Travel tips for the Eastern Cape of South Africa
The landscape of the Eastern Cape is diverse, from the arid and desolate Karoo to the lush green Tsitsikamma forest, the fertile valleys of Lankloof and Sundays River and the magnificent beaches of the Wild Coast. This was a real frontier country at the beginning of the 19th century. Several towns met along the coastal migration routes, and many battles were fought here as a result. White settlers clashed with the Xhosa, Pondo, Zulu, and Sotho tribes.
The unique architecture of the towns and cities reflect the mixed heritage of the people and the many museums chronicle the turbulent history of the area.
The Eastern Cape is an agricultural region producing mainly grain and fruit, although there are some cattle and sheep ranches. The main public game reserve in the Eastern Cape is the Addo Elephant Park, not far from Port Elizabeth. There are also numerous private game reserves, all of them in malaria-free zones.
Addo Elephant National Park
Addo Elephant National Park is part of the National Parks of South Africa and is a lovely reserve near Port Elizabeth. The elephants used to be cramped in this park, but it has recently been expanded to give these large but calm pachyderms a wider area to roam.
As a result, it’s a little harder to see the elephants, but the animals are not in short supply and the evidence is everywhere. An elephant produces 150 kilograms of dung every day, so the precious flightless dung beetles have quite a job to do.
You will see many signs in this park asking you to be careful not to run over dung beetles, which are vital to the fragile ecology.
Accommodation is in basic but attractive chalets, which overlook a well-trodden path to the waterhole opposite the main lodge. You can eat in the basic restaurant or grab your own barbecue food and cook it on your patio while you watch the elephants go by. Just after dark, silver-backed jackals often begin to howl, an eerie serenade in the silent night.
port elizabeth
Port Elizabeth is known as ‘The Friendly City’, with its sandy beaches, pleasant parks and lively nightlife. Settlers Park includes 54 hectares of cultivated and natural gardens in the Baakens River Valley, with many native plants and flowers that attract many colorful birds.
Known to South Africans as ‘PE’, Port Elizabeth is a major water sports venue and hosted the 1995 World Windsurfing Championship. There is a public swimming pool at St George’s Park and a tidal pool at MacArthur Baths on Kings Beach Promenade.
Port Elizabeth is also a city for animal lovers, with dolphins performing at the Oceanarium, a snake park, and even a Horse Monument in the city commemorating the horses that suffered and died during the Boer War.
A reminder of a different and short-lived war is Fort Frederick, built in 1799. It was intended to defend the original port at the mouth of the river against the French, who wanted to colonize the remote eastern Cape. They found out it was too much trouble and no shot was ever fired from here.
wild coast
This sunny stretch of coastline offers some of South Africa’s best angling, walking, diving and scenic beauty. The surroundings here are magnificent and the cultural diversity alone makes the Wild Coast worth visiting.
Swimming is safe and the water is warm and calm along this peaceful and glorious stretch of coastline. The area is not very developed, which adds to its rustic and unspoiled appeal.
settler country
Slightly inland from the Wild Coast is an area where a number of English immigrants settled in the 1820s. At the time, it was a region ravaged by conflict where Boer and Xhosa communities were constantly at odds. each other for cattle and land.
The English colonists landed amid this tension and several wars were fought. Towns such as Cradock, Hogsback, Queenstown, Fort Beaufort and Somerset East sprang up to defuse the conflict and supply the garrisons with provisions.
Many of these towns benefited from strong English influence and these influences can still be seen today. There are a number of historic buildings to see, as well as beautiful areas of indigenous forest, especially around Hogsback.
karoo
The hot and dry Karoo overlaps the Eastern Cape and the Western Cape. It has a barren and sparse landscape, where the main economic activity is wool and meat from the hardy Karoo sheep.
One of the major towns in the Eastern Cape Karoo is Graaff-Reinet. The wide streets of Graaff-Reinet are home to more National Monument buildings than any other city in South Africa and are a delightful oasis in the bush.
Nearby is a spectacular natural wonder known as the “Valley of Desolation,” where the ground dramatically caves in and strange dolomite pinnacles rise like rockets from a launch pad.
Nieu-Bethesda is a quirky little town and home to the strange Owl House. The Owl House is an unusual collection of cement and glass sculptures and is the life’s work of an eccentric artist named Helen Martins.
It may seem vast and empty, but the Karoo is full of delicious eccentricities just waiting to be discovered.