Dullstroom Dullstroom Emnothweni | |
---|---|
Nickname: Dullies [1] | |
Coordinates: 25°25′S30°7′E / 25.417°S 30.117°E | |
Country | South Africa |
Province | Mpumalanga |
District | Nkangala |
Municipality | Emakhazeni |
Established | 1883 |
Area | |
• Total | 30.40 km2 (11.74 sq mi) |
Elevation | 2,100 m (6,900 ft) |
Population (2011) [2] | |
• Total | 558 |
• Density | 18/km2 (48/sq mi) |
Racial makeup (2011) | |
• Black African | 8.1% |
• Indian/Asian | 7.3% |
• White | 84.2% |
• Other | 0.4% |
First languages (2011) | |
• English | 50.7% |
• Afrikaans | 42.1% |
• S. Ndebele | 2.0% |
• Sotho | 2.0% |
• Other | 3.2% |
Time zone | UTC+2 (SAST) |
Postal code (street) | 1110 |
PO box | 1110 |
Area code | 013 |
Website | Dullstroom |
Dullstroom, also known as Emnothweni, [3] is a small town in Mpumalanga province, South Africa. The town lies 35 kilometres (22 miles) north of Belfast and some 53 kilometres (33 miles) south-west of Lydenburg on the R540 road.
Along with Barkly East and Underberg, it is one of South Africa's premier flyfishing destinations. The town features the highest railway station in South Africa at 2,077 metres (6,814 feet) above sea level as well as at the foot of De Berg, the highest point in the province at 2,332 metres (7,651 feet). Dullstroom's location on the Highveld plateau is the reason that its climate is so different from the surrounding areas.
The area was occupied in the mid-19th century by the Southern Ndebele people under the rule of King Mabhoko (called Mapoch by white settlers). Like his son Nyabêla, Mabhoko used Mapoch's Caves as a hideout during conflict with troops of the South African Republic (ZAR). The most violent fighting took place from 1882 to 1883. The nearby Fort Mapoch and a statue of Nyabêla are major attractions in Dullstroom.
Dullstroom was established as the work of a settlement company founded in 1883 by its namesake Dutchman Wolterus Dull, at the invitation of State President of the South African Republic Paul Kruger, to settle Dutch immigrants. Dull, a merchant from Amsterdam, chairman of a committee which rendered assistance to families who had suffered losses during the First Anglo-Boer War. The element stroom, ‘stream’, refers to the Crocodile River nearby. The company purchased the farms Groot Suikerboschkop and Elandslaagte as the nucleus of the fledgling settlement, including housing for the settlers on the former. The village was proclaimed a town by Kruger in Dull's honor on October 9, 1893.
Settlers continued to immigrate from 1884 to 1887. By 1893, the population had reached 48 people in eight houses, served by three stables, ten cattle pens, and a small trading company and store.
While many of the men joined the rebels in the Second Boer War, the women and children were held in the British concentration camp in Belfast. After the Battle of Bergendal, guerrilla fighting continued in the area for a while. During the war, the town was destroyed and most of the settlers returned to the Netherlands.
Only two buildings were left standing after the war, but some of the residents returned to rebuild the town, however. The church was rebuilt in 1905. [4] In 1921, the first city council met. After fly fishing, originally a New England pastime, became popular with the wealthy residents of Johannesburg, properties with trout dams were purchased, which are still used today.
Due to its high elevation (Dullstroom being the highest town in South Africa itself), Dullstroom has a subtropical highland climate (Köppen: Cwb). From October to April, the town sees a significant amount of rainfall (higher than nearby Johannesburg to the west), in contrast with winter, where precipitation lacks.
