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Eastern Province - Cradock |  |
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The west-central part of the Eastern Cape province, 260 kilometres north of Port Elizabeth This Karoo town offers an excellent stopover on the long road north from Port Elizabeth to Johannesburg and Pretoria. The word ‘Karoo', though technically accurate, is misleading: Cradock lies in the fertile valley of the Great Fish River, surrounded by green fields of lucerne and by orchards and pastures. It was founded, by the British colonial military, nearly two centuries ago and offers much of historical and cultural interest, including the splendid old Dutch Reformed Church (modelled on London's St Martin's in the Fields) and the cottage that served, for a time, as home to the writer Olive Schreiner. Schreiner, now regarded as an icon by the women's movement, wrote ‘The Story of an African Farm' (her best-known book) while working as a governess in the area. Her ‘Women and Labour', published in 1911, is something of a landmark in the feminist struggle.
Olive Schriener's burial site (though she actually died in far-off Cape Town); the Great Fish River museum (local history and domestic lifestyles); the Karoo Garden in town (next to the Dutch Reformed Church). Have a look at the oak trees in Dundas Street: they were planted in 1850 and are believed to be the world's biggest specimens of the Ilex species. There is a sulphur-springs spa just outside town. The Mountain Zebra National Park is a 20-minute drive to the south-wes. Amenities: Tourist information centre (in Stockenstroom Street). Hotels, guest-houses, B&Bs, comfortable cottages in the Mountain Zebra National Park, Shops and restaurants.
Queenstown, Midderlburg, Graaff-Reinet |
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CRADOCK Western Cape
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