Another look at how a South African place got its name...
How Baardskeerdersbos Got its Name
The Beard Shaver's Forest - what strange mental images this South African place name brings to mind! I see Lord of the Rings style, mist-shrouded trees amongst which stand circles of old men armed with long, curve handled knives slicing off long strands of their wooly white beards which drift into the mist...
But that could just be me...
Herewith the better known and more widely accepted explanation to the naming of Baardskeedersbos...
Baardskeerdersbos is located about 20km east of Gansbaai and 18km west of Elim, on the gravel road linking Gansbaai to Bredasdorp in the Overberg region of South Africa.
The name "Baardskeerdersbos" in Afrikaans or "Baardscheerders Bosch" in the original Dutch literally means "Beard Shaver's Forest".
The accepted explanation for this name is that a species of solifuge inhabits the area, and that this insect is referred to as a "beard shaver" because it cuts hair to use for nest-building.
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| A hairy solifuge... |
The well-known cartographer and writer Peter Slingsby wrote a book entitled "Beard Shaver’s Bush: Place Names in the Cape" which discusses the origin of this and many other place names.
(Source: Wikipedia)
