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Free State - Eastern Freestate Routes |  |
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Eastern Free State Province A small centre set beneath the high Plateberg mountain a stone's throw from the Lesotho border, Ladybrand has served mainly as the hub of a wheat-producing region but now draws most of its prosperity from its proximity to the Lesotho capital Maseru (just 18 kilometres distant), and from the huge amount of money invested in and flowing out from the giant Lesotho Highlands Water Scheme, currently the southern hemisphere's biggest water development project. However, the town, named in 1867 after the wife of the then Cape parliamentary speaker (and mother of the Orange Free State president), has rather more going for it, certainly for the tourist - not least the superb scenery of the surrounding uplands, the Bushman paintings and dinosaur tracks of the area, and the majestic Maluti Mountains to the east.
Heritage Museum This houses a small series of displays but is well worth a visit for the archaeological exhibits, among which are fossils, stone implements and, most notable, reproductions of Bushman rock paintings found in the Tandjiesberg and other caves on the nearby farm Tripolitania. These are perhaps the province's most highly rated examples of the genre, a luminous collection of animal, human and mystical paintings that give a sharp insight into the preoccupations and beliefs of the world's finest prehistoric artists. If you'd like to carry the experience further, ask the staff for a copy of the fascinating interpretive monograph (they may refer you to the museum in Bloemfontein for this.) You can also visit the caves themselves - the Tandjiesberg, Rose Cottage and Modderpoort complexes - by appointment with the local farmers. Also on show are displays featuring the newspaper and printing industry, old farm implements and an old-style oven, which produces deliciously fresh bread.
Maseru is across the border just to the east. The small centres of Clocolan and Ficksburg lie to the northeast. |
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LADYBRAND Western Cape
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