Mzanzi Travel - Local Travel Inspiration (Issue 5)

Discover
on numerous occasions due to hardships and also after being attacked by San
raiders, abandoning it permanently in 1872. The station was reoccupied in
1878 when the French Father Godelle, a Roman Catholic missionary from the
Society of the Holy Ghost, settled at Pella. But he, and several other priests
after him, also abandoned the station, until the arrival of Brother Leo Wolf in
1885, who remained here and served the community for the next 50 years
until his death.
Further west, close to the Atlantic Ocean and the town of Springbok, lies
Steinkopf, another town that started life as a mission station established by the
London Missionary Society. It was later taken over by the Rhenish Mission and
named after the Reverend Dr Steinkopf.
Today, there are still a number of these mission stations operating in the
Namakwa region, but also elsewhere in the province, with the Moffat Mission
Station in Kuruman being one of the most famous and historically significant.
At Barkley West you can visit the Parish Church of St Mary the Virgin, the first
Anglican Church to be built on the Diamond Fields in 1871.
At the small town of Campbell a beautiful red-roofed church known as Bartlett’s
Church, and built in 1831, survives. The town was named after the Reverend
John Campbell, while it is said the renowned missionaries Moffat and David
Livingstone once preached from the pulpit of this little church.
Campbell lies on the province’s ‘missionary route’ that runs between Kimberley
and Upington and cuts through the territory that once belonged to the Griqua
people. In Griekwastad (Griqua Town) the Mary Moffat Museum reveals more
about this era when missionaries like Moffat, Livingston and Campbell were
active here. Livingston of course later left the area to travel north and became
one of the most famous European explorers in Africa.
There is much else to do and see in the area, such as the Magersfontein battle
site where the British High Command was once stationed during the Anglo-
Boer War; or a tour of Griekwastad where Andries Waterboer had once settled
his people; visiting the historic diamond digging sites of Barkley West where
“President” Stafford Parker once led the short-lived Diamond Diggers Republic
declared by the diggers before colonial rule and the law extended here; or
find something to drink at the ironically-named town of Putsonderwater (well
without water). And if you find nothing to drink at Putsonderwater, you could
always try your luck some 75km north at the town of Grootdrink (Big Drink).
If all else fails, retire to one of the mission churches and summon help from
above. (To find out more about things to do in this province, see our feature
article elsewhere in this edition).
Contact:
Mission Stations, Kuruman
Tel +27 (0)53 712 1001 or email kurmun@ga-segonyana.co.za;
Northern Cape Tourism Tel +27 (0)53 832 2657 or
email marketing@experiencenortherncape.com;
Missionary Route Tel +27 (0)11 895 3000 or email travel@southafrica.net.
Church at Kuboes, Richtersveld
Church at Williston.