Wednesday, January 13th, 2010
From Wikipedia: A monadnock or inselberg is an isolated rock hill, knob, ridge, or small mountain that rises abruptly from a gently sloping or virtually level surrounding plain. The term “monadnock” is usually used in the United States, whereas “inselberg” is the more common international term. In southern and southern-central Africa, a similar formation of granite is known as a kopje (in fact a Dutch word) from the Afrikaans word: koppie
Really, Wikipedia?. I’ve never called a hill a kopje (literally a small cup) and I don’t know any Dutch person who does.
Anyway, now I know why the Melville Koppies are called Melville Koppies 
But wow, what a day. I hadn’t expected to spend such a long time there. People told me that it was worth seeing, and I decided to go and take a look, but what I didn’t expect was that it would be so beautiful. And peaceful. And so totally strange.
View from Melville Koppies
Saying that it’s a nature reserve in the middle of a city is true, but it doesn’t really cover it. This isn’t just a nature reserve. This is a bit (well actually quite a big bit) of raw Africa in the middle of a city. In Holland nature reserves are different. It’s much more reserve and much less nature. In a Dutch nature reserve, nature has been tamed. You usually have a footpath, a bicycle path and a bridle path in Dutch nature reserves. Side by side. And totally straight. In the koppies, the paths sort of follow the contours of the earth, flow around natural obstacles, they’re organic. Like they were made by animals. I suppose they were.
Another view from Melville Koppies
In Holland you’ll never get a piece of land this size that someone isn’t trying to develop. Especially in a city. I wonder if people here realise what an enormous privilege this is, to just be able to walk into nature like this, into the peace and quiet. Somehow seeing that huge modern city makes the peace and quiet even more peaceful and quiet. It’s the contrast.
In the end I spent a much longer time in the koppies than I had intended. After all the hectic business of meeting deadlines and catching planes and organising things, it was nice to just sit there on a rock and look at the grass and the clouds and the flowers and the city. And to just walk around with no other purpose than to see something from a different angle. So by the time I decided to walk back it was quite a few hours later than I’d meant to.
7de Laan, where soaps are born
Talking about walking: In the koppies everyone walks, of course. But the moment they’re on the streets it seems unthinkable for South Africans to walk anywhere. Yesterday I walked to the restaurant, about 10 or 15 minutes from where I’m staying. People were shocked when they heard that, everyone was offering to drive me back after dinner. I was tired, and accepted. But this morning I walked to the koppies, and afterwards walked back, and everyone reacts as though I’d run a marathon. I did notice that I’m the only white person doing it. In South Africa it seems that white people drive and black people walk. I must remember to ask about that.
7de Laan, where 3rd world meets 1st world
This area is so strange and so interesting and so beautiful. OK more later, I have to hurry now if I want to upload this before 5:30 and watch 7deLaan.
Tags: johannesburg, melville koppies