Eastern Cape - Firefly the Travel Guy

Steynsburg, the small town with a big church

The town of Steynsburg in the Eastern Cape's Karoo Heartland developed around the Reformed Church which was established in 1872 and was administered by a village management board controlled by the church. Steynsburg is named after Douwe Gerbrandt Steyn, grandfather of President Paul Kruger. The members of the Dutch Reformed Church from the district had to travel long distances (64km) to Burgersdorp by horse, horse cart and ox wagon to go to church and there was a need for their…

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25/01/2023

Firefly the Travel Guy

Have you seen the pink Karoo church of Hofmeyr?

The small Karoo town of Hofmeyr is located about 63km northeast of Cradock and was founded in 1873. One of the town’s landmarks is its pink church built in 1933.

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23/01/2023

Firefly the Travel Guy

The Moederkerk in the heart of Cradock

The first Dutch Reformed congregation (and also the first church) in Cradock was established back in 1824, 10 years after the town received its name. The present Dutch Reformed Mother Church building, situated on the upper end of Church Street, was completed on the original site as the first church in 1868 at an apparent cost of some £24,500. The building’s design was based on St. Martins-in-the-Field on Trafalgar Square in London. At the opening ceremony, the builder refused to hand over the door…

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20/01/2023

Firefly the Travel Guy

A UFO landing site in Rosmead in the Karoo?

The village of Rosmead near Middelburg in the Eastern Cape Karoo Heartland wouldn't exist if it wasn't for the railway. Most people probably don't even know it exists at all. Middelburg Road as it was initially called, was a Cape Government Railway station and was established around April 1883, when the Railway Line from Cradock was inaugurated. Due to its location at the junction of the Western, Midland and Eastern Railway Systems, the village played an important role in the…

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05/01/2023

Firefly the Travel Guy

The Queen of the Night

Visiting parts of the Eastern Cape's Karoo Heartland during the summer months you may just spot these clumps of white flowers in the veld or along fences. On closer inspection, you'll see that it's a cactus that is flowering so beautifully. Curious to learn more? The Golden Torch cactus (Echinopsis spachiana), sometimes also called Queen of the Night, blooms beautifully during the summer months. They normally flower at night and are still beautiful during the mornings. Not just do they…

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28/12/2022

Firefly the Travel Guy

Under the canopy of the winding Bloukrans Pass

In the late 1870s, master pass builder Thomas Bain arrived in the Tsitsikamma to look at the possibility of building passes through the three gorges standing in the way of a road linking the Plettenberg Bay area to Port Elizabeth in the east. Bain plotted the best and easiest way through the Groot River, Bloukrans River and Storms River gorges by following the elephant footpaths and construction started in 1879. The Bloukrans Pass was completed in 1880 with the Storms…

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17/11/2022

Firefly the Travel Guy

A wizard’s grave in Cradock? Here lies Harry Potter

We all know Harry Potter, the boy wizard with his little round glasses and lightning scar on his forehead, created by JK Rowling for her books and turned into a successful film franchise. But what happened to Harry after the fact? Did he perhaps exchange the cold of England and Hogwarts for the warm sun of Cradock and Africa? Cradock’s old cemetery can get quite spooky in the early mornings when the fog hangs around the gravestones of settlers, frontiersmen,…

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28/10/2022

Firefly the Travel Guy / Port Elizabeth Daily Photo

The historic Mackay Bridge over the Sundays River

Back in the early 1800s the first river crossing across the Sundays River going east from Algoa Bay was a drift situated near Addo. As traffic increased there was an urgent need for a more direct route as the route via Addo was a bit of a detour to Grahamstown and the Albany DistrictBy the mid-1800s the Colchester area was a very busy spot as it had the only pont over the Sundays River on this main route between Port…

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22/10/2022

Firefly the Travel Guy

Hiking along the Somerset East parkrun route

The Somerset East parkrun has become a popular outdoor activity for both locals and visitors to this beautiful Karoo Heartland town. But the parkrun hasn't just created a Saturday morning outing, it's also created a fantastic safe hiking trail option for the town. What is better than one trail? Two trails, as you can do the whole 5km route or opt-out about halfway. I spent a couple of days in Somerset East and Desiree of Mountain View Guest Inn took…

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16/09/2022

Firefly the Travel Guy

The war memorial in Somerset East

No matter how big or small the town in South Africa, you are very likely to find a war memorial of some sort somewhere in or close to it. As you come into the Karoo Heartland town of Somerset East from the Graaff Reinet side the town's war memorial stands on an island on the left-hand side. The War Memorial commemorates the men of Somerset East and the surrounding district who lost their lives in the First and Second World…

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06/09/2022