Eastern Cape Provincial Article - South African Vacations

- 15 -
THE ROUTE FROM
GRAHAMSTOWN TO
BEDFORD (R35)
This route passes through typical
Settler country, with the small
town of Bedford as a perfect
example. The 1820 Settler,
Scottish poet and writer, Thomas
Pringle, settled here.
THE ROUTE FROM
GRAHAMSTOWN TO FORT
BEAUFORT
Take the N2 turn-off to the R67
to reach the Kwandwe Private
Game Reserve, the Fort Brown
National Monument and the
43 000-ha Great Fish Reserve
Complex.
THE ROUTE FROM
GRAHAMSTOWN TO KENTON
ON SEA (N2 AND R343
JUNCTION)
Follow this route to the lovely
Thomas Baines Nature Reserve
and the Settlers’ Dam picnic site
before you reach the village of
Salem, with its historic buildings
and village green. There are
turn-offs to the Kariega and Emlangeni Game Reserves on the way.
AMATOLA MOUNTAIN ESCAPE ROUTE
This route stretches from Adelaide in the west to Stutterheim in the east, with
the majestic Amatola Mountains standing as a clear beacon on the horizon.
Visit an area steeped in Xhosa culture and Settler history. From East London
drive to King William’s Town where Black Consciousness leader, Steve Biko,
is buried and on to Alice and the picturesque little town of Hogsback,
inspiration for Tolkien’s book, “The Hobbit”. Other interesting places that
warrant a stop-over are the towns of Fort Beaufort with its excellent museum,
Keiskammahoek, where a great battle was waged between the Xhosa chief
Ngqika and his uncle Ndlambe, and Seymour in the Kat River Valley, where
one of the earliest published works in Afrikaans, the language that evolved
with the Cape Dutch frontiersmen and -women, was written.