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Number 26: October/November 2007
Full-size PDF of cover (472 Kb)
anniversaries
This issue of Village Life is full of birthday celebrations. The villages of Bedford in the Eastern Cape and Stanford in the southwestern Overberg both celebrate 150 years, and in Limpopo Province the old gold-mining settlement of Haenertsburg turned 120 this year.
It is also our publication’s fourth anniversary this month, although the current magazine bears little resemblance to the village newspaper of eight pages A3 that appeared in October 2003. As our distribution and coverage spread across the country, we met some amazing people in the most out-of-the-way places, from artists and architects to archaeologists, dancers and opera singers to film makers, farmers and flower sellers. Along with the “ordinary” locals who had never left their roots, these people all shared a conviction that life in a village is often more meaningful and rewarding than in a city.
The focus of this magazine will always be to bring our readers closer to nature, to other “ordinary” people and to our history. For this we are fortunate in having excellent contributors on a wide range of subjects. Rest assured: there are many, many more stories left to tell, photographs to share and people to meet!
cover scotsman
Lochart Ainslie, pictured here in the traditional tartan of the Royal Stewart clan to which the Ainslie family belongs, at the entrance to the Old Mill clubhouse in Bedford. This village in the Eastern Cape is celebrating its 150th anniversary with a garden festival and more – page 8. Photo: Stephan Coetzer
contents
2: At the office
Letters from readers and other important matters
4: Lost Erica rediscovered
The amazing story of how Erica recurvata, a plant that had not been seen for 200 years, was recently found again by botanist Ross Turner
6: The face of South Africa
Picture gallery: Family members gather in a modest home for a wake for their matriarch – one of the photos from “Portrait of a Village” by Annalize Mouton. View images
8: Bedford 150
Text by Anita Coetzer. Photos by Stephan Coetzer.
This village in the Eastern Cape was founded 150 years ago by Thomas Pringle and his Scottish Settlers
12: Gardening for wildlife
Our series by well-known authors Charles and Julia Botha features Halleria lucida (the Tree Fuchsia)
18: Haenertsburg – village with a heart of gold
By Lindsey Sanderson
This Limpopo village started as a gold-mining camp 120 years ago
24: The Diary of Iris Vaughan
The second excerpt from this delightful diary takes us to Maraisburg (Hofmeyr) in the Eastern Cape
31: Stanford 150: A village is born
Annalize Mouton concludes her history of the founding of the village on the Kleine River by Philippus de Bruyn after Sir Robert Stanford had lost all his properties.
38: Bontebok National Park
Dr J L du Plessis shares some of his many stunning images of this reserve near Swellendam, where South Adrica's rarest antelope is protected
44: The ebb and flow of the Sakrivier
The story of a river that disappears into the Karoo sand, giving life and causing destruction, by Steve Moseley
48: The Tulbagh Drostdy
Dr George Hofmeyr traces the history of this unusual Cape Dutch building
52: Volcanoes on our doorstep
South Africa has many remnants of volcanoes, and more may still erupt – by Dr Duncan Miller
58: The Call of Africa
Nico Myburgh shares his first-hand stories about the African Fish-eagle. Read full text
60: Pasta with sauce, the Italian way
We cook, eat and share some more recipes from our Country Table
64: Tail piece
A tired meerkat takes a nap – by Brent Naudé-Moseley
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