TRAVELBUCKET

BRITSTOWN AND BEYOND

On our flash pack trip in February, we travelled along the N10 that stretches all the way to Upington and beyond to the Namibian border.

Britstown is more or less a dot on the map that is never an option for us to stop in.  Although it was a flash pack trip, I quickly Googled to see what comes up on Britstown and ta-ra-ra there you go!  Something new that I discovered so we had to stop to take the picture before we moved on. 

Britstown was named after the local farmer J J F Britz (with a Z), better known as Hans.  Now what made Hans so important that a town was named after him? 

Hold your hats!  The platteland never disappoints and always come up with some interesting facts and stories. 

Hans Britz met the Dr David Livingstone, who visited his father-in-law, Robert Moffet, when he was on a trip to at the mission station in Kuruman.  Now we all know that Livingstone, although married to Mary Moffet, loved to explore the African continent so Hans Britz accompanied David Livingstone as a guide on a journey into the interior to explore the sub-continent.  Britz, however, decided against a life of exploring and trekking for the rest of his life and decided to establish the farm Gemsbokfontein in the Britstown district.  The town was letter settled on a portion of Hans Britz’s farm.

The old Trinity Church was once the town’s museum, but like many things nothing is left except the empty building.  This is also the oldest church building in town and it is located in front of the municipality in Market Street.

GPS:  30°35’22.99″ S 23°30’08.71″ E   

The Dutch Reformed Church in Lang Street was built by the Scott, George Murray Alexander, and dates back to 1891.  He was the winner of a limited competition to design the Cape Town Opera House and the Dutch Reformed Church Tafelberg in the year of 1893.

Where:   GPS:  30°35’24.33″ S 23°30’15.90″ E   

As we were heading to Prieska we came across millions of voetganger locusts on the road and in the veld after parts of the Northern Cape was blessed with rain. This was the first time for me to see this phenomenon in real life and I was amazed as the scale of devastation they left behind.  Let us all stand together and report plagues in order to save the already drought stricken to protecting their veld as the locusts can consume so much plant material that they erase several months of growth before moving on.  This result in long-term effects on the health and finances of entire regions.

Report any locust plague to the national emergency number to 0824468946.

oOo

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