Dullstroom

History

The area was occupied in the mid-19th century by the Southern Ndebele people under the rule of King Mabhoko (called Mapoch by white settlers). Like his son Nyabêla, Mabhoko used Mapoch's Caves as a hideout during conflict with troops of the South African Republic (ZAR). The most violent fighting took place from 1882 to 1883. The nearby Fort Mapoch and a statue of Nyabêla are major attractions in Dullstroom. Dullstroom was established as the work of a settlement company founded in 1883 by its namesake Dutchman Wolterus Dull, at the invitation of State President of the South African Republic Paul Kruger, to settle Dutch immigrants. Dull, a merchant from Amsterdam, chairman of a committee which rendered assistance to families who had suffered losses during the First Anglo-Boer War. The element stroom, ‘stream’, refers to the Crocodile River nearby. The company purchased the farms Groot Suikerboschkop and Elandslaagte as the nucleus of the fledgling settlement, including housing for the settlers on the former. The village was proclaimed a town by Kruger in Dull's honor on October 9, 1893. Settlers continued to immigrate from 1884 to 1887. By 1893, the population had reached 48 people in eight houses, served by three stables, ten cattle pens, and a small trading company and store. While many of the men joined the rebels in the Second Boer War, the women and children were held in the British concentration camp in Belfast. After the Battle of Bergendal, guerrilla fighting continued in the area for a while. During the war, the town was destroyed and most of the settlers returned to the Netherlands. Only two buildings were left standing after the war, but some of the residents returned to rebuild the town, however. The church was rebuilt in 1905. In 1921, the first city…

Most-observed species

• Southern Fiscal

  Lanius collaris Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  1,226
• Cape Wagtail

  Motacilla capensis Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  1,203
• Hadada Ibis

  Bostrychia hagedash (Latham, 1790) · Aves
  1,116
• African Stonechat

  Saxicola torquatus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  988
• Egyptian Goose

  Alopochen aegyptiaca (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  893
• Cape Crow

  Corvus capensis Lichtenstein, 1823 · Aves
  838
• Cape Weaver

  Ploceus capensis (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  800
• Cape Canary

  Serinus canicollis (Swainson, 1838) · Aves
  744

Most recent

• M 4.3 — 2018-07-19
  5 km ENE of Carolina, South Africa
• M 4.6 — 2013-07-07
  43 km WSW of Nelspruit, South Africa