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2026 started with Jaaaaannnnuuuuaaary, Feeeebbbbbruuuaaaryyyy, MarAprMaJunJu… and suddenly we’re in August. It feels like the year is sliding downhill fast while we’re still waiting for things to happen. I know I am.

Hope you enjoy this month’s travel info mailer.

Regards, Jonker

This month, we look at:

• The fantastic Willowmore Town of Murals project

• Cookhouse Station through the eyes of Chris Mann’s poem

• Gaze up at the Tsitsikamma Big Tree

• Discover the Walmer war memorial surrounded by greens and fairways

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

Willowmore Town of Murals

The Willowmore: Town of Murals, an initiative of Revive Willowmore, is an inspiring community-driven project that is transforming the charming Karoo town of Willowmore into an open-air art gallery. Through a growing collection of colourful murals, sculptures and locally inspired artworks, the tour celebrates the town’s unique heritage while breathing new life into its streets.

The self-guided experience invites visitors to wander through Willowmore at their own pace, discovering artworks that tell stories of the Karoo landscape, its wildlife, culture and the resilient spirit of its people. Every mural is more than just a painting; it is a symbol of renewal, community pride and hope for the future.

The project forms part of Revive Willowmore’s broader vision to revitalise the town through tourism, beautification and sustainable economic development. By attracting visitors, the Art Tour creates opportunities for local artists, encourages support for small businesses, restaurants and accommodation establishments, and contributes to job creation within the community.

Cookhouse Station, by Chris Mann

The railway station in Cookhouse, today, barely a shadow of its former self, was immortalised by celebrated South African poet Chris Mann in his poem Cookhouse Station. He wrote the initial inspiration for the poem following an afternoon stopover in the town during 1968 or 1969. The poem was only officially published years later.

If you ever pass through Cookhouse Station

make certain you see what is there.

Not just the long neat platform beneath the escarpment

and the red buckets

and the red and white booms

but the Christmas beetle as well

which zings like a tireless lover

high in the gum-tree all the hot day.

And whether your stay is short

and whether your companions

beg you to turn away from the compartment window

does not matter, only make certain you see

the rags of the beggarman’s coat

before you choose to sit again.

And even if there might be no passengers

waiting in little heaps of luggage when you look

make certain you see

the migrant worker with his blankets

as well as the smiling policeman,

the veiled widow as well as the girl

the trainee soldiers whistle at, otherwise

you have not passed that way at all.

And if it is midday in December

with a light so fierce

all the shapes of things tremble and quiver

make certain you see

the shades of those who once lived there,

squatting in the cool of the blue-gum tree

at ease in the fellowship of the after-death.

And if you ever pass through Cookhouse Station

make certain that you greet those shades well

otherwise

you have not passed that way at all.

Tsitsikamma Big Tree

The Tsitsikamma Big Tree is one of the Eastern Cape’s most impressive natural landmarks and a must-visit stop along the Garden Route. Hidden within the lush indigenous forest of the Tsitsikamma, this magnificent Outeniqua Yellowwood (Afrocarpus falcatus) is estimated to be about 1000 years old, making it one of the oldest living trees in South Africa.

Towering around 36.6 metres into the forest canopy, with a trunk circumference of nearly 9 metres, the Big Tree inspires awe in visitors of all ages. A short, well-maintained boardwalk and forest trail of about 500 metres leads to the giant, offering an easy walk through a tranquil landscape filled with towering trees, ferns, birdsong, and the fresh scent of the forest.

The Tsitsikamma Big Tree is more than just a remarkable tree; it’s a living reminder of the ancient forests that have covered this region for centuries.

A war memorial surrounded by greens and fairways

Port Elizabeth has several well-known war memorials commemorating the lives lost during the two World Wars. The Cenotaph at St George’s Park and the Walmer War Memorial are probably the two main ones.

One that very few people know about is the war memorial located on the Walmer Golf Course.  When the village of Walmer was laid out in 1852, it was surrounded by a “green belt” referred to as the commonage.  It was on this commonage, where the locals were entitled to graze their animals, that the Walmer Golf Course was first laid out in 1897 and the Walmer Golf Club formed.

Even before the armistice ending the First World War was signed on 11 November 1918, the locals formed a peace celebrations committee which was responsible for the construction of the obelisk and the brushwood fortress that surrounded it. The fortress measured 106 feet in diameter and the brushwood was stacked up to 12 feet in height.

On the evening of Saturday, 19 July 1919, a crowd gathered around the brushwood fortress. The Mayor of Walmer, John Syme Neave, addressed the crowd and the fortress was set alight.

The only writing on the obelisk is the word PAX (the Latin noun for “peace”) and the year the war ended: 1918.

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