Eastern Cape Provincial Article - South African Vacations

However, the Eastern Cape is not just a popular holiday destination; it is also
a major crop producer. It is the world’s second largest producer of chicory and
is a premier producer of tomatoes, deciduous fruit and citrus. At least 70 per
cent of South Africa’s pineapples and one third of its tea are grown in the
Eastern Cape.
The province is synonymous with the motor industry and the Eastern Cape
provincial government has recently established two new industrial
development zones (IDZs), one at East London (targeted at industries
associated with the motor industry, textiles, chemicals, pharmaceuticals and
high technology, especially electronics) and the other at Koega, 20 km east of
Port Elizabeth, where a new deep-water port will cater for the giant newgeneration
container ships that will soon be visiting our shores.
Today, almost seven million people, including our former President, Nelson
Mandela, “Madiba”, call this province “home”. Madiba recently retired to the
small village of Qunu, where he spent the happiest part of his childhood.
The San tribes were the first indigenous people to occupy the caves, gorges
and inland valleys of the province, while nomadic herders, the Khoi-Khoi
people, settled along the banks of the Gamtoos River and occupied the
coastal areas. The rock art and the melodious names of some of the rivers
and mountains attest to their occupancy.
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