Kimberley and the Big Hole

We made better time than I expected on the second day of the drive back to Jo’burg (the 11th of April), so we decided to stop in Kimberley, just on the far, east side of the Northern Cape province. The Vaal River separates the Northern Cape from the Free State, and Kimberley is very close to the Vaal.

Kimberley grew up around diamond mining. In 1866 a young farm boy found a pretty pebble that turned out to be a pretty hefty diamond, later called Eureka, and the diamond boom began. Kimberley actually began life as Colesberg Koppie. John Cecil Rhodes arrived from England in 1871, and began buying up diamond claims. He bought out the De Beers brothers to form the De Beers Consolidated Mines company, and went on to become the richest man in Africa.

Jeff and I went to the Kimberley Mine Museum, which was opened by De Beers just a few years ago. They have set up a reconstruction of Kimberley as it was in the 1880s. Some buildings are original and moved to this site, and others are facsimiles. We started off our tour by paying the admission fee and going out to view the Big Hole, as it is known. The Big Hole is the largest hole in the world that was dug entirely by manual labor. A dubious distinction, if you ask me. The Big Hole was mined by various methods up until 1914.

After that viewing, we saw a 20 minute film about the history of diamond mining in and around Kimberley. Then we went to the “underground experience”, a simulation of taking a lift down into a mine, and then walking around in a facsimile underground mine. I believe it was too spacious to be very authentic. Then we saw exhibits about the forces that create diamonds, the particular shafts in which the Kimberley diamonds are found, history of the town, a timeline with a history of world events and concurrent events in the diamond industry, and the De Beers vault that contains some real diamonds, including the original Eureka diamond! That diamond traveled around South Africa in the 1880s, and eventually made its way to England. De Beers bought it back from the English government a few years ago. I think it’s pretty cool that they were able to trace it! We also saw some facsimiles of famous diamonds around the world.

After our tour through the museum, we went to the tavern, and had lunch. Jeff had Karoo lamb, and I had pap (same thing as sadza, you Zim RPCVs reading this) and boerwors. Then we hopped back in the car, and drove the rest of the way to Jo’burg.