Karoo - Firefly the Travel Guy

Gill College, the Somerset East school that was supposed to be a university

The history of Somerset East dates back to 1815 when Lord Charles Somerset established an experimental farm at the foot of the Boschberg. Somerset Farm was started to supply food to the British troops manning the eastern frontier of the Cape Colony, provide their horses with feed, and partly to cultivate tobacco for export purposes. By 1825 Lord Charles stood on the stoep of the house in 9 Paulet Street and surveyed Somerset Farm, dividing it into erven, thus starting the…

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17/01/2024

Firefly the Travel Guy

From a pear tree to a beautiful church – the story of the Pearston Dutch Reformed Church

I get disappointed if I visit a small town and find that there isn't a historic church somewhere to visit and photograph. One of the towns that didn't disappoint was Pearston. Located on a very flat landscape the church is easily spotted in the town's very limited skyline. The village of Pearston is located 48km west of Somerset East in the Eastern Cape's Karoo Heartland. Like so many of the small towns and villages of the Karoo, the village had…

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05/01/2024

Firefly the Travel Guy

The old mill building in Somerset East

One of the buildings in Somerset East that I find the most interesting is the little building on the corner of Paulet and Beaufort Streets. It is one that draws a lot of comments and speculation about its origins although the general thought is that it was a mill dating back to the early days of Somerset Farm. Information collected by Sheila van Aardt suggested it was used as a mill with the water wheel on the Beaufort Street side…

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27/12/2023

Firefly the Travel Guy

The Chair Monument in the Karoo

Monuments and memorials come in all shapes and sizes and by different names. By name, the Chair Monument outside Middelburg in the Karoo Heartland may have you confused. Why would they put up a memorial to a chair? Was it a simple wooden stool or is somebody celebrating their beloved lazyboy? In fact, although a chair was involved, the monument is an Anglo Boer War related memorial and commemorates Commandant J. C. Lötter and his right-hand man, Lieutenant Pieter Wolfaardt.…

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01/12/2023

Firefly the Travel Guy

Compassberg, looking down on the surrounding Karoo Heartland

If you've ever been to Nieu-Bethesda then you would have spotted Compassberg on the horizon. In fact, it's not difficult to miss. The Compassberg (2502m) is the highest peak in the Sneeuberg range and also the highest peak in South Africa outside the Stormberg-Drakensberg massif. It was named by Colonel Robert Jacob Gordon when he accompanied Governor Joachim van Plettenberg on a journey to the eastern frontier of the Cape Colony in 1778. Compassberg together with its neighbouring mountains provides a critical water catchment area, covering…

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20/11/2023

Firefly the Travel Guy

A weird monument of rocks dedicated to Gideon Scheepers outside Graaff-Reinet

If you drive out of Graaff-Reinet on the Murraysburg road toward the Valley of Desolation, you may notice a strange looking memorial on the left-hand side near the Nqweba Dam. Monuments are normally big marble or stone memorials and statues with a bronze plaque but this one is anything but. The Gideon Scheepers Memorial is made up of three rocks from the vicinity supporting a stainless steel needle, symbolising the spirit of hope and faith in God. The largest rock…

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25/10/2023

Firefly the Travel Guy

An Arctic explorer buried in the Karoo?

The Cradock cemetery is probably one of the most interesting ones around. You'll find gravestones of settlers, frontiersmen, nuns, soldiers who fell in the Anglo-Boer War and even one Harry Potter. Another grave I learned about and one I just had to go and find belongs to Reginald Koettlitz. You're probably wondering what makes this grave different and the answer can be found in the grave's inscription. “An explorer and traveller, surgeon and geologist to Expeditions North Polar and Abyssinia…

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19/10/2023

Firefly the Travel Guy

A Great Trek centenary memorial in Pearston

I enjoy exploring small towns and discovering all the interesting spots that most people probably never get to see as they rush through on their way elsewhere. Driving into the small Karoo Heartland town of Pearston I did what I always do when I visit a new place. I headed straight to the historic NG Kerk (Dutch Reformed Church). Because most small towns have one. In front of the church, I noticed a small stone monument with an inscription and…

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22/09/2023

Firefly the Travel Guy

Find solace in the Nieu-Bethesda labyrinth

If you've never been to Nieu-Bethesda then you really don't know what you're missing. It's not just another Karoo town nor is it a place where nothing grows yay high. Yes, it's a small village, only has dirt roads with no street lights, has no petrol station or a PEP. I once read a travel piece where the writer said a small town is really only a town if it has a PEP. Anyhow. In Nieu-Bethesda you will literally find…

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14/09/2023

Firefly the Travel Guy

The historic Nieu-Bethesda Watermill

Nieu-Bethesda is a place you have to explore on foot. Slowly. At your own pace. One of the historic buildings most people miss when visiting the village is the old watermill. The mill was erected in 1860 by Mr B.J. Pienaar, on the original farm, Uitkyk. The original wooden waterwheel was later replaced by the existing metal one. The wheel is driven by water from the village's ancient stone leivore. The leivore date back to the early days of the…

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01/09/2023