The Red Location (Backpacker) Lodge in New Brighton has a special story to it. I don't know all the details so I will give you the short version of it. The building that the Lodge is situated in used to be a beer hall back in the days. Beer halls led to many men drinking away all their money and getting violent towards women and children and was also the source of a lot of crime in the townships. The…
As the main railway station in the townships, the New Brighton Station saw a lot of action during the apartheid years. Visiting the station today you can still see the railing that divided the bridge across the rail into "Europeans Only" and "Blacks Only" sections. On 26 June 1952, the volunteers for the Defiance Campaign which was due to start the next day, camped at the New Brighton Civic Centre and proceeded in the wee hours of morning to the station…
*Not for sensitive viewers*Believe it or not, but sheep heads, known as smileys, is a township delicacy. The heads are thrown in the fire where all the hair are burned off. The "cook" then uses white hot irons and blades that are pushed into the fire to burn and cut off the remaining hair and unwanted parts. There after the heads get split open with an axe, all the unwanted inside bits cleaned and then get cooked. The reason for the name…
A group being taken on a guided tour of the Red Location Museum in New Brighton. The museum represents the struggle years specifically in Nelson Mandela Bay with exhibits remembering people, places and activities in the townships.
Township tours are very popular with international visitors to South Africa. Often locals can't really understand why the tourists would like to go and see the townships. A few weeks ago we (we being me and my colleagues) took about 50 locals on a township tour with a difference and afterwards they couldn't stop talking about it. They got to meet and interact with the people, see the sights, hear the sounds, eat (some of) what the locals eat, visit the local market…
Hair salons in the township is a dime a dozen yet its apparently a very good business to be in and they all make a decent living. I took a peek into one of the containers (and with containers I really mean most of them operate from shipping containers) in New Brighton the other day and was pleasantly surprised to see how well it was kitted out. One wouldn't think its housed inside a container. The hair dresser was busy…
I seem to be getting to know more and more township spots to go and grab something for lunch (see Tsisha Nyama and Beef stew and liver). There are also a number of places I've been shown where you can stop for a snack like vetkoek or roosterkoek, amongst them the container near Red Location Museum where this lady works. They make the most divine roosterkoek (bread rolls made on the coals) - R1.50 plain and R1.80 buttered - and mini verkoek (dough that gets deep…
Swedish visitors to the Red Location Museum in New Brighton always stand in amazement at the fact that the street in front of the museum is called Olof Palme Road. Olof Palme was the Prime Minister of Sweden until his assassination on 28 February 1986 and a big supporter of the anti-Apartheid movement in South Africa. The Swedish government has also made a number of investments in upliftment projects in the New Brighton area since the dawn of democracy.
Right outside the New Brighton train station stands the ruin of what clearly used to be Esitishini Cafe. Does it have any significant historical links? I really don't know and didn't pick anything up on the net. I did think that it would make for a nice picture when I saw it though. Why was I at New Brighton Station? We were busy with a recce for one of the events that we are hosting for Tourism Month at work. …
Today's post follows on yesterday's Takeaway in the township post. Here one of the mamas who run the shop is busy putting the fat cakes into a plastic bag for us. Caroline commented on the previous post about the grille and that it shows something about the area where the take away is in. The grille does form part of the counter but the side gate, even though they can lock it if they choose, is always open. After asking for permission to take some pictures I entered through…