South African photographer and blogger Chris Allan tells a tale of his search for gold in Pilgrim's Rest, Mpumalanga.
It all started with a beer bought for only R10, at a frontier gold mining town at high noon on a Friday. Not just any beer, an icy cold Castle draught. And not just in any old bar either, the world famous, Pilgrim’s Rest, Royal Hotel Bar.
Let’s start at the beginning. Picture a holiday at a Golf Resort on the banks of the Sabie River. Picture hippos snorting and grunting away, in 45 degree heat. Picture the author sweating, swearing and hacking golf balls everywhere but onto the civilised greens intended for them. It was not my finest few days, and with head hung low all my wife and I had to look forward to was perhaps a few touristy stopovers on the way back into the big smoke of Jo’burg.
An over-eager, early start, meant that God had not yet decided to open the curtains at God’s Window. Thick mist covered every panoramic look-out en route, and we had tired of the pancakes on sale at every coffee shop and restaurant in the small towns that we passed through on the way. Clearly the luck that had deserted me on the golf course was here to stay. We had almost decided to put our heads down and make for Jozi at the speed trap-avoiding travelling speed of 129kmph, when on a whim, at the last second, we decided to pop in for a look at Pilgrim’s Rest. Which brings me back to that beer.
“Why so cheap?” I asked the barman, before allowing the ice cold, gold liquid to persuade its way down my throat. Godfrey tore himself away from his midday, Oprah-style talk show, long enough to tell me that we had chanced upon the South African 2008 National Gold Panning Championships! We lost not a moment before booking into the Royal Hotel, paused to take a portrait of Godfrey before finding our room in the old bank, and heading downtown to check out the panning action.
Gold Panning is difficult. Needle in a haystack is a walk in the park in comparison. Try twelve 1mm by 1mm by 1mm gold nuggets in a bucket of sand. And all you are allowed to use in order to find them is an LP record crossed with a cereal bowl, and some murky brown water in a trough. After an hour or so of dedicated viewing amongst the cheering fans, we decided that despite the remarkable skill involved, gold panning was about as thrilling to watch as family holiday slide shows.
We finished up another R10 draught (it appeared to be on special all over town) and headed to The Vine restaurant and bar to continue our self styled pub crawl of Pilgrim’s Rest. There we met Lucky, cheerful, smart and wearing a bowler hat. Lucky deposited us at the bar and went back out onto the street to attract more customers, but only after (cheerfully) posing for a portrait.
We left The Vine behind, and by this stage we were in love with everything in this little town, except maybe for the uneven roads, which we were having difficulty with from time to time, as we strolled. We bumped into Hendry at the petrol station, who seemed to know the name of every customer that pulled up, and he was quick on the draw with his petrol hose for another photo opportunity. Then back up to the Royal Hotel for the start of the wheelbarrow race.
That’s right, the wheelbarrow race. For adults. Who, in team uniforms, warmed up and discussed strategy before the race. Modified wheelbarrows lined up with runner and passenger teams alongside each other while beer sipping crowds lined the street. As the tension mounted, black, white, old and young were thrilled by the cancan dancers who made a spirited appearance before the big event. By now we were cheering loudly and laughing alongside American tourists, Afrikaans panning champions, people dressed in costumes from 1899, street urchins and school kids. It was colourful, festive, South African fun in the sun. 
While the only Gold we found during our visit was liquid, and left us contending with a nasty headache during the drive back home the next day, I will always remember that colourful, crazy afternoon in Pilgrim’s Rest, and the wonderful characters that jumped at the opportunity to be in front of my camera.
Christopher Allan - Journalism MA (Rhodes) - is currently a Senior Picture Editor at Gallo Images, Image Partner and Master Delegate of Getty Images. He has previously had photographs and articles published in The Mail and Guardian, SL Magazine, and The Star Travel Section to mention a few.
You can enjoy more of his writing and images on his own blog.
(All images by Chris Allan. Used with permission. All rights reserved)
