifically anything on CJ Stead’s Historical Animal Incidents at the Cape. I am trying to verify this information below supposedly in his book. The account was by an army chaplain 1726 Francois Valentyn who was passing through the Cape on his way back to the Netherlands from Java. Maurits Pasques de Chavonnes was the Governor at the time.

...an unbelievably large rhinoceros appeared, coming with great fury and viciousness straight for the centre of our column and from there running along to the rear where His Excellency was in his coach.  It made directly for this.  His Excellency. having barely time enough to get out from the coach, leaping out with a blunderbuss in his hand and aiming this at the beast which was not six paces distant from him; and he intended to fire but the blunderbuss misfired, the rear catch striking the forward one.  We expected nothing else but that the furious beast would devour His Excellency before our eyes, but it ran past him, brushing against his body. We believe that this was due to the shot that one of His Excellency’s hunters fired at it whereat it ran from us at great speed. Several others who were on horseback were unable to avoid it, falling from their mounts in great fright, where they wounded themselves in many places. The rhinoceros, by its sudden ill-tempered attack and its apparent short-sightedness, must have been a black rhinoceros. It ran away at speed followed a hail of musket balls which it survived.”  

Also any references that can be recommended on the history of Kapteinskloof – my understanding is that it was granted as a hunting concession to Willen Adrian van der Stel in the late 1700s.

Many thanks in advance

Colleen Backstrom - colleen@kscope.co.za