This past weekend we joined the Eastern Cape Branch of the South African Military History Society on their quarterly outing. The destination. Lukas van der Merwe’s Anglo Boer War Museum at Mount Ingwe in the Elandsrivier Valley between Port Elizabeth and Patensie.
It’s one of those attractions that I have heard of but didn’t know much about and not having a bakkie or SUV I’ve never really considered heading out to it. The 50km dirt road from Rocklands near Uitenhage turned out not to be bad at all and the beautiful scenery (which I’ll post about another time) meant that the distance was covered in no time.
Lukas’ collection has been forming for over 25 years. As an avid metal detector enthusiast, Lukas and his friends have hunted Anglo Boer War sites all over the country.
The collection is absolutely amazing. The glass display cases contain everything from bullet shells, coins and belt buckles to horseshoes and the remains of firearms.
Each display is also according to the site that the items we found at, with some information available about the different areas as well.
There’s also a big collection of items found on the Port Elizabeth drift sands dunes between Schoenies and Summerstrand. And if you thought that they only dig up old bottles back there then you are sorely mistaken.
Visitors to the museum are advised to contact Lukas ahead of time to make arrangements, but he did say that over weekends he’s normally around and often people on an outing would just stop. If he’s there he is more than happy to open the museum.
Lukas can be contacted on 082 072 7747 to make an appointment to visit the museum.