Its relatively cool and temperate climate has made Dullstroom the only place in South Africa where beech and elm trees grow, which were originally planted by Dutch colonists. [5]
Climate data for Dullstroom | |||||||||||||
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Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 19.0 (66.2) | 18.9 (66.0) | 17.2 (63.0) | 16.7 (62.1) | 15.8 (60.4) | 12.3 (54.1) | 11.6 (52.9) | 9.9 (49.8) | 13.7 (56.7) | 15.7 (60.3) | 16.3 (61.3) | 17.9 (64.2) | 15.4 (59.8) |
Daily mean °C (°F) | 14.5 (58.1) | 14.2 (57.6) | 12.6 (54.7) | 11 (52) | 9.5 (49.1) | 6.6 (43.9) | 5.9 (42.6) | 4.4 (39.9) | 9.8 (49.6) | 10.5 (50.9) | 11.8 (53.2) | 13 (55) | 10.3 (50.6) |
Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 10 (50) | 8.6 (47.5) | 8 (46) | 5.6 (42.1) | 3.1 (37.6) | 0.4 (32.7) | 0.2 (32.4) | −1.2 (29.8) | 3 (37) | 5.2 (41.4) | 6.6 (43.9) | 9 (48) | 4.9 (40.7) |
Average precipitation mm (inches) | 206 (8.1) | 166 (6.5) | 106 (4.2) | 98 (3.9) | 96 (3.8) | 56 (2.2) | 46 (1.8) | 66 (2.6) | 88 (3.5) | 93 (3.7) | 137 (5.4) | 168 (6.6) | 1,326 (52.3) |
Source: [6] |
Inspired by the Bavarian Oktoberfest, the annual Ducktober Beer Fest is a beer, food and music festival held in Dullstroom and is the highest beer festival in Southern Africa, [7] at 2,100 m (6,900 ft) above sea level. The festival is organised by Proudly Dullstroom and the inaugural event was hosted at The Duck & Trout in September 2017. [8]
The Dullstroom Winter Festival is held every July and brings the whole community together. It also attracts people from all over South Africa. Music by local South African artists is the main attraction. The festival also hosts a kid's zone for young visitors as well as food stalls, artist exhibits, and whisky pairings stands. [9]
Bloemfontein, also known as Bloem, is the capital and the largest city of the Free State province in South Africa. It is often, and has been traditionally, referred to as the country's "judicial capital", alongside the legislative capital Cape Town and administrative capital Pretoria, although the highest court in South Africa, the Constitutional Court, has been in Johannesburg since 1994.
South Africa occupies the southern tip of Africa, its coastline stretching more than 2,850 kilometres from the desert border with Namibia on the Atlantic (western) coast southwards around the tip of Africa and then northeast to the border with Mozambique on the Indian (eastern) coast. The low-lying coastal zone is narrow for much of that distance, soon giving way to a mountainous escarpment that separates the coast from the high inland plateau. In some places, notably the province of KwaZulu-Natal in the east, a greater distance separates the coast from the escarpment. Although much of the country is classified as semi-arid, it has considerable variation in climate as well as topography. The total land area is 1,220,813 km2 (471,359 sq mi). It has the 23rd largest Exclusive Economic Zone of 1,535,538 km2 (592,875 sq mi).
The Jameson Raid was a botched raid against the South African Republic carried out by British colonial administrator Leander Starr Jameson, under the employment of Cecil Rhodes. It involved 500 British South Africa Company police and was launched from Rhodesia over the New Year weekend of 1895–96. Paul Kruger, for whom Rhodes had great personal hatred, was president of the South African Republic at the time. The raid was intended to trigger an uprising by the primarily British expatriate workers in the Transvaal but it failed.
Veld, also spelled veldt, is a type of wide open rural landscape in Southern Africa. Particularly, it is a flat area covered in grass or low scrub, especially in the countries of South Africa, Lesotho, Eswatini, Zimbabwe and Botswana. A certain sub-tropical woodland ecoregion of Southern Africa has been officially defined as the Bushveld by the World Wide Fund for Nature. Trees are not abundant—frost, fire and grazing animals allow grass to grow, but prevent the build-up of dense foliage.
Mpumalanga is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. The name means "East", or literally "The Place Where the Sun Rises" in the Nguni languages. Mpumalanga lies in eastern South Africa, bordering Eswatini and Mozambique. It shares borders with the South African provinces of Limpopo to the north, Gauteng to the west, the Free State to the southwest, and KwaZulu-Natal to the south. The capital is Mbombela.
