Hlohlolwane (Clocolan)

History

The first to inhabit the area were the ancient Kwena people from Botswana. Soon the Basotho followed. The Bakwena, a Sotho tribe, gave Hlohloloane its name in 1800. The Bakwena Chief Motebang lived in the Northern part of Clocolan, in an area known as ‘Betang’, today a private farm. Motebang invited the neighbouring Baphuthi Zulu clan to assist his people stacking corn baskets after a successful harvest. An argument erupted when one Bakwena elder charged at the Baphuti's. The argument brought forth the slogan ‘Hlohla-o-loane’ or ‘Hlohloloane’, that translates as “Get/stand up and fight” and this may explain how the town earned its name. Boer Settlers, displaced by British administrative policies in the Cape in the early 1800s drove the Basotho out of the area. As the Boers engaged in settled agriculture the formal town of Clocolan was built as a consequence of the social and economic systems coming to the area. By the late 1800s increasing western civilization was making its mark and trading posts , schools and churches were built with a railway line laid to the town in 1907.

Geography

The town is in the Thabo Mofutsanyana region of the Free State Province in South Africa. It is located along the Maloti route main road, 20 kilometers from the Caledon river, alongside the Lesotho border. Due to its location, the town trades with Lesotho, Southern parts of the Free State, Kwa-Zulu Natal and the Cape.

Most-observed species

• Cape Wagtail

  Motacilla capensis Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  53
• Southern Fiscal

  Lanius collaris Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  40
• Red-knobbed Coot

  Fulica cristata Gmelin, 1789 · Aves
  38
• White-browed Sparrow-Weaver

  Plocepasser mahali A.Smith, 1836 · Aves
  36
• Black-shouldered Kite

  Elanus caeruleus (Desfontaines, 1789) · Aves
  34
• Bokmakierie

  Telophorus zeylonus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  34
• Hadada Ibis

  Bostrychia hagedash (Latham, 1790) · Aves
  33
• Egyptian Goose

  Alopochen aegyptiaca (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  32

Most recent

• M 4.3 — 2016-09-05
  4 km SSW of Nako, Lesotho
• M 4.2 — 2015-03-20
  25 km ESE of Ventersburg, South Africa