Distance between East London and Middledrift. It takes 1 hours, 52 minutes to travel from East London to Middledrift. It takes 1 hours, 52 minutes to travel from East London to Middledrift. Approximate driving distance between East London and Middledrift is 94 kms or 58.4 miles or 50.8 nautical miles. It is situated in Raymond Mhlaba Municipality in Amathole District in an area that was formerly part of the Ciskei. It has a population of 2 140 (2011). It has a traditional Xhosa Chief; Chief Sibulele Mhlambiso, Chief of AmaNgqika-Mbo Traditional Council, Middledrift.

This Nature Reserve lies in the majestic Hottentots Holland Mountains, about 90 km South-East of Cape Town. The 70 000 Hectare reserve stretches from Elgin in the South to beyond Villiersdorp in the north, and from the Stellenbosch Mountains in the West, Eastwards to the Groenland Mountains, and is a World Heritage Site. The rocky Mountains, bright wildflowers and still natural pools make the Hottentots Holland Nature Reserve perfect for challenging hikes, pulse-racing kloofing and the new Cape Canopy Tour Zipline Adventure. The Reserve’s mountainous terrain ranges between altitudes of 500 m and 1 590 m. Summers are generally hot and dry, while winters are cold with annual rainfall as high as 3 300mm on the Dwarsberg plateau. Weather conditions in the mountains can be unpredictable and dangerous. The entrance to the reserve is at Nuweberg, high in Viljoen’s Pass between Grabouw and Villiersdorp. About 7 000 hectares of private and state property around the reserve is co-managed by the Theewaterskloof Conservancy, which includes CapeNature and various landowners. Hottentots Holland Nature Reserve is about an hour’s drive from Cape Town. Take the N2 over Sir Lowry’s Pass, turn left on the R 321, go through Grabouw and on towards Villiersdorp. Up in Viljoen’s Pass, watch out for Nuweberg and the reserve entrance signposted on your left.

Butterworth is situated in the Eastern Cape of South Africa and is one of the oldest towns in the Eastern Cape's Wild Coast (the former Transkei - a black homeland during the apartheid years).
Butterworth is situated north of the Great Kei River and was established originally as a Wesleyan mission in 1827. These missionaries had great fortitude as during the wars between settlers and tribes, they rebuilt their mission three times after it was repeatedly burnt down.
Two sites in Butterworth that are well worth visiting are two nearby waterfalls namely the tumbling cascades of Gcuwa Falls and the impressive 100m drop at Bowa Falls, which is also believed to have been a place of executions.

This nature reserve lies in the majestic Hottentots Holland Mountains, about 90 km south-east of Cape Town. The 70 000-hectare reserve stretches from Elgin in the south to beyond Villiersdorp in the north, and from the Stellenbosch Mountains in the west, eastwards to the Groenland Mountains, and is a World Heritage Site.
The rocky mountains, bright wildflowers and still natural pools make the Hottentots Holland Nature Reserve perfect for challenging hikes, pulse-racing kloofing and the new Cape Canopy Tour zipline adventure. The reserve is open after recent fires but staff remain on high alert for flare ups, especially on hot and windy days. We urge all visitors to exercise due caution and to check weather conditions before setting out on hikes.
The Sphinx hiking route to Landdroskop and Shamrock huts is closed. Anyone booking these huts must use the Jeeptrack Route.

Originally named after the wife of; Sir Henry Bartle Frere, the then Governor of the Cape, Lady Frere serves as the centre for the Glen Grey farming district. Lady Frere is situated in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa about 47 km's from Queenstown and 50 km's from Dordrecht.
Interesting San Rock sites in and around Lady Frere include:
1) Dubeni San Rock Art Site: The Dubeni rock art site is situated approximately 50 km South-West of the Town in a lovely scenic setting above a waterfall and features, two paintings of mostly eland buck.
2) Cumakala San rock Art Site: This rock art site is situated in a Cave on a Hill, called Kukere, about 4 km from the Yona Secondary School and about 11 km North-West of Lady Frere. The paintings depict eland with San hunters and other figures. Contact the Emalahleni District Municipality for more information or a guide.
3) Esikhwangeni San Rock Art Site: The site lies approximately 22 km South of Cacadu (Lady Frere) at Esweni, a few metres above the Cacadu River. This very interesting rock art site features what looks like a camel, a bull and a man riding a horse.
4) KuDlaliwe San Rock Art Site: KuDlaliwe has two Rock Art Sites at KuBengu Village, near the Nogogo River and approximately 76 km East of Lady Frere on the route to Qamata Great Place. The paintings cover a 20-m-long rock shelf and are very well preserved.
5) Qolombeni San rock art site: This site is situated in a cave near Lamuni Village, 25 km from Lady Frere on the route to Indwe. The rock art site consists of a 30-m fresco of paintings. Viewing by appointment only. Contact the Emalahleni District Municipality for more information.
Historical buildings include; The Dutch Reformed, Anglican and Methodist Churches and old Prison Building offer visitors a glimpse of the Building styles of yester-year.
Glen Grey Falls: The impressive, 400-m-high Glen Grey Falls are worth a visit.

