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The simple life : The Border experienced problems with its rudder and ran aground at Noup on 1 April 1947. The wreck forms part of the Diamond Coast 4x4 Shipwreck Route. -
The simple life : Naas-Naas has a living area filled with found objects and a fireplace (not visible here) to drive away the winter cold. Old-fashioned linen courtesy of Aletta can be seen in one of the bedrooms on the left. -
The simple life : A cupboard that once belonged to Aletta’s mother displays a collection of old coffee and teapots. The painting is by Elana Myburg. -
The simple life : Aletta has collected these hand brooms over the years. -
The simple life : The Ritz, the group dining area, looks like a fairytale cottage when bathed in candlelight in the early evening. -
The simple life : This flag waves in front of Noup’s office. The poles to the left formed part of a lean-to that weathered one storm too many before collapsing. -
The simple life : The Bamboes and Naas-Naas (with the white bungalow section) cottages built by Marius Marais can be found on a rocky hillock. The ablution facilities belonging to Naas-Naas are visible on the far right.
Doing nothing takes on a whole new meaning in one of the divers’ cottages at Noup, between Koiingnaas and Kleinzee, where the West Coast is at its wildest and most isolated.
We stare in wonder: 11 simple stone cottages are strewn on a rocky outcrop, almost something you’d come across in the pages of Lloyd Kahn’s photographic book Home Work: Handbuilt Shelter. Basic, but beautiful, each with an unsurpassed view over the rough coastline and endless water.
“Noup is what it is,” say Aletta and Dudley Wessels, the hospitable hosts of this self-catering spot. “Here, the motto has always been ‘earthy and simple’.”
This is precisely what we were looking for. A few weeks earlier, we had leaned over a wrinkled yellow map and dreamt of a place where we could just stare at the sea and forget about the rest of the world (and rising interest rates and global warming). The result was Noup – “stone of sweet water” in Khoi – on the Diamond Coast in Namaqualand, about five hours’ drive from Cape Town.
Just past Garies, at the Hondeklip Bay/Koiingnaas sign, we turned left and, after an 83 km dirt road, left again for the last 15 km to Koiingnaas. We collected our permits, arranged beforehand, at the security gate (we were, after all, entering a De Beers’ restricted diamond area) and, as the sun sank closer to the horizon, we arrived at a large piece of driftwood: Sunset Boulevard…
In search of silence
Thankfully, no evidence of self-satisfied Hollywood stars and bright lights can be found at Noup – despite the fact that famed travellers such as Kingsley Holgate and Richard Cowling, co-author of Namaqualand – A Succulent Desert, have visited here and keep returning.
You come to Noup to do as little as possible or, if you’re interested in maritime history – the wrecks of the Piratiny, Arosa and Border lie just off the coast (explore the Diamond Coast 4×4 route with Dudley as your guide). Or you come because you’re fascinated by diamonds (keep your hands to yourself!) or have a weakness for succulents, small game, birds, sand dunes, fossils, and fabulous fresh crayfish and mussels. Or perhaps you, like us, are in search of those two things on the verge of extinction: relaxation and silence.
The cottages, now charmingly restored, were originally temporary structures that the diamond divers slowly but surely made their own with additions of stone, corrugated iron and driftwood – on those days when fog or rough seas forced them to stay on land.
You won’t find windows, doors, layouts and all sorts of details like these elsewhere, and the same holds true for the names: The Far Side, Naas-Naas, Bamboes, Noup, Visbeen, Vyebos (where you can stargaze through the skylight), Witklip and Pirates.
All 11 boast comfortable beds with an en-suite bathroom (shower, basin and flush toilet), as well as a gas cooker, linen, tables and chairs. Between 7pm and 10pm a generator gives enough electricity for a light or two, but after that you have to make do with candles and lamps. Each cottage comes with a built-in fireplace for icy winter nights, but you’ll need to bring your own firewood. There is a communal dining hall, called The Ritz, where you’ll share a fridge and freezer with other visitors.
We returned home with heavy hearts the next day. Where to find such peace and quiet again? And that’s when we spot the road sign: “Tortoise crossing, please drive slowly”.
• Aletta and Dudley Wessels: 027 807 7510, 083 286 7080, noup@kingsley.co.za
• GPS coordinates: East +17.2029 South -30.1386
