Puntjie

There are a number of ways to reach Puntjie. If you’re riding a DR650SE or any dirt capable bike, you can take the Blombos road from Riversdale or the Vermaaklikheid road closer to Heidelberg. Both will take you about an hour and you will travel through an agricultural landscape on quite good gravel roads.

However, the serious dirt rider will want to take the gravel road that runs between Still Bay and Witsand. Assuming he don’t get lost in all the little farm roads that criss-cross this part of the Southwestern Cape like veins on a drinkers cheeks, he will get to a T Junction where left will take him to Puntjie and right to Vermaaklikheid. Both are excellent places to visit with only 10km of scenic gravel roads separating them.

Puntjie lies at the mouth of the Duivenhoks River on a small point (puntjie) in St Sebastian Bay where the coastline is rugged with cliffs and caves and the bathing beach is sandy and safe. Most if not all of it looks like private property so a visit can be frustrating as it’s in the look but don’t touch category with locked gates in fences. The famous “kapstylhuisies” are only to be admired from a distance unless you know someone that owns one and can let you in. Off-course that caliber of property owner doesn’t associate with riff-raff like me so I spent a couple of minutes between the cowshit at the locked gate taking pictures.

After taking some pics I spotted a road that appeared to lead down to a lagoon. It descends via a rather steep, cemented driveway type road carved into a hard dune. When you get to the bottom theres a couple of houses and some fishing boats - which explains the cemented road - it would be impossible to get the boats up and down on a dirt road. Theres also a very old tractor parked halfway down thats probably used for the boats.

At the end of this road is a very nice house and the road runs into this property so it appeared to be the end of the road unless you’re expected. I couldn’t see signs of life but the properties looked well tended and exclusive.

I was hoping to make my way across the lagoon and maybe reach Witsand via a back road but although I saw what looked like a road going up the dunes on the other side of the river  mouth there were no way across the lagoon and I had to turn around.

Puntjie in itself is one of those places that you have to see at least once. However when you get there you can probably tick it off your list and move on - theres no reason to go back there as it’s not a destination in itself - you have to go back the way you came and it won’t get visited by travelers traveling through the region.

There are no public accessible shop (if theres one behind the locked gates which I doubt it’ll be for residents only), no petrol and absolutely nowhere to meet and chat to a local - and I’m not exaggerating theres not even a tree to sit under! In fact you probably won’t even see a local unless you meet him/her on the roads leading there.

The area looks and feel deserted and unwelcoming to the casual traveler but for the traveler that thrives on far away places, deserted roads, desolate landscapes and doesn’t need an exotic destination, Puntjie offers a unique blend of excellent roads and a slightly oddball destination with lots of questions that will probably stay unanswered and therein lies it’s magic - the fertile mind will inhabit the houses with all sorts of weird and wonderful characters and there will be a Hitchcock play on somewhere every evening!

Tags: CCK1019, DR650, kapstylhuisies, Puntjie, Vermaaklikheid