Tag Archives: Outeniqua

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…

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!

The Outeniqua Ghost Train and the little girl who found it

Mike Hampton Posted on by

This short story was originally entitled ‘Die Spook Trein van die Outeniqua’. The title has been altered for the benefit of the mostly English readers here. “Spook Trein” is Afrikaans for “Ghost Train”. The story is written in English but the dialogue is in Afrikaans, making it very much a South African story. When Lelie and her brother, Rennie, learn about the Outeniqua ghost train, the bravest thing that they can do is go find it. Klein Lelie was nine years old in 1942 and she was really looking forward … Read the full article…

The truth may be bitter but sharing it is sweet!

Knysna’s Hessequa, People of the Forest

Mike Hampton Posted on by

Professor Michael de Jongh talks about the footprint of the early Khoi in the Garden Route. It’s a fascinating, educational that explains that the misspelt “Khoi” should in fact be translated as “Khoe Khoen”. The click in the language was derived from early migrators encountering Bushmen. He laments that the Attaqua, the  “light coloured people”, ironically also the “white people”, have been mostly excluded from history. The Outeniqua were the honey gathers. The Gouriqua, along the coast, were the “people of the cattle”. The Hessequa, those who lived and travelled … Read the full article…

The truth may be bitter but sharing it is sweet!