Trip To Hanover, Northern Cape, South Africa

This weekend we are off to see Hanover in Northern Cape, South Africa. I have been going around telling my mates that I am off to Hanover and only when they ask about flight details I tell them that it is not the one in Germany but the one in Northern Cape.

Hanover is currently known as the centre of everything in South Africa. It is half way between Johannesburg and Cape Town and round about half way between Durban and Cape Town. It is also close enough to Bloemfontein and Upington. During the gold and diamond rush in South Africa it was a crucial stopping centre for wagons going from the mine fields to Cape Town. Once the railways were developed in 1884 the town fell slightly off the map.

Crazy Eddie is going to let us stay at his Hanover Lodge hotel and we will try to behave. Not that Crazy Eddie is known to behave; he must be the wildest old man that I have ever met. His son Ryan is not much better. So we are in for a great time.

Our itinerary has been given to us and I have included it below. You can never over plan a trip. Just make sure that if you decide to lie in for the day you are not going to be mortified that you have missed something. Plan huge breaks of doing very little and for contingencies.

Outside of the itinerary I would like to go to see the Hanover Museum which is falling apart, Schreiner House where the amazing Olive Schreiner and her husband lived from 1900 to 1907, the cemetery at the outskirts of the town where there is a pyramid to commemorate 3 young adults that were put to death by the British Army because they were accused of derailing a train. The youngsters were innocent and to remember them this pyramid was built, there is another pyramid that was built to remember the first magistrate in Hanover, Charles Richard Beere, who was a progressive thinker who got the residents to plant trees and build a footpath up the Trappieskop, Leivoortjies that was built from The Fountain to irrigate the gardens of the whole town, etc. There is so much to do.

  

ITINERARY

Friday 06 August

• Dinner on the road

Saturday 07 August

• Option to view Husky Sled Dog Trials - 07h00 at the Colesburg Air Strip (Sat & Sun) Advised to go earlier rather than later as dogs perform best in cooler temperatures. 
• Pop into the Morning Street Market in front of the Hotel.Starts approx. 08h30 until approx. 12 noon. 
• Breakfast in the dining room 08h00 – 09h00

Drive to Nieu Bethesda

• Geocache on route Lootsberg Pass (1781m) 
• Go the Owl house
• Walk throuth the riverbead to see ancient fossils and go to the museum
• Then we can go for lunch at the sneeuberg brewery.
• Hedge maze
• Geocache in Nieu Bethesda

Back in Hanover

• Supper in the Baa-aar (Hanover Lodge Hotel)
• Honesty Bar – please sign for all your drinks and coffees
• Various games and puzzles available in the Baa-aar
• Books and magazines in the lounge
• DSTV in Baa-aar and Lounge

Sunday 08 August

• Option to view Husky Sled Dog Trials - 07h00 at the Colesburg Air Strip (Sat & Sun) Advised to go earlier rather than later as dogs perform best in cooler temperatures.  
• Option to visit one of the nearby farms to see the farm, the sheep and the alpacas used to keep jackals away from the sheep.
• Option to visit the hippos at New Holme Guest Farm late in the afternoon.
• Re-introduced into the Seekoei River after many years absence in the Karoo.
• Breakfast in the dining room 08h00 – 09h00
• Lazy day in Hanover:
• Walk up Trappieskop and view the town
• Visit British foxhole and do the geocache Tonteldoos XVIII
• Walk to Die Oog (fountain)
• See the typical Karoo architecture
• Late afternoon lunch in the Baa-aar
• Honesty Bar

Monday 09 August

• Breakfast in the dining room 08h00 – 09h00
• Depart Hanover approx. 11h00