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Once each year the quaint little town of Oudtshoorn - of ostrich and Cango Cave fame - metamorphisizes into a hive of exuberance, colour and excitement. At the height of all this electric atmosphere is Kaktus op die Vlaktus, a music concert that has, over recent years, earned itself the reputation of being one of South Africa's best.

Owing to an overindulgence of Tassenburg the night before, Kaktus 2000 started off rather slowly for me. Lying on my blow-up mattress in the campsite that adjourns the Kaktus stadium and trying desperately to soak up as much shade as I could, I relaxingly listened to the first few bands on the Kaktus line up - which is renown for its variation in music tastes.

The pleasant sounds of veterans Wouter van de Venter, Piet Botha and Liela Groenewald as well as new comers Beeskraal wafted into our (very makeshift) campsite. As my recuperation and energy built up so to did my excitement - off to the stadium it was.

As the shadows got longer more and more people drifted into the already bustling stadium. People of all walks of life - young and old, English and Afrikaans, and people from all the corners of South Africa flocked toward the sounds flowing from the stage. Deck chairs and cooler boxes in hand people began to stake their piece of ground for the coming nights musical extravaganza. Alcohol flowed freely.

The laid back crowd were very soon yanked to their feet when The Rockets, a band that have been on the South African music scene for many a year, let rip with their medley of covers taken from Top 40 charts around the world. From Lou Bega's Mambo No5 to Santana's latest offering, these guys got your feet tapping - even if covers are not your number one choice of music.

As the sun began its quick but reluctant escape, the crowds were further tantalized as the stage came alight with a band that only a year before had been relative new comers to South Africa's music scene, and had, since the, taken it by storm. With a mixture of hip-hop and rap Brasse Van Die Kaap took control of the stage. Mr Fat entertained as only he can (!) and Ready D (who had just arrived in Oudtshoorn after his performance at the North Sea Jazz festival the night before) whipped the crowd into a frenzy with his whirlwind of scratches and mixes expertly created by a flurry of his hands, nose and even foot on his turntables. The crowds were left almost short of breath and eager for more.

And more is what they got. From the hard rock of the Springbok Nude Girls (who, that week, had just walked off with the SAMA Rock Album of the Year for Surpass the Powers) to Boo's flamboyant monkeypunk. From another appearance of Beeskraal (who definitely score points for the originality of their band name!) to the slower tunes of Valiant Swart.

For many the highlight and actual reason for the exodus to Oudtshoorn was Koos Kombuis - hero, legend and music God. Walking onto stage with a Windhoek larger instead of Tassies in hand (because its bloody hot, he said) Koos failed to disappoint. Climaxing with "Johnnie is nie dood nie..." Koos worked the crowd into a frenzy of flying limbs and hoarse screams... even the security guards were tapping their feet!

As I zipped up my camera bag and headed for the stadium entrance at the end of the night I couldn't help but wonder at the fact that music has the most incredible ability to bring people of all types together. For the likes of Koos Kombuis, BVK and The Rockets to perform on one stage and be enjoyed (to say the least) by the same crowd of people definitely says something great. At the end of the day music is the outright winner.

The walk back to the camp was almost depressing... an anticlimax... had it not been for that Tukkies student with the very interesting chameleon impression - I say no more.