Today I’m giving you some interesting facts about my home town, Louis Trichardt. I finished school here in 1995 and have lived in Pretoria for more than 24 years. I still have family living there. I must admit that there’s nothing wrong with the town, it’s just too small and too hot in the summer. I do have fond memories of growing up there though.
Louis Trichardt is a nice town to visit for a weekend break-away. It’s also a good town for a stop-over if you’re on your way to the Northern part of the Kruger National Park. There’s also quite a few outdoorsy things that you can do in the area that surrounds it.
Here are 16 facts you might not have known about Louis Trichardt
1. The town was founded in 1899 by Carolus Trichardt (who named the town after his father, Louis Trichardt)
2. Most of Louis Trichardt’s economy is boosted by farming activities around the town. The town’s economy might experience a further boost if proposed mines open in the area. There has, however, been a lot of resistance from nature conservationists against mines opening in the area.
3. About 25,600 people live in Louis Trichardt proper and more than 516,000 people live in the greater municipal area of Makhado Municipal Area (according to 2011 stats). The Makhado Municipal area includes the town of Louis Trichardt and towns and villages that were part of the former homeland areas (Gazankulu and Venda).
4. Louis Trichardt gets its water from the nearby Albasini dam (located about 40 km East of the town).
5. The Makhado Air Force Base (former Air Force Base Louis Trichardt) is unofficially known as “Fighter Town RSA”, is the most modern Airforce base in South Africa and is also the country’s Northern-most Air Force Base. It was opened in 1987.
6. The Hanglip mountain (a prominent landmark near the town) is 1,719 meters high and is the home of the Extreme 19th, the highest and longest par 3 golf hole in the world.
7. Louis Trichardt proper was known as Makhado from 2003 to 2007. 51 organizations representing 80,000 residents of the area won an appeal case to reverse the name change in 2007.
8. Fort Hendrina is a collapsible fort which is displayed nearby the Makhado municipal buildings in the town. It was used during 1887 as protection for 25 artillery men and later 100 mounted police.
9. The first school North of the Vaal River in South Africa was established in this town.
10. Schoemansdal was the European earliest settlement in the district (dating back to the 1830s). The old town is now an open air museum located +/- 20 km West of the town. It’s also a provincial heritage site.
11. Louis Trichardt is only 132,5 km from the Punda Maria gate of the Kruger National Park.
12. The town is only 112,8 km from Beit Bridge border post (the border post that gives South Africans access to Zimbabwe).
13. The town is 108,8 km North of Polokwane (the capital city of South Africa’s Limpopo province).
14. The Soutpansberg Mountains, which frame the town, are recognized as one of South Africa’s 18 “centres of endemism.” Remarkably, this mountain range has a higher concentration of tree species (nearly 600) than any other area of comparable size in South Africa. It even contains more plant genera than the world-famous Cape Floral Kingdom.
15. The Manavhela Ben Lavin Nature Reserve, just outside Louis Trichardt, contains a series of stone-walled ruins dating back to approximately 1250 AD. These ruins are linked to the same cultural lineage as the Mapungubwe World Heritage Site, showing that the area was a significant trade and cultural hub long before the formal founding of the town.
16. If you travel about 35km South of Louis Trichardt along the N1, you will pass a prominent stone monument marking the Tropic of Capricorn. It’s a popular photo stop for travelers, officially marking the point where the sub-tropics begin.
Well, there you have it, some interesting facts about Louis Trichardt. I hope that you learned something today that you didn’t know before.
Watch this space for updates in the Facts category on Running Wolf’s Rant.
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