The Town of Plettenberg Bay lies almost on the border of the Western and Eastern Cape. Built on the hillside, most of the Town is on a steep slope leading down to the sea, which means that regardless of where you find yourself accommodated, you will be treated to spectacular views of the bay and surrounding hills and mountains.
For holiday-makers, accommodation in Plettenberg Bay is plentiful. From upmarket resorts and hotels to budget Bed & Breakfasts and self catering, accommodation is offered in varying price ranges from budget to over the top luxury. You are sure to find a great place to stay.
Plettenberg Bay has a relatively long history for a South African town, having been regularly visited by Portuguese explorers during the 15th and 16th centuries. Signs of their visits abound, and history enthusiasts can view artifacts such as the remains of the Gonzales Shipwreck in the Town. Early European settlers to the area arrived in the late 1700’s, and have also left behind many fascinating historical relics, for example the Old Rectory, built by the Dutch East India Trading company in 1776, and Forest Hall, a privately owned stately home, built in 1864 by William Henry Newdigate .
In modern times, Plettenberg Bay has gained somewhat of a reputation as a pleasure seeker hotspot, and has many leisure activities on offer. From polo at Kurland, to yachting at the Keurbooms River mouth and marina, to less high brow activities like swimming and water sports in the warm, gentle waters. In fact, when you enter the town proper, a monument to one of the symbols of this lush, almost tropical bay greets you: a bronze statue of the dolphins that play in the warm waters just off the coast. With miles of pristine beaches to choose from, it’s no wonder that lazing on the beach is so popular with visitors, but, for those that manage to pry themselves away, there are charter boat cruises, hiking, canoeing and abseiling to choose from, to name but a few.Another attraction well worth a visit is the Monkeyland Primate Sanctuary; the world’s only multi-species, free roaming primate sanctuary, located a few minutes outside of town.
For the adventurous palate, trips to the Mampoer and Witblits distillery are available, where one can view the making of, and sample, these very strong locally produced alcoholic beverages. There are many fine restaurants, café’s and other eateries to choose from in the town, one of the most memorable must surely be the restaurant at the Beacon Isle Hotel. Built literally straddling a small strip of land between a lagoon and the sea, it almost seems when seated in the restaurant, that the hotel is floating on the water.
For those seeking a once in a lifetime experience, a short trip on the N2 towards Port Elizabeth, and over the border into the Eastern Cape, will bring you to the Bloukrans Bridge. Itself an engineering marvel, this bridge holds another claim to fame. It is the site of the world’s highest commercial bungee jump. At 216 meters, or the equivalent of almost 70 storeys, it is definitely not for the faint and many may prefer to view the seemingly endless plunge from the purpose built observing platform on the edge of the gorge. While at the bridge, whether or not you decide to take the plunge, it is worth visiting the Khoisan Village, which offers insights into the lives of the native peoples of the area, as well as opportunities to buy local arts and crafts.

WHAT AN AMAZING DESCRIPTION OF OUR BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY... IRRESPECTIVE OF WHERE YOU ARE IN THE WORLD NOW! 😍

Author Unknown:

I sit here quietly thinking about what it means to me to be South African, a visitor to South Africa, or even African. So it seems easier to rather explain the effect that this unique land has on me...

The perfume of rain on African soil. The scent of woodfires drifting across the Highveld on winter evenings. There's a very distinctive aroma just as one starts coming into George / Knysna / Plett (I've never figured out which herb it is), in much the same way the smell of Wild Sage defines the area around Santawani in Botswana. The odour of thatch in a game lodge. The bouquet of dust and the various plants when one gets into the bush, sometimes a whiff of something dead. The tang of the ocean at the seaside. The smell of ‘moer’ coffee over an early morning fire, or the delicious aroma of roasting meat over flames – whether you call it a braai or shisa nyama (but definitely NOT a barbeque, a barbie, or a ghastly NZ sausage sizzle!)

There is also something about the light here. “Santorini Blue”... I don’t know if that’s an actual colour, but it seems to describe the hue of the highveld sky on a winter’s day to perfection. We live in “big sky” country – whether blue, or orange in sunset, or dark grey and rent by lightening, or velvet black and filled with stars that seem close enough to touch – the sky is ever present. As is the moon. I am always aware of the moon, from a sickle moon to the full fecund globe that is full moon. Silver light gilding thorn trees, juxtaposed against dark shadows on the savannah, is not a sight one easily forgets.

