When we visited Oudtshoorn in December I got to go to the museum in the home of the former Afrikaans writer CJ Langenhoven for the first time since I was in primary school. His house, Arbeidsgenot ("the pleasure of work") was left to "all people with a love for Afrikaans" by his widow after her death in 1950 and was opened as a museum in 1955. Cornelis Jakobus Langenhoven was born on 12 August 1873. He started out working as…
The Bayworld Complex on the Port Elizabeth beachfront consist of the Port Elizabeth Museum, Snake Park and Oceanarium. I have done several posts about Bayworld on my blogs, most recently a series of 10 photos early in April on Port Elizabeth Daily Photo. I visited it quite often as a child and it lightens my heart that the Rugrats also enjoy going there. Unfortunately the complex is having financial problems and any exposure and assistance helps, hence this post.My interest…
Situated just down the road from the Somerset East Museum in the Karoo town of Somerset East, one will find the Walter Battiss Art Gallery. Anybody involved in the South African art industry would know who Walter Battiss was. Walter Whall Battiss was born in Somerset East on 6 January 1906 (died 20 Aug 1982) and is generally considered as South Africa's foremost abstract painter. From 1938 Battiss paid several visits to Europe where he met various successful poets and…
Spending the weekend in Somerset East a couple of weeks ago, I had the opportunity to explore a town which I didn't know very well. One of the main attractions in Somerset East is the Somerset East Museum, also known as The Old Parsonage Museum. The museum is situated just outside town on the slopes of the Boschberg Mountain .Shortly after the establishment of the town of Somerset, 1825, land on the slopes of the mountain was given to the…
Feather duster sellers with their colourful ware in front of the CP Nel MuseumI have said so before I will say so again. I love small town museums. They are never pretencions and tells it as it is. If you want to know more about a town and its history, just look for it's museum and go and loose yourself in it. The CP Nel Museum in Oudtshoorn is one of these where one can go and be transported back…
Not too long ago I did a series of posts regarding the International Mohair Summit in the town of Graaff Reinet. I just realised that there was still one post on it that I didn't do although I uploaded the photos. During the summit the Mohair Meander was launched. Its basically a route map that takes visitors through the Karoo region and points mohair related places. One of the main features of the route is the newly launched Mohair Experience…
The Port Elizabeth Museum at Bayworld has a number of excellent exhibits covering a wide field of subjects and events. One of the main attractions can be found in the Marine Hall and is the 15m skeleton of the last Southern right whale harpooned in Algoa Bay. Now I know somebody is likely to ask when this happened and before they do I have to say I don't know. I have been searching the Internet and can't find a specific…
One of the most unlikely things you may expect to find in the little village of Storms River in the Tsitsikamma on the Garden Route is a Cadillac museum. The Cadillac Shack is a small privately owned collection of these magnificent cars which can be viewed by prior appointment when in the area. Michael Caine might tell you that the Big Three Cadillac's are the '58, '59 and '60 as they have the biggest fins of all the Cadillac's. The…
The town of George at the foot of the Outeniqua Mountains was founded in 1811 and was the first town to be established in South Africa by the British. It was named after King George III. The town is the main commercial town on the Garden Route and is often just used by tourists as a stop over. It is also where visitors will find the Outeniqua Railway Museum where the Outeniqua Choo Tjoe steam train is based. Unfortunately the…
While visiting Janet and Mr P (Greetings from Gauteng) for lunch during my Johannesburg trip, I asked them for suggestions on things to do while in the area. Mr P suggested I look up Liliesleaf Farm close to Sandton.Liliesleaf Farm was purchased through an overseas contact of the SA Communist Party to be used in secret by African National Congress activists in the 1960s. A white family was put in the main house as a front while activists came and…