Grahamstown, Eastern Cape, South Africa

Grahamstown in the heart of the Eastern Cape is an attractive 1820's Settler town with plenty of colonial architecture and a dramatic cultural history. The town is rather unusual because it looks remarkably like an English country town with its Victorian churches, market square and wide streets - built this wide so that an ox-wagon could turn in them! We recommend taking the Spirits of the Past cultural tour with Alan Weyer and staying overnight at the luxury boutique hotel, 7 Worcester Street. This offers a great introduction to the Eastern Cape and helps to put your Eastern Cape safari into context. Grahamstown is within one hour’s drive of nearly all the Eastern Cape safari lodges.

We recommend walking around Grahamstown perhaps visiting the Observatory museum with its working camera obscura. Grahamstown is home to the thriving National Festival of Arts in July (rather similar in nature to the Edinburgh Festival). If you wish to explore further afield, Bathurst, Port St Alfred and Kenton on Sea all lie within one hour’s drive of Grahamstown.

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