The Best Little Ram Shed in the Karoo
The Best Little Ram Shed in the Karoo
Karoo Springbokkies in Nieu-Bethesda
Even in the middle of hunting season, you’ll want to go easy on the shooters in the Ramstal Bar on the outskirts of Nieu-Bethesda village, deep in the Sneeuberg Mountains of South Africa’s Karoo region.
Ramstal is the Afrikaans word for ram shed. In fact, this little square building once did duty as winter quarters for male Merino sheep when the snows fell. The ladies were housed right next door in more spacious quarters, which are now The Karoo Lamb, a central Nieu-Bethesda restaurant and gift shop.
But back to the infamous shooters. The one you really want to watch out for is the Karoo Springbokkie, a devilish brew of Amarula cream liqueur, peppermint liqueur, and Olmeca tequila. Too many of those and you’ll run off barking like a rabid meerkat into the nearby hills.
The Karoo Springbokkie is particularly suitable as a shooter with your beer while watching rugby on the medium-screen television set up in the corner.
Then there’s the Aardvark’s Gat (Burrow), a mix of brandy, milk stout, and, yes, a liberal dash of Amarula. Even a Bethesda Koffie has little to do with a cuppa Joe and more to do with rum and vodka dancing together in a little glass.
The others go by the dubious names of Karoo Longdrop, Bethesda Bomb, and Vuil Uil, named after the village icon, the owl.
Nieu-Bethesda was once home to an outsider artist called Helen Martins. Despite dwelling in the midst of a conservative farming community during the Apartheid era, Miss Martins indulged her singular tastes freely.
With the help of some local crafters, Helen Martins turned her home into what is now known as the Owl House, and the outside area into the Camel Yard. Mermaids, shepherds, kings on camels, birds, buddhas, angels and skirted ladies crowd the Camel Yard, all made out of cement and glass. And owls, owls, owls as far as you could see.
Helen Martins was regarded as an odd sort by most, beloved by some. But today, many decades after she look her own life, the Owl House is what draws visitors from near and far to this little mountain village.
The Ramstal Bar is just down the road, and on Friday nights you’ll run into lots of friendly locals drinking among clusters of garlic cloves, piles of firewood, and owner Ian Allemann’s cooking pots.
The rules of the Ramstal are pretty standard, comparable to say, drinking in the old Dirty Shame Saloon in the Yaak River Valley up in Montana, U.S. Don’t feed or annoy the locals, only begin singing after 10 pm (when everyone’s so slotted it adds to the ambience), avoid bottled food displayed on the counter, leave politics off the table, and, if you’re a journo, take your notes back in the loo.