ACTIVITY

Stone Folk of Ongeluksloot

The Stone Folk is a permanent outdoor installation of stone figures carefully placed in the landscape of Ongeluksloot, on the farm Doornberg, outside the small Karoo village of Nieu Bethesda in the Eastern Cape.

Artist Ryno Greeff says The Stone Folk were inspired by the stone figures placed in Kaokoland in Namibia as well as “The Dance” by Marcella de Boom outside Loxton and the beautiful landscape around the village of Nieu Bethesda.

There are numerous stone sculptures placed in the landscape with more to follow in time.

How to best view the Stone Folk:
• Go through the farm gate with the small sign “Ongeluksloot” and please close the gate. Drive to the end of the track, leave your vehicle and proceed on foot.

• Follow the footpath past the first stone man, remember to greet him and then follow the footpath to your right, marked with the occasional stone cairn.

This is a circular route of less than 1 km.

The idea is to move through the landscape and position oneself so that you can view the Stone Folk against the sky.

Watch the Stone Folk carefully to see how the perspective of each figure changes as you move around. Sometimes the Stone Folk are revealed and sometimes they are one with the Valley and hard to spot.