Ficksburg
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Ficksburg is a town situated at the foot of the 450m high Imperani Mountain in Free State province, South Africa. The town was set up by General Johan Fick who won the territory in the Basotho Wars. The last Governor-General of the Union of South Africa and the first State President of South Africa, Charles Robberts Swart was imprisoned here by the British in 1914 and released one day before his scheduled execution. Ficksburg, after Bethlehem, South Africa (the chief administrative town) is the second busiest and important town in the Eastern Free State region of the Freestate province. Its an important agricultural region of the Free State where crops like corn and mealies (maize) are grown. The most important part of the annual crop of Ficksburg is the harvesting of the cherries on the numerous cherry farms surrounding the town. The cherries are harvested from October to December. Annually in November the Cherry Festival is held. The festival stretches over 3 days and attracts up to 30,000 people. The festival presents quality family shows and activities like the herding of sheep, horse rides, camel rides, helicopter flips, steam train rides at Sandstone Estate, tours through town to see the beautiful sandstone building architecture which Ficksburg is also very well known for. There are also tours of the surrounding countryside, tours to the cherry and asparagus farms where people are shown everything about the industry, and airplane trips to the Katsedam in Lesotho.
The flights depart from Ficksburg Airport, 3 km north of the town. Hiking tours into the mountains surrounding the town are also available, where you can see San rock art and various species of indigenous plants and animals. Numerous adventure and B&B guest farms surround the countryside where you can stay when you visit Ficksburg. The town also has a wide variety of well established upmarket and luxurious guesthouses and B&Bs and an exclusive 3-star hotel serves as luxurious accommodation for tourists visiting the town. The hotel has an exclusive French-style restaurant which serves world class cuisine. The Bottling Company Restaurant on the corner of Voortrekker and Piet Retief streets serves world class cuisine and has a rustic and comfortable atmosphere in which to dine while admiring historical photos of Ficksburg and its origins.
Ficksburg is known as 'The Gateway to the Mountain Kingdom Of Lesotho'. Lesotho is an enclaved country in the eastern part of South Africa. From Ficksburg you can depart to the Katse Dam in Lesotho. This dam is important to South Africa, because it annually provides hundreds of millions of litres of water to the industrial and commercial Gauteng Province. The dam is also a very scenic area and is situated 3000 m (9842 ft) high up in the Maluti Mountains of Lesotho. The dam is very popular for boating and fishing and is visited by thousands of tourists to Lesotho every year which have to pass through Ficksburg.
The region is also known as the asparagus region of South Africa. Hundreds of tons of asparagus are harvested from September. Other kinds of fruit like peaches, apricots, cherries and apples are also grown in the region. Livestock is also an important industry in the region. There are numerous dairy farms in the countryside.
The total population of Greater Ficksburg Area is 100,000. Ficksburg is also the capital of the Setsotho Municipal county which includes the towns of Clocolan, Marquard and Senekal. The total population of the county is 160,000.
The town also has a community radio station that broadcasts to the surrounding towns of Fouriesburg, Clocolan and Ladybrand. Setsoto FM broadcast 24 hour per day in Sesotho, Afrikaans and English and can be heard on 93.7 FM STEREO.
Many South African greats, for instance acclaimed author Marie Warder, were born in Ficksburg. In addition some claim the likes of former South African soccer stars Augustine Makalakalane(i.e. current Banyana coach) were born in Ficksburg.
A rarity and treat for French tourists ever visiting Ficksburg is that it has a repeater for Radio France International (RFI) in the case of Ficksburg that would be because of the multitude of French missionaries in the neighbournig country of Lesotho. Radiomonde Français International broadcasts 24 hour per day in French and English on 96.5 FM STEREO exclusively to Ficksburg and nowhere else in South Africa. The BBC World Service radio station broadcasts from London 24 hour per day on 90.2 FM STEREO.