The caw of the ubiquitous, raucous Hadedah in suburbia, the burbling call of a rainbird (Burchell’s Coucal) when a thunderstorm is on its way, the beautiful Diederick’s Cuckoo announcing the arrival of spring, the screech of a Barn Owl, or the evocative call of the Fish Eagle. Jackals calling as the sun goes down, a lion’s roar quite literally making the air reverberate, or the chilling whoops of the hyenas. The cacophony of barking geckos that start up as the sun goes down over Deception Pan, or a veritable orchestra of frogs around a pan in the summer months. Cicadas shrilling on days so hot that the air shimmers, or a nightjar calling in the dead of night in the bushveld.

Days of withering heat often followed by the lightest cool breeze, just as the sun is setting. A gentle little wind, which plays with your hair like an absent-minded lover, reminding you that the cool of the night will soon be with you. Walking in the bush very early in the morning, the sun’s rays catch the dew on spiders’ webs, reminding you that life, both seen and unseen, is all around you. Trout fishing as the sun peeps over the horizon in Dullstroom, so cold that the water droplets freeze on your line…

The colours of this land are not subtle either. The blood red of the coral tree, the green metallic glint of sunbirds, the striped black and white hide of the zebra, or sapphire blue of a kingfisher. The miles and miles of yellow and orange daisies in Namaqualand in September, or pink and white swathes of cosmos along the roads in April. The lilac and turquoise of the roller, the tawny hide of a lion or the emerald green of a little dung beetle that makes its appearance in the summer months. From the golden dunes of the Namib to an unimaginable number of greens in the Knysna Forest. All vivid and arresting.

Talk to me of Morrungulo or Tsodilo Hills, the great Drakensberg, Platteland dorps and the great Karoo. The warmth of Sodwana Bay or the icy kelp forests of the Atlantic Ocean. Of wine farms and fynbos in the Cape, to meerkats and diamonds in the north. Show me our people, in so many hues, with brightly coloured traditional costumes – and even brighter smiles.

All of this creates a frisson of excitement, passion each and every day, a vivid, immediate sense of being alive that I have found nowhere else….

These are my people. This is my land.

Because I am, at the very core of my being, a child of Africa! ❤️

It is recommend that you travel through the Park, with a vehicle with high ground clearance and good tyres. As all roads in the Park are gravel/dirt roads. No fuel is available in the Park. No shops, restaurants, public phones or ATMs in the Park. As outdoor lighting in camps is limited, a torch/headlamp is required when walking outside at night.

The Park has a number of off-road tracks with two major 4x4 routes for the more advanced enthusiast, namely: 'Leeuberg 4x4 Eco-trail and the Watervlei 4x4 Route'. Situated 18km away from the Park Reception is Elandsberg. This little National Park is very the isolated and hence the romantic Elandsberg Cottages where initiated in September 2006 and completed by April 2008.

The development of the Elandsberg Wilderness Camp was initiated in September 2006 and completed by April 2008. The rustic design of the cottage gives the visitor a true bushveld experience topped with a striking evening sunset over the 'Roogeveld' Escarpment. Each Cottage boasts beautiful views of the Karoo plains and imposing Roggeveld Escarpment. The cottages are spaced far enough from each other maintaining privacy, yet close enough for groups to book different cottages together. Not to be missed is the annual Tankwa Birding Bonanza held during April, where birders, beginners to expert twitchers, can have a friendly competition to test their knowledge against others'. The event is hosted by the SANParks Honorary Rangers and has various sponsors.

The Tankwa Karoo National Park (TKNP) is part of a renowned arid biome with an unrivaled diversity, in succulents. The Park has been subject to anthropogenic pressures, (The meaning of ANTHROPOGENIC is of, relating to, or resulting from the influence of human beings on nature), such as heavy grazing with climate change being a recent threat. This study investigated changes in vegetation productivity between 2000 and 2014 across six vegetation types using rainfall and satellite data. The Park is broadly divided into a plain at low altitude (316 m) receiving less rain and a wetter, higher terrain (1640 m). Long-term rainfall varied from 265 mm y-1 in the highland areas to 100 mm y-1 in the Plains. There was a significant corresponding rise in NDVI (The Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI)- is a measure of the amount and vigor of vegetation on the land surface and NDVI spatial composite images are developed to more easily distinguish green vegetation from bare soils.) The Lowlands to the Highlands (p < 0.001). This analyses suggests that vegetation has stabilised since the Park was proclaimed in 1984 because 81% of the Area has remained uniform, on average, despite considerable variation on a vegetation type basis. Only 18% of the Park had increasing productivity while just 2% experienced a decline. The patterns also suggest vegetation was principally controlled by rainfall, rather than a shift in land-use from Rangeland to Conservation. This implies that much of the presumably endemic degradation in the Succulent Karoo Biome is not evident in the Tankwa.

