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| It’s the beginning of May and Winter is definitely starting to knock on the door while Autumn is holding on for dear life. It’s also expo season with WTM Africa behind us and Tourism Indaba coming up. We may be going into off season but there is always something to do, so grab a coffee and take a quick break to read this month’s travel mailer.
This month we look at: Winston Churchill’s cousin and the Battle of Elands River outside Tarkastad Hyenas in the Addo Elephant National Park Two Harbours Walk – St Francis Bay King Proteas in the Tsitsikamma Exploring the Karoo with the Karoo Roads books
If there is something that you would like to see featured in our monthly travel mailer or have any suggestions, please drop us an email at jonker@fireflyafrica.co.za |
| | | | The Hunter’s Pub in Storms River Village |
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| Did you know that Hunter’s Pub at the Tsitsikamma Village Inn is the original hunting lodge Lieutenant Duthie, son-in-law of George Rex, used for his hunting expeditions. The Yellowwood ceiling in the hotel dates back to this era. In remembrance of those days, the pub is decorated with old rifles, horns, trophies and skins of various antelope, including Springbok, Gemsbok, Impala, Kudu, Eland, Duiker, Bush Buck and Bontebok. There is also a stuffed replica of a Cape Mountain leopard in the bar. Leopards can be found in the forest to this day.
The warmth of the antique fireplace is only matched by the friendliness of the staff, who will make you feel at home. Relax a while and enjoy a few pints of locally brewed beer in this famous historic pub. |
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| On the 31st of May, we celebrated World Parrot Day. The Cape Parrot is South Africa’s only endemic parrot—and Africa’s most endangered. Dressed in green and gold, this intelligent bird is as striking as it is rare, with fewer than 2,000 left in the wild. Cape Parrots are found mostly in high-altitude Afrotemperate mistbelt forests stretching from Hogsback in the Eastern Cape into southern KwaZulu-Natal. Limpopo has a small population.
Capes prefer high-altitude areas (above 1,000 m) due to their thick down feathers. They don’t make their own nests, relying on naturally formed cavities, mostly in dead or mature Yellowwoods, though sometimes also in dead pines or eucalyptus. Typically they would lay up to five eggs, starting in July/August (end of winter), with fledging in November/December.
Cape Parrots are social, talkative, and very loud, with at least five distinct calls. They are strong fliers, capable of travelling up to 90 km a day in search of food. Adult females have a bright orange-red patch on the forehead while males do not have this patch as adults. The juvenile males do until the colour fades with age. Both sexes have red on their legs and forewings.
Their main food is the seed kernels of Yellowwoods, wild plums, Cape chestnuts, and other forest fruits. They also eat pecans, wattles, wild cherries, and oak seeds—even when Yellowwoods are available, likely due to the fat content and predictability of pecans in orchards. |
| | | Battiss’ Father and Son in the Rocks |
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| Undoubtedly, the most important painting in the Walter Battiss Art Museum in Somerset East is the oil painting, dated 1949, Father and Son in the Rocks. The colours, and the lack of perspective echo the art Battiss was exploring in the Rock Art sites he was visiting at the time. It is one of the paintings Battiss brought to be part of the collection for the opening of the Museum in 1981.
The painting was submitted as part of the South African entry for the 25th Venice Biennale in 1950. There was a furore in the South African media, and the painting was discussed in parliament, when the public reacted by saying that this was an unworthy representation of South African art, and that Battiss was “an unworthy Springbok”. It was the culmination of several years of work, during which Battiss strove to achieve simplification of form and expression. Now, it can be valued for its reference to Rock Art, and prehistoric rock shelters, and its place in the development of the abstract art of Walter Battiss.
It is indeed the jewel in the crown of the Walter Battiss Art Museum collection. |
| | | The J-Bay Spekboom Labyrinth |
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| Tucked into a quieter part of the coastal Kouga town of Jeffreys Bay, a spekboom hedge labyrinth invites wanderers for a mindful stroll.
This green maze – built on the corner of Noorsekloof and Dogwood roads – is planted with over 1,000 spekboom succulents. (Spekboom is a hardy South African plant that stores carbon and survives on very little water.) The spiralling path winds gently through the circular garden.
Four tall colour‑coded pillars stand at the entrance – green for earth, blue for water, white for air and red for fire – symbols of the four elements that inspired the labyrinth’s design.
Local “Dorp van Drome” community members and artists (including landscape architect Pieter Kok and artist Zuanda Badenhorst) dreamed up the project. They built it in mid-2022 as a first-of-its-kind municipal labyrinth in Kouga. Today it’s open to all, offering a peaceful mix of art, nature and fitness – perfect for a family outing or solo reflection. Inside the maze, the total walk from entrance to center and back is about 1.4 km (700 m each way), giving visitors a fun little adventure before (or after) hitting the beach. |
| | | Nongqawuse and the Xhosa Cattle Killing |
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| Nongqawuse is the name of the girl generally held responsible for the “National Suicide of the Xhosa People” in 1856/7.
In 1856, the Xhosa nation was in despair. A number of Friesland Bulls were imported from Holland in 1850 and with them came lung sickness. Thousands of their prized cattle, a sign of wealth in Xhosa culture, had succumbed. The British had murdered King Hintsa and they had fought and lost many wars against the European settlers, who had taken large tracts of Xhosa territory and cattle. They were looking for a miracle, something to turn around this spell of misfortune.
At the time, Nongqawuse was the 15-year-old niece of Mhlakaza, a priest/diviner who was held in high regard by the Xhosa King, Sarhili. One day, as she looked into the pools in the Gxara River, Nongqawuse had a vision. She claimed to have spoken to the ancestors who promised that they would rise from the dead and drive the hated white man into the sea and replace their sick cattle with strong, healthy cattle. All the ancestors asked for in return was that, as an act of faith, the people would kill all their cattle and destroy all of their crops. A great commotion arose at the sound of this news and men from far and wide came to see Nongqawuse and to peer into the pool. Some said they had seen the faces of their ancestors in the water, others claimed to have seen whole armies of spirits waiting to arise, eager to destroy the Europeans.
For the next ten months, the Gcaleka Xhosas set about the destruction of all the cattle (said to number about 200,000) and crops. Then, on the appointed day, the 18th of February 1857, they awaited the rising of a blood red sun, the awakening of vast spirit armies and the arrival of fat cattle and ripe crops. The sun arose that morning just the same as it always had, there were no armies, no crops and no cattle, only ruin and the grim prospect of starvation. An estimated 25,000 people died of starvation.
The chief of Bomvana handed Nongqawuse over to Major Gawler at Fort Murray for her safety and she stayed at his home for a period. This was also where the well-known picture of Nongqawuse was taken. She was then sent to Cape Town and later lived out her life on a farm in the Alexandria district until her reported death in 1898. |
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