fitravel - Firefly the Travel Guy

The St Andrews Anglican Church and Anglo-Boer War memorial in Pearston

The town of Pearston, like so many of the small towns and villages scattered across the Karoo, had its origins as a parish of the Dutch Reformed Church. A notice to establish a church and a town was published in the Kerkbode in 1858, and the town and church were established in September 1859. The church bought a suitable farm, subdivided it into lots, reserved some of the plots for its own purposes and then offered the remainder for sale…

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25/04/2025

Firefly the Travel Guy

Winston Churchill’s cousin and the Battle of Elands River

Sir Winston Churchill became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in 1940 and is primarily known for his leadership of Britain during the Second World War. He was a prominent statesman, writer, and orator who rallied the British people and guided the nation through the war. Churchill is also remembered for his inspiring speeches and unwavering determination, even in the face of adversity. But did you know Winston Churchill also had involvement in the Anglo Boer War? Churchill arrived in South Africa as…

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18/04/2025

Firefly the Travel Guy

The Anglo Boer War execution in Tarkastad

My son loves visiting old cemeteries and finding war graves from the Anglo Boer War and the two World Wars. So one of the first things he did when we visited him in Tarkastad was to drag me along to the town's cemetery to help him search for a couple of graves he still wanted to find there. A very interesting grave he pointed out to me while we were there was the grave of Pieter Willem van Heerden, whose…

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16/04/2025

Firefly the Travel Guy

The war memorial in Tarkastad

It doesn't matter how big (or small) a town is, you are very likely to find a historic Dutch Reformed Church and a war memorial somewhere in it. Tarkastad in the Eastern Cape is no different. Tarkastad isn't very big. In fact, most people I mention it to have never been there. Some haven't even heard of it. I got to visit it for the first time when my son started his first job in the town at the beginning…

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06/04/2025

Firefly the Travel Guy

Visiting Kwaaihoek 500 odd years after Bartholomew Diaz

I think back in the day we all learned about Bartholomew Diaz and how, in 1488, he was the first (known) European to discover what we know as South Africa today. I remember when I was in primary school, how we followed the 500th-anniversary voyage of the replica caravel from Portugal and visited it when it called in the Port Elizabeth harbour. Plus I think most of us have visited the Diaz Museum next to the famous Post Office Tree…

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31/03/2025

Firefly the Travel Guy / Port Elizabeth Daily Photo

The sights and sounds of the Elands River Road

I've ventured onto the Elands River Road a couple of times over the years for various reasons, but I've never gone very far down the road. An outing with the Military History Society a little while ago (I really have to catch up on posting everything I have sitting in the "To Post" folder) meant I got to do the first half of the route. The Elands River Road starts at Rocklands just outside Uitenhage. The first roughly 10km is…

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21/03/2025

Firefly the Travel Guy

A First World War gun in Tarkastad

Tarkastad isn't a big town with many monuments even though there is a lot of history attached to the town. I was very surprised when discovered an old cannon on the corner of Murray Street and Queen Street, a block away from the Tarkastad War Memorial. On closer inspection I discovered a plaque on the gun reading as follows: CAPTURED IN THE GREAT WAR1914 - 18BY THE ALLIED FORCESAND PRESENTED TO TARKASTADBY THE GOVERNMENT I have searched the internet from…

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14/02/2025

Firefly the Travel Guy

The Twelve Apostles – the back of Table Mountain

When you think of Cape Town, you think of Table Mountain, with Devil's Peak on one side and Lion's Head and Signal Hill on the other. Behind Table Mountain on the Atlantic Seaboard, you'll find the Twelve Apostles Mountain Range with its magnificent crags, ridges, ravines, and gorges running roughly from Kloof Nek (the saddle between Table Mountain and Lion’s Head) to Hout Bay. Given the name of the series of mountains, you’d think you’d be able to count 12…

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26/01/2025

Firefly the Travel Guy

Kalk Bay Harbour

It's been more than just a few years since I last visited (and not just driven through) Kalk Bay. In fact, I think the last time was when I was part of the "Our Beautiful Country" television game show and was put up in Kalk Bay for the recording of my rounds). Spending a little time with my daughter before we head back to PE and she stays behind for her second year of university, we played tourist and took…

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23/01/2025

Firefly the Travel Guy

Who was Commandant Paul Erasmus of Somerset East?

There's a memorial on the Somerset East Dutch Reformed Church grounds in memory of Commandant Paul Erasmus. But who was Paul Erasmus and why is there a memorial dedicated to him? Paul Jacobus Erasmus was born 21 September 1829 in Somerset East. He married Helena Francina Jacoba Vosloo on 24 January 1853. Erasmus was Commandant of the Somersetters as part of the Colonial Forces in Basutoland during the Basuto Gun War, also known as the Basutoland Rebellion. The was a…

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21/01/2025