Underberg / Himeville - Southern Drakensberg KwaZulu Natal
South Africa
Himeville and Underberg
Despite rich soil, abundant water and breathtaking scenery, its high
altitude, climatic extremes and heavy snowfalls saw pioneer farmers dismiss
this region until the very last. The original San hunter- gatherers spent
summers here but followed animal migrations to the coast before winter's
onset.
Himeville was named after Sir Alfred Hime, a road engineer elected Prime
Minister of Natal in 1889, while Underberg describes that town's location
beneath the mountains. The five-kilometre buffer between the two settlements
relates to a certain animosity now fully consigned to history. Proof that
all hatchets were well and truly buried came in 1970 when the Garden Club
planted a roadside row of oak trees to symbolise the new-found unity between
the two towns.
Locals have also come to terms with the alternative lifestyle-types who
arrive in their thousands every year for the increasingly-popular Splashy
Fen Music Festival!
The southern Drakensberg presents more fly-fishing opportunities than
anywhere else in the country, with the Underberg-Himeville Trout Fishing
Club holding rights to more than 160km of river plus 60 dams with a surface
area exceeding 400 hectares. The district further boasts three golf courses
and numerous rivers for swimming, rafting, canoeing and tubing. Horse trails
and polo fields add a further dimension to the available fun and excitement.
Himeville Museum was built in 1900 as the last of Natal's loop-holed
forts before housing prisoners until 1972. An open-air exhibition of settler
and agricultural history is surrounded by display rooms housing military,
African traditional and even trout- fishing memorabilia. Further, the museum
is home to a valued collection of San artefacts and an insightful
interpretation of the life and times of these ancient ones is to be found
there.
Hotels - Guest Houses
-Lodges in and near Underberg / Himeville
Accommodation in all categories is available in Underberg and Himeville.
For further information contact:
underberg Links
