Rare Khoi pots found in Prince Albert

Two clay pots, typical of those used by early Khoekhoe or Khoi (Hottentot) people, were recently found  in the Prince Albert area after a heavy rainstorm.  They had been washed out of a natural drainage channel at Waterkop smallholdings, on the outskirts of the village, and were discovered by Gareth Williams and his friend Willem…

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Killed By A Scorpion: James Simmons

In the 1890s James Simmons came to South Africa in search of a better life.  He thought that he had found it in the employ of the Cape Colonial Railways.  He served first as manager of the refreshment rooms at Fraserburg Road Station (Leeu Gamka) and later at Orange River Station (near Hopetown).  He found…

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Tracking hares in the Karoo

William Burchell mentioned that the Karoo “plains abounded with hares.” This observation was made at Dwaalpoort, near the Sak River, 35km east of Fraserburg, on August 30, 1811. Generally, however, few people mention these creatures, states CJ Skead in Historical Mammal Incidence in the Cape Province, yet they must have been plentiful on the dry…

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