The heavy silence was broken by a strange creaking and groaning sound echoing across the small town of Loeriesfontein, the capital of Bushmanland.
On arrival in the small town, 64km from Nieuwoudtville, a light hot breeze swept across the mountains and started to turn the giant blades on some of the windpumps in the Fred Turner Windpump Museum.
This tiny farming hamlet boasts one of only two windpump museums in the world. Situated on a large plot of land alongside the town's museum stands a huge collection of 28 windpumps, all symbols of life because they have all served to extract water from deep in the earth to keep the farmers and their stock alive.
In 1891 Englisman Frederick Turnerpassed through here with his brother Jack, on their way to try for gold in the Witwatersrand.
Another Englishman, James Walton, who settled in Loeriesfontein on a farm, was the driving force behind the creation of the museum and, thanks to donations from farmers far and wide, a large collection of the old machines has been assembled in the town.
The only other windpump museum in the world is in the USA.
Fred Turner must have been an amazing pioneer because when he discovered he was not going to get rich chasing gold, he began trekking across some of the most inhospitable land in a donkey-drawn wagon, distributing bibles.
He must have fallen in love with Loeriesfontein because in 1894 he established the first small trading store and the town grew from there.
The store still exists and is currently owned by Victor Haupt, the grandson of Frederick Turner.
He later built a three-classroom school for the farmer's children, which later was converted into a hospital during the Anglo Boer War, then later into a Baptist church.
Today, the small building houses an excellent museum tracing the fascinating history of the small town.
I sat with one of the locals after spending some time walking around the museum and asked how the town got its name. He assured me that nobody really knows but there are three stories. The first story goes that it was possibly named after a Jewish smous named Lurie.
The second is that a rather drab-looking loerie bird used to inhabit Bushmanland. The third but possibly hard-to-believe story is that it was named after the way bushmen "loered" (peered) through the reeds while hunting.
The road from Nieuwoudtville to Loeriesfontein is interesting and at Gannabos, about 20km from Nieuwoudtville, you can visit the most southerly quiver tree forest.
A short distance before the forest is an amazing waterfall, but unfortunately only spilling over the cliffs in the rainy season.
- See www.loriesfontein.co.za