Kenhardt
| Kenhardt | |
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 Kenhardt
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Kenhardt
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| Coordinates: 29°21′00″S 21°09′00″E / 29.35°S 21.15°ECoordinates: 29°21′00″S 21°09′00″E / 29.35°S 21.15°E | |
| Country | South Africa |
| Province | Northern Cape |
| District | Siyanda |
| Municipality | Kai !Garib |
| Established | 1868 |
| Area[1] | |
| • Total | 4.24 km2 (1.64 sq mi) |
| Population (2001)[1] | |
| • Total | 3,796 |
| • Density | 895/km2 (2,320/sq mi) |
| Racial makeup (2001)[1] | |
| • Black African | 1.1% |
| • Coloured | 89.8% |
| • Indian/Asian | 0.2% |
| • White | 9% |
| First languages (2001)[1] | |
| • Afrikaans | 99.1% |
| • Other | 0.9% |
| Time zone | SAST (UTC+2) |
| Postal code | 8900 |
| Area code(s) | 054 |
Kenhardt (founded 1868) is a small town in the Northern Cape province of South Africa. This little town is about 120 km from Upington, the largest town in the area.
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[edit] History
On 27 December 1868, special magistrate Maximillian Jackson with a police contingent, was sent to act against the Griquas in the area. The Griqua's anti-colonial resistance had erupted into an open conflict. Jackson arrived in Kenhardt and set up camp under a giant camelthorn tree.[2]
This has been for a long time the most remote settlement in the North-Western Cape. With time the town developed from under this tree, becoming a municipality in 1909. The Hartbees River, with its many sweet thorn trees, provides a green belt irrigated by the Rooiberg Dam. Kenhardt is famous for being at the heart of the Dorper sheep-farming area.
[edit] Geography
This region contains very little vegetation, primarily very low shrubs and yellow grass among a rocky desert kind of landscape. If you travel south from Kenhardt towards Brandvlei, you will pass through a huge landscape of nothingness for the next 200 km and more. During the seasons many birds flock to the pans, when they contain water, after some rainfall. Temperature above 40°C is not uncommon.
[edit] Activities
- Visit the Quiver Tree forest, Kokerboom Woud in Afrikaans, about 8 km south of Kenhardt on the main route to Cape Town. Some of these trees have special formed weaver birds nests. The forest comprises approximately 4000 to 5000 kokerbome.
- Walk the geological legendary granite metamorphic outcrops of the area. Along the trail all kind of quartz lie scattered.
- Tours to the pans on the outlying farms where you can view San artwork – also known as Bushman – and enjoy the farm hospitality.
- A hiking trail where Anglo Boer War remains and the beautiful landscape can be experienced.
- Make your own discoveries on fossilized foot impressions and engravings.
[edit] Places of interest
- Giant Camelthorn Tree
This tree is about 500-600 years old. It is under this tree which Magistrate Jackson set up his camp in 1868.
- Old Library Building
The old library was built in 1897, and it was used until 1977. In 1978 it was declared a national monument, currently it is used by Sanlam as their office.[3]
A vast dry pan on which Sir Malcolm Campbell tried, in Bluebird 1, to set a new world land-speed record in 1929.[4]
[edit] See also
- List of cities and towns in the Northern Cape
- Northern Cape
- Kakamas, Northern Cape
- Upington, Northern Cape
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d "Main Place". Census 2001. http://census.adrianfrith.com/place/31610.
- ^ "Kenhardt - 115km south of Upington on the R27". http://www.northerncape.org.za/getting_around/towns/Kenhardt/. Retrieved 2009-02-10.
- ^ "Green Kalahari Accommodation Kenhardt". http://www.greenkalahari.com/kenhardt.html. Retrieved 2009-02-10.
- ^ "Bluebird Supporters Club — Malcolm Campbell". http://www.bluebirdteamracing.net/bluebirdsupportersclub/peo/mc.html. Retrieved 2009-02-10.
[edit] External links
- Northern Cape - As real as the people who choose to explore it!
- UPINGTON.COM - Kenhardt Accommodation | Kenhardt Hotels...
- History of Kenhardt
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