The Firefly Photo Files is a finalist in the 2014 Bloggies awards

Imagine my excitement when I was told the other day that The Firefly Photo Files has been selected as one of five finalists as Best African Weblog in the fourteenth annual Weblog (Bloggies) Awards.  This is where I would like to ask for some help from you.  Public voting plays a major role in how the winner gets chosen and I need all of you as well as your spouses / partners / moms / dads / kids / uncles / aunts / grannies / friends / co-workers and anybody following you on social media to please go and vote.  "How do you do it?" you ask.  Well, here are 7 easy steps. 

 

1. Go to the Bloggies Website: http://2014.bloggi.es/

2. Scroll toward a bit to Best African Weblog.  The order of the blogs changes, so it may be in a different order.

 

3. Find the “The Firefly Photo Files" blog

 

 

4. Click on the small round grey box at the bottom right of the thumbnail.

 

5. Scroll to the bottom of the page and submit your email information.

 

6. Check your email:

 

7. Confirm vote:

 

 

       

Voting is open until 28 March so please check back March 31 for the winners!  Only one vote is allowed per email address so if you have a couple please vote a couple of times.  To those who decided not to go and vote, thanks for at least reading this far.  For those who do vote, thank you so very much.  For those who vote and get others to vote by sharing this post or just asking them to do so, you truly are my heroes.

Karoo storm moving in

The Karoo is known as blue sky country.  That means when the thunder clouds start to pack together after a hot day there is lots of sky to watch the approaching storm in.  Like this one I witnessed just after leaving Cradock on my way back to Port Elizabeth.  I can just smell the drops splashing down on the hot tar road again.  Its one of my five favorite smells along with the smell of cut grass, fresh bread, the ocean and a damp forest.  What's you favorite smell?

 

Cradock Tuishuise

 

I often wonder how many people who have visited Cradock would never have stayed over in the town if it wasn't for the Tuishuise.  The Tuishuise on Market Square was built between 1840 and 1870 and housed artisans like harness makers, wheelwrights, smithies and carpenters who made a living from the horses, oxen and wagons passing through on their way north.  Unfortunately by the early 1900's oxen and wagons where replaced by trains and cars and the artisans started to loose their livelihood.  The reason the houses never really changed in style was because the people living there became too poor to knock them down and change them.  In the early 1980's Sandra Antrobus, a local farmer's wife with a keen interest in antiques and historic buildings bought a couple of the old houses, restored them and started renting them out to visitors and tourists.

Today those handful of houses has grown to 30 tuishuise and a hotel.  The hotel on the corner of Market Street right next to the Tuishuise is the Victoria (Manor) Hotel which was built in 1840 and is one of the oldest surviving hotels in South Africa.  The hotel was graced by many legendary South African figures like Cecil John Rhodes and Olive Schreiner back in the days.  Today visitors can either stay in the hotel or one of the refurbished Karoo cottages (or Tuishuise) with personal hospitality like only found in small towns.  Die Tuishuise are all furnished with antique furniture yet have all the amenities one would need from a self catering establishment.  Meals, both dinner and breakfast, can be enjoyed in the hotel, where one of the local farmers used to ride his horse right up to the bar for his daily knerts.  The horse by the way got served beer in a hubcap.

I've now had the privilege (and it really is a privilege) to stay at Tuishuise twice, once with the family and once while on business.  Its a great spot to just chill for a day or two while exploring Cradock and it's surrounds.  Cradock has a number of historic and natural attractions to enjoy with the highlight being the Mountain Zebra National Park just outside the town.  Plus the town has a couple of Geocaches to find, on being right on Market Street.

"South Africa is different" promotional video

South Africa is a popular tourist destination and visitors often just come here for the scenery and wildlife, leaving with so much more.  South Africa has some of the most beautiful scenery in the world and the wildlife experiences are unequalled, but it's also about the people, the cultures, the food, the rural country side and the urban vibe.  One thing that many people don't expect is how modern South Africa is, how you can go from a small village in the middle of nowhere to a big city with all the amenities you need.  One thing always stays the same no matter where you go, and that is the people and their hospitality.  The you who leaves South Africa won't be the same as the you who arrived. 

 

Enjoy this promotional video by SA Tourism.

Cradock's Mother Church

The Dutch Reformed Church at the top of Church Street in Cradock is probably this Karoo town's most imposing landmark.  The first Dutch Reformed congregation in the town was established in 1824 and the church was the town's first.  Paul Kruger, who went on to become the President of the Transvaal Republic, who was born on a farm near Bulhoek south of Queenstown in 1826 was christened (by a Welsh pastor) in the original church and his name appears in the register.

 

The present building, the "Moederkerk" (mother church), as it stands today was completed on the same site as the first church in 1868 at an apparent cost of some £ 24 500 .  The design was based on the ``St Martins-in-the-Fields" church in Trafalgar Square in London.  An interesting fact is that during the Anglo-Boer War, the roof of the church was used as a look-out post by the British soldiers who occupied the town.

South Africa's National Anthem - Nkosi Sikelele' iAfrika

South Africa's National Anthem is a combination of Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika ("Lord Bless Africa" in Xhosa) and the previous national anthem, Die Stem van Suid-Afrika ("The Call of South Africa" in Afrikaans).   The anthem as we sing it today has been in use since 1996 when it was released as the new national anthem of South Africa under the new constitution.  The anthem uses several of the official languages of South Africa.  The first two lines of the first stanza are sung in Xhosa and the last two in Zulu. The second stanza is sung in Sesotho with the third stanza consisting of a section of the original South African national anthem sung in Afrikaans. The fourth and final stanza is in English and is also based on Die Stem van Suid-Afrika.

Nkosi sikelel' iAfrika
Maluphakanyisw' uphondo lwayo,

Yizwa imithandazo yethu,

Nkosi sikelela, thina lusapho lwayo.

 

 Morena boloka setjhaba sa heso,
O fedise dintwa le matshwenyeho,
O se boloke, O se boloke setjhaba sa heso,
Setjhaba sa, South Afrika — South Afrika.

 

Uit die blou van onse hemel,

Uit die diepte van ons see,
Oor ons ewige gebergtes,
Waar die kranse antwoord gee,

 

Sounds the call to come together,

And united we shall stand,
Let us live and strive for freedom

In South Africa our land.

Cradock celebrates 200 years

Cradock is one of the main towns in the Karoo Heartland and this year celebrates 200 years since being founded.  By the late 1700's Graaff-Reinet had been established as a magistrate district and Dutch farmers has settled in the area.  In 1814 Sir John Cradock decided to build a series of forts along the lower Fish River and all the way up to present day Cradock to try to contain the Xhosa people to the East of the Fish River which by then had been proclaimed the boundary by the Government of the Cape.  Although Cradock started as a fort it never saw any action and slowly developed as a town. 

 

In the early days the town was home to a number of artisans but today is very much central to farming in the district.  The Karoo produces some of the best wool and mohair in the world and is a major meat supplier (lamb and beef) with the Karoo bush imparting that typical Karoo flavour to the mutton. 

 

Tourism in the town revolves around three things, its history, the nearby Mountain Zebra National Park and the Great Fish River that flows past the town.  Cradock is also an ideal stop-over for travelers on their way to and from the coast.

The picture of Cradock was taken from the summit of Oukop to the north-west of town.