The Tyume Valley is situated in the Eastern Cape Province, inland from East London about 120 km is the town of Alice, where Fort Hare University is located. Just a few kilometers before reaching Alice is the turnoff for the Hogsback road that goes up the heart of the Tyume Valley to the village of Hogsback atop the Amatola Mountains. From Hogsback, you can look south and see the Tyume Valley.

Their ancestors were settled in these Villages after the War of 1850, by the colonial authorities. The starvation and hardship caused by the cattle-killing tragedy of 1855 finally broke the power of the Xhosa chiefs and the Xhosa nation as a cohesive force. There was little resistance to setting up these villages under the regional authority of a magistrate, to whom the chiefs were responsible. Due to a lack of employment opportunities in the region, residents of these villages are poor in the material sense, but rich in their historical heritage and natural beauty in the rolling hills below, the Amatola Mountain range.
The Tyume Valley of today reflects the stability of people living on land that has been in their individual families for nearly, 150 years. Neatly fenced plots in each village emphasise the orderliness of the valley. Cattle, horses, sheep, pigs, goats, donkeys and poultry graze among the houses and on common land. Small church preaching stations, mostly built of wattle and daub, stand among the neat houses in every village. The Tyume River was for 100 years the disputed boundary between the Cape Colony and Xhosa land. [The River is just over the hill from the church shown at left]. A great deal of military activity took place here over the years, and the region was dotted with Colonial forts, many of which have now given their names to towns and villages. Fort Hare and Fort Beaufort, located to the west of the river and valley, are local examples.
The first Christian Missionaries, to work with the Xhosa, Van Der Kemp and Edmunds, met Chief Ngqika (Gaika) in his Great Place in 1797 and were allocated land in the Valley. Van Der Kemp describes the view: “Before this house we had a beautiful field of grass in the middle of an amphitheatre of high mountains.....The ascent to the mountains was covered by a thick wood…some of the trees were above 100 feet high. Above...towards the top of the mountain were meadows of a vast extent, and of a beautiful verdure, and the top itself was covered with inaccessible woods."

Mpofu is a town in Chris Hani District Municipality in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. Mpofu, Xhosa for eland, is so named as the eland like to roam close! As of 1996, it was the seat of a magisterial district. Perched on the Amatola escarpment, the Mpofu Fort Fordyce Nature Reserve serves up staggering views of surrounding landscapes encapsulating the Katberg and Hogsback mountains. Conveying historic accounts from the past, the area is graffitied with ancient San rock paintings and evidence of central escarpment.
The indigenous forest hosts amongst the most diverse and richest species in southern Africa and the reserve serves as an excellent birding destination. Bass fishing is a popular activity as is rock climbing – Fort Fordyce features ten bolted routes with names like the Fever ward, the Labour ward and the more mojo Sector.
The closest towns are Balfour, Fort Beaufort and Alice, all of which are small and quiet residential towns with a deep sense of historical import. This was a significant area in terms of the British colonisation of the country, and continues to offer a fascinating perspective into this very important time in local history.
The reserve was established in 1985, on land that belonged to family of the original settlers of 1820. The homes on the property were built in a classic Eastern Cape style, and have since been converted into guest lodges with a distinctive colonial character.
The Mpofu Nature Reserve covers an area of 7 500 hectares and occupies the valleys and escarpments of the magnificent Katberg Mountain Range. It is nestled just 25 kilometres from Fort Beaufort, and about 20 kilometres from Balfour. It is run by Eastern Cape Parks.
As with the whole of the Eastern Cape, this is a malaria-free zone, making it a safe choice for families with children as well as the elderly, who may not react well to anti-malarial prophylaxes. It is not only ideal in terms of safety and its central situation, but is also a fabulous representative of the animal- and plant life of the province, and of South Africa as a whole.
There are a number of different habitat types within the nature reserve, each complete with its own unique combination of fauna and flora. The landscape is unique, thanks to the natural array of treasures within the borders of the reserve. Some of the areas of the Mpofu reserve consist of steep terrain, which yields an entirely different array of life to those areas that are more level. The reserve is home to Burchell’s zebra, eland, white rhino, giraffe, Cape buffalo and bushbuck.
The mountains and valleys of the Mpofu Nature Reserve are littered with hiking, (as mentioned already) and walking trails. Whether you are fit and energetic or just want to go for a serene stroll, there are excellent options suited to you. Most of these are day trails, but this is also the home of the start of the Katberg Trail, which takes three days to complete and offers breath-taking views and vistas.
Educational tours and guided game drives are recommended to visitors that want to get the most out of their time here. There are also 4 x 4 trails and self-guided game drive trails available. Those with a penchant for bird-watching are in for a treat at Mpofu, as it is home to a massive variety of pretty avian species.
Nearby attractions include the enchanted mountain village of Hogsback and the Khoisan rock art in Waylands.