The second bridge which had served as the rail bridge over the Vaal River at Fourteen Streams, near Warrenton in the Northern Cape, was dismantled and erected over the Kei River. This historic bridge at Fourteen Streams saw skirmishes during the Anglo Boer War and for a while, it became a Boer stronghold, when the English stationed there, withdrew to Kimberly.
Category: History
The Sao Joao Tragedy
This was the undoing of Dona Leonor. Having survived a walk of over a thousand kilometres through African bush and jungle, hunger, and all sorts of hardships that a noble woman had never dreamed of in her worst nightmares of ever enduring, her nakedness was the last straw. She buried herself in the sand, refused to move, and she and her children died of starvation. Her husband, who seemingly had gone mad from his wife’s actions, disappeared into the wilds and was never seen again.
Nkanyamba – the river monster of Kwa Zulu-Natal, South Africa
When the monster gets angry, it takes its frustrations out on the people of Kwa Zulu-Natal, in the form of massive wind storms and rains which cause flooding. The December 2023 storm around Ladysmith was said to be an Nkanyamba unleashing its fury over the area. An Nkanyamba was also blamed for causing the devastating destruction of Tongaat in June 2024.
Graskop Gorge, Panorama District, Mpumalanga, South Africa.
The Graskop Gorge Lift Company has ensured that a good part (but not all) of the amazing winding boardwalk at the bottom of the Graskop Gorge is accessible to everybody.
Bourke’ Luck Potholes, Mpumalanga, South Africa
Mpumalanga is well known for being an ‘overdose of prettiness’ – it doesn’t matter where you go, there is always a sight to marvel at.
Bourke’s Luck Potholes is no different. This amazing river gorge which is part of the Blyde River Canyon opening is nothing short of awe inspiring.
A trip up the Sani Pass
Historically, what is now a sensational road, was a bridle path, and was used to convey goods between South Africa and Lesotho, by donkey, mule and oxen.
A Crazy Idea: Sir Conan Doyle and an attempted salvage of the Grosvenor treasure.
A crazy idea: the attempted salvage of the Grosvenor treasure What does the Wild Coast of South Africa and Sherlock Holmes have in common? What does an Anglo Boer War doctor and Sherlock Holmes’ nemesis, Moriarty have in common? The answer is Conan Doyle, as in Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle KStJ, DL (1859 –… Continue reading A Crazy Idea: Sir Conan Doyle and an attempted salvage of the Grosvenor treasure.
Deelfontein: Home of the Imperial Yeomanry Hospital
Mrs Google Maps when getting the directions to Deelfontein must have been playing broken telephone, because we took a seriously long scenic route. But hey, I don’t do lost, so we enjoyed the Karoo scenery. Flat land. The odd koppie (small flat topped mountain). Sand. Springbokke. Knee high scrub bush. Repeat. Repeat again.
Pondoland, Transkei and the tragedy of the SS Mendi.
‘You are going to die, but that is what you came to do… let us die like warriors. We are the sons of Africa. Raise your war cries, my brothers, for though they made us leave our assegais [spears] back in the kraals [villages], our voices are left with our bodies.’
What’s in a name? Kwa Zulu-Natal, South Africa.
Kwa Zulu-Christmas.
That doesn’t sound quite right, does it?
What if the history books wrote about Port Christmas?
Or the Colony of Christmas?
The Umzimvubu River and Port St Johns
…..as usual, the European powers that were, had no respect for local knowledge, so the Umzimvubu River is called the St Johns River on all maps, and in all books written up until the early 1900s.
Traveling again? Galavanting with Kathryn Costello 