KWAAIHOEKOriginally named Penedo das Fontes (rock of the fountain) by the Portuguese, Kwaaihoek marks the spot where Batholomeu Dias planted a padrão (cross) dedicated to St Gregory on 12 March 1488. Having reached the Keiskamma River a few days earlier, Dias was forced by his reluctant crew to turn back, and erected the cross on the 30-m-high headland. (The promontory is also known as Cape Padrone, a corruption of the 18th-century Portuguese name Ponta do Padrão.) With a height of about 2 m, the limestone cross served as a landmark for over a century, but there are no references to it after the 16th century. After a thorough search by the historian, Professor Eric Axelson, fragments of the cross were discovered early in 1938. The fragments were taken to the University of the Witwatersrand where the cross was reconstructed. A replica was erected at Kwaaihoek in June 1940. SALEM...was established along the banks of the Kowie River by the party of 1820 Settlers led by Hesekiah Sephton. They were accompanied by a Methodist minister, Rev William Shaw, and on 1 January 1822 the foundation stone of a church was laid. A carpenter, Richard Gush, supervised the construction of the church, which was built from mud blocks and thatch. The church was consecrated on 31 December 1824, but in 1832 it was replaced by a rectangular structure built from stone and somewhat resembling a house. During the Frontier Wars, the church often served as a refuge for women and children. Richard Gush, a Quaker pacifist, gained fame during the Sixth Frontier War when he dissuaded the Xhosa from attacking the town. Like a typical English village, Salem has a village green and several well-preserved Settler houses built in the Georgian style. Prominent among these is Upper Crofts, a double-storey house with a façade of whitewashed stonework. THOMAS BAINES NATURE RESERVE This South African holidays reserve covers 1 003 ha of undulating valleys and plains covered mainly in valley bushveld vegetation. The reserve is named after the explorer and artist, Thomas Baines, who came to the Cape in 1842 and lived for some time in Grahamstown. The reserve contains several fine specimens of the tree aloe. For many years, the species name, Aloe bainesii, honoured Baines, but it was renamed Aloe barberae a few years ago as this was the first scientific name to be published.
Visitors can explore the reserve by following 15 km of game-viewing roads; among the species to be seen are white rhino, buffalo, eland, red hartebeest, black wildebeest and mountain reedbuck. Picnic facilities are provided in the southern corner of the park at the Settlers Dam – a popular destination with angling, yachting, boardsailing and canoeing enthusiasts. |
