Griquatown Attractions
Griquatown, situated between Kimberley and Upington in the Northern Cape Province, was once capital of an independent state with its own coinage and flag.
The Griqua were a Hottentot tribe who, under the leadership of Adam Kok (Adam the Cook), a freed slave, migrated from the southwestern Cape to the area north of the middle Orange River. Here in 1801 the London Missionary Society established a mission station which developed into the chief town of the self-governing territory of Griqualand. Among the missionaries who worked in the mission station was Robert Moffat (1795-1883), whose daughter Mary (b. 1821) married the African missionary and explorer David Livingstone (1813-73).
After diamonds were found in this area Griqualand became a British colony in 1871 and three years later was incorporated in the Cape Colony. At this time the Griqua had split, and in 1862 one group had moved south through the Drakensberg and founded Kokstad and Griqualand East.
Features of interest are the Raadsaal, seat of Griqualand administration, the Execution Tree on which cattle thieves were hanged and the grave of Andries Waterboer, one of the leaders of the Griqua.
The Griqua were a Hottentot tribe who, under the leadership of Adam Kok (Adam the Cook), a freed slave, migrated from the southwestern Cape to the area north of the middle Orange River. Here in 1801 the London Missionary Society established a mission station which developed into the chief town of the self-governing territory of Griqualand. Among the missionaries who worked in the mission station was Robert Moffat (1795-1883), whose daughter Mary (b. 1821) married the African missionary and explorer David Livingstone (1813-73).
After diamonds were found in this area Griqualand became a British colony in 1871 and three years later was incorporated in the Cape Colony. At this time the Griqua had split, and in 1862 one group had moved south through the Drakensberg and founded Kokstad and Griqualand East.
Features of interest are the Raadsaal, seat of Griqualand administration, the Execution Tree on which cattle thieves were hanged and the grave of Andries Waterboer, one of the leaders of the Griqua.
Mary Moffat Museum
The house once occupied by Robert Moffat and his family is now the Mary Moffat Museum, with personal mementos of the Moffat family and displays on the history of the London Missionary Society, in particular on the work of Robert Moffat.
Griquatown Surroundings
Witsand - Roaring Sands
At Witsand, 20km/12.5mi southwest of Postmasburg, an unusual natural phenomenon can be observed. In the dry heat, prevalent here, the huge traveling dunes (up to 100m/330ft high) in the area produce a strange moaning sound which in periods of extreme heat can increase in volume until it sounds like the howling of a storm. The light-colored dunes are in marked contrast to the usual reddish sand of the Kalahari.
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