Wakkerstroom

Our recent year-end holiday trip to the South Coast of KZN provided a perfect excuse to overnight at the popular bird watching village of Wakkerstroom. If you are not a birder or a ‘twitcher’ as some call it, you may be excused for not being quite sure of the whereabouts of this quaint village, some 26 kilometres east of Volksrust. Wakkerstroom boasts an impressive variety of birdlife consisting of wetland, grassland, and forest species and around its extensive wetlands there are four strategically placed and well-maintained bird hides. It is said the village can provide accommodation to nearly 300 tourists, many of whom arrive for the birding, hiking, mountain biking and off roading opportunities here. Although we overnighted in the Wakkerstroom Hotel, I think we would have preferred, if we stayed for any longer period, one of the nicer self-catering cottages or houses available in the village.

Nowadays, most Gauteng visitors to the popular beach resorts of KZN race along the N3 to Durban, forgetting the journey forms an integral part of any holiday. Years ago, long before the N3 became a beautifully graded and levelled toll road, the alternative R23 via Standerton was promoted as a slightly longer but more scenic alternative route and so it proved on our journey.

I had previously visited Wakkerstroom in 2016 with the Mpumalanga Heritage Society when erstwhile Town Clerk and later Mayor, the then sprightly octogenarian but now sadly the late, Chris Smit pointed out various sites associated with South African War...

Most photographers at the turn of the last century were upstanding and hard-working citizens, however, there is always the exception. This article is about one such exception, namely the photographer Maximillian Alfred Daubert who was based in towns such as Wakkerstroom, Reitz and Pietermaritzburg. Daubert who often clashed with the law, spent many months in local jails, due to various criminal transgressions.

Maximillian Alfred Daubert, was born in Braunschweig, Germany on 24 August 1865. His father was Heinrich Wilhelm Daubert and his mother Doretta Daubert (Nee Haacke). Alfred left Germany at the age of 23 and arrived in South Africa some time during 1888.

Photograph of Daubert, wife Alette (Nee Smit) and eldest son Heinrich (Circa 1912) taken by the photographer Jennings based in Vrede. Jennings was also active in Reitz where Daubert resided for a while.

Alfred Daubert initially moved around South Africa at regular intervals. It is possible that he was an assistant photographer at the studios of some more established photographers in the towns he visited before he finally settled in Wakkerstroom.

His movements were as follows:

• Kimberley between 1888 and 1889
• Johannesburg (Kerk & Harrison Street) between 1889...