Category Archives: Love Knysna

Archived news, interviews, jokes and tourism about Knysna, the prettiest town in South Africa.

History of the Knysna Elephants 2000-2018

Mike Hampton Posted on by

2000-2009 In 2000, the ‘Matriarch’ (about 60 years old) was seen by the late Lyall Watson. She was standing on the edge of the Harkerville forest staring towards the sea. This was the last (known) occurrence of an elephant crossing the National Road to Harkerville (Van der Vyver, 2014; Watson, 2002). The sighting by Watson meant that the ‘Matriarch’ was not dead after all, but was elsewhere, in places where elephants had not roamed for almost a quarter of a century. The ancient elephant pathways at Harkerville had beckoned again … Read the full article…

The truth may be bitter but sharing it is sweet!

History of the Knysna Elephants 1980-1999

Mike Hampton Posted on by

1980-1989 By the early 1980’s the Forestry Department noticed fewer and fewer signs of elephant on their daily rounds. It was decided to scour all the reserves in the hope of locating a number of elephants. In 1980, two surveys, six months apart, which involved 20 teams of 10 forestry personnel searching the elephant’s known habitat, concluded that there is only one adult cow and calf remaining. In March 1981, Coert Geldenhuys and Julius Koen, together with two trackers, followed the tracks of the cow and calf from Diepwalle towards Buffelsnek. At the end of the … Read the full article…

The truth may be bitter but sharing it is sweet!

History of the Knysna Elephants 1908-1979

Mike Hampton Posted on by

1908 In 1908, elephants were proclaimed as Royal Game. Thus they were protected from being hunted by all except the British royalty. Fortunately no further Royals passed by (Watson, 2002). However, it is a well-known fact that you cannot protect a species merely by declaring it to be protected. Because poachers usually come from the more ignorant classes, and quite often they will simply not have heard of the decree. Or if they are a bit more educated they will ignore the edict because they think they are clever enough … Read the full article…

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History of the Knysna Elephants 1497-1907

Mike Hampton Posted on by

The Southernmost Free Roaming Elephants in the World Based on an estimated 3 000 elephants that may have roamed the Cape Floristic Region in pre-colonial times, it is assumed that about 1 000 elephants occupied the Outeniqua-Tsitsikamma (southern Cape) area. Over 300 years ago, the Knysna elephant population formed part of a continuous population that ranged from the Cape Peninsula to Limpopo (Garden Route National Park: State of knowledge, 2014). To the nomadic Bushmen, who hunted them with poisoned arrows, elephant meat was a staple food. Elephant skins were hung … Read the full article…

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History of the Overberg and Southern Cape forests (1795-2011)

Mike Hampton Posted on by

1795-1856 Summary of this period: Apart from purely nominal protection and conservation of a desultory kind, from the 1770’s until about 1856, the forests received practically no helpful attention. The timber taken from them was extracted in an unsystematic manner by any who chose to do so. Fire also did much damage locally (Phillips, 1963). During the first British occupation (1795-1803) Plettenberg Bay was also used as a source of wood. Johan Meeding was retained in his post as Post holder of the Plettenberg Bay VOC outpost. In 1797, B. … Read the full article…

The truth may be bitter but sharing it is sweet!

History of the Southern Cape forests (pre-modern to 1795)

Mike Hampton Posted on by

Pre-modern history The Outeniqua region was inhabited by the Khoi and San (Khoisan), who lived off the land for thousands of years before the arrival of Europeans. The extinct San (Bushmen) were semi-nomadic hunter-gatherers. They occasionally visited the forests, but did not dwell in or exploit them. Groups of San hunters occasionally smoked animals out of the forests during hunts, and this could have been the cause of some forest fires in the past which possibly contributed to the fragmentation of the forests. The Khoi people were pastoralists and frequently … Read the full article…

The truth may be bitter but sharing it is sweet!

Colonial History of Knysna 1770-1890 (Part 4)

Mike Hampton Posted on by

The History of Knysna – Municipality of Knysna: By the early 1870’s Knysna had 25 settler dwellings with a population of 200. Also in early 1870, Arnt and Matheus Thesen and their families arrived to settle in Knysna. The Thesen’s had travelled from Norway on their sailing ship, the Albatros, and brought with them much needed sailing, commercial and practical skills. The Albatros was immediately put to use as a coastal trading vessel. The large family soon set to work in the vast indigenous forests, extracting and exporting timber on … Read the full article…

The truth may be bitter but sharing it is sweet!

Colonial History of Knysna 1770-1890 (Part 3 – Magistracy)

Mike Hampton Posted on by

The History of Knysna – Knysna becomes a Seat of Magistracy: By 1848 the population of, what was to become the village of Knysna, excluding the families of the gentleman farmers, viz. Rex, Duthie and Barrington, and their retainers, consisted of a tiny (white) population of only 10 adults and 5 children! But the character of Knysna was soon to change. In 1847 John Sutherland built a stone school building and by 1855 there were 55 school children attending class. The building of the school was closely followed by the … Read the full article…

The truth may be bitter but sharing it is sweet!