Mbombela, formerly Nelspruit, is a city in northeastern South Africa. It is the capital of the Mpumalanga province. Located on the Crocodile River, the city lies about 110 km (68 mi) by road west of the Mozambique border, 330 km (210 mi) east of Johannesburg and 82 km (51 mi) north of the Eswatini border. Mbombela was one of the host cities of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
Winburg - Makeleketla is a small mixed farming town in the Free State province of South Africa.
Belfast is a small town in Mpumalanga Province, South Africa. It is situated in the eMakhazeni Local Municipality in the Nkangala District Municipality.
Komatipoort is a town situated at the confluence of the Crocodile and Komati Rivers in Mpumalanga province, South Africa. The town is 8 km from the Crocodile Bridge Gate into the Kruger National Park, just 5 km from the Mozambique border and 65 km from the Eswatini border.
White River is a small holiday and farming town situated just north of Mbombela in Mpumalanga, South Africa. The farms in the region produce tropical fruits, macadamia nuts, vegetables, flowers and timber. As of 2011, White River had a population of 16,639.
Rustenburg is a city at the foot of the Magaliesberg mountain range. Rustenburg is the most populous city in North West province, South Africa. In 2017, the city's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) reached ZAR 63.8 billion, accounting for 21.1% of the GDP of the North West Province, and 1.28% of the GDP of South Africa. Rustenburg was one of the official host cities of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, being in close proximity to Phokeng, the capital of the Royal Bafokeng Nation, where the Royal Bafokeng Stadium is located. The England national football team also used this as their base camp for the tournament.
The Bushveld is a sub-tropical woodland ecoregion of Southern Africa. The ecoregion straddles the Tropic of Capricorn and constitutes the southern part of the Zambezian region. It encompasses most of Limpopo and a small part of North West in South Africa, the Central and North-East Districts of Botswana and the Matabeleland South and part of Matabeleland North provinces of Zimbabwe. The Kruger National Park has a number of 'Bushveld' camps, but these are strictly speaking in the lowveld, as these terms are sometimes used interchangeably. Although their limits are somewhat blurred, lowveld is generally restricted to the more easterly parts of South Africa and Zimbabwe.
The Battle of Berg-en-dal took place in South Africa during the Second Anglo-Boer War.
Sekhukhune I was the paramount King of the Marota, more commonly known as the Bapedi, from 21 September 1861 until his assassination on 13 August 1882 by his rival and half-brother, Mampuru II. As the Pedi paramount leader he was faced with political challenges from Voortrekkers, the independent South African Republic, the British Empire, and considerable social change caused by Christian missionaries.
Mapoch's Caves is a provincial heritage site in Middelburg in the Mpumalanga province of South Africa.
AmaNdebele are an ethnic group native to South Africa who speak isiNdebele. The group is separate from the Northern Ndebele who broke away from the Zulu during Tshaka's time. They mainly inhabit the provinces of Mpumalanga, Gauteng and Limpopo, all of which are in the northeast of the country. In academia this ethnic group is referred to as the Southern Ndebele to differentiate it from their relatives the Northern Ndebele people of Limpopo and Northwest.
Molteno is a town in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa.
The Crocodile River, also referred to as Crocodile River (East), (Afrikaans: Krokodilrivier) is a large river traversing Mpumalanga province of South Africa. It is a tributary of the Komati River.
Ga Masemola is a village community about 180 km North East of Pretoria/Tshwane. The area was founded in the 12th century by King Mokwena II the first born son of King Matlebjane II of Batau.
Tonteldoos is a village in the province of Limpopo, South Africa. It is located southeast of Roossenekal and 20 km northwest of Dullstroom, between the Steenkampsberg and Mapochsberg mountains. It is part of the Mapoch land seized by poor settlers in 1883 after the Mapoch War against King Nyabêla. Each veteran of the war was granted 8 morgens of the land, while the rest is reserved for communal pasture.