Ficksburg and The Eastern Free State Photo Gallery by Tessa Joughin at pbase.com

Ficksburg and The Eastern Free State

Ficksburg is a small farming town in the Eastern Free State highlands of South Africa. Famous for it's annual Cherry Festival, it also produces crops of asparagus, grain, sunflowers and deciduous fruits amongst other lesser crops. Some of the farmers specialize in cattle farming. But it's most attractive feature is it's setting. The Eastern Free State is spectacular for it’s rocky outcrops of sandstone cliffs.

Founded on 12th June 1867 and named after General Jan Fick, Ficksburg has some beautiful sandstone buildings built from the stone quarried in the area. Situated on the banks of the Caledon River, Ficksburg is the gateway to Lesotho, a small land-locked kingdom in the middle of South Africa. https://pbase.com/tessajoughin/lesotho__mountain_kingdom

Sandstone Estates,( https://pbase.com/tessajoughin/steam_at_dawn ) a private farm which lies on the banks of the Caledon River features quite prominently in this gallery

Behind Ficksburg lie the Witteberge (white mountains) and across the border in Lesotho are the Malutis. The Eastern Free State is a beautiful area and in this gallery I am going to try to show it in it’s many moods. I like to take images of the same scene under different lighting conditions and at different seasons. I shall be adding to this gallery so the images will be random.

'Soutkop', Ficksburg's signature 'Koppie'	Soutkop sunset	"Avril" from Sandstone Estates steaming past Soutkop	Soutkop - late summer and storms	Soutkop winter scene
Ficksburg Town Square	Town Hall	NG Church and Maluti Mountains	Beautiful cast iron on the restaurant	McBrides House
Main Street	Stormy dusk in main street	The modern side of Town Square	Farm	Looking over 'Sheep Rock'
Thunderstorm at Nebo	Road to Bloemfontein	Morning mists at Sandstone Estates	Visierskerf Mountain & Sphinx shaped rock	Road to Bethlehem
Rocky sandstone outcrop	Cosmos and The Sheep	Sandstone Estates wheat and the Malutis	Sandstone ruins	View into Lesotho
Summer wheatlands	Neighbouring Fouriesburg	Scaring the birds from the cherry crop	View to the Witteberge	Snow brings the Malutis closer!
Snow over Sandstone Estate's lands	Sunset, dams and snow over Sandstone Estates	Sunset, snow and silhouettes over Sandstone Estates	Behind snow-capped Versierskerf	Farmlands
Mountains and streams	Sandstone Estates morning mist	Sunrise at Sandstone Estates	Cliffs and Cosmos on Sandstone Estates	Steaming through the cosmos on Sandstone Estates
Steam! on Sandstone Estates	Indigenous Erica on Thaba Thabo	Bird's eye view	Farm Dam	Rooi-Kranz (red cliffs) in the sunset
Meulspruit Dam from Thaba Imperani	'White Mischief' on Meulspruit Dam	'Kom Weer'(come again) Dam	Dam on Sandstone Estates	Steam Train over the dam at Sandstone Estates
Steam at Dawn photoshoot on Sandstone Estates	Sandstone cliffs over the water	Cosmos on the verges at Easter time	Road to Clocolan	Lombardy Poplars in Autumn
St Joseph's Mission near Ladybrand	Golden Gate	Cemetry under the cliffs	Golden Gate Nature Reserve	Towering cliffs
Green and Gold	Nature's Cathedral	Polo ponies at the Franshoek stream	Vendors selling fruit from the local farms	Sundown on Thaba Thabo
Watsonias on Thaba Thabo	Erica Cerinthoides (heath) on Moolmanshoek	Erica Cerinthoides	Hyobanche Sanguinea on Moolmanshoek

comment |

Johan van Rensburg		30-Nov-2012 07:01
Beautiful and professional. Congratulations. I am willing to pay copyright to be able to use some of them as reference for paintings. I am not a professional artist. Thank you, Johan

zak		31-Aug-2008 16:41
wow your photos are beutiful!!! i grew up in maseru and ladybrand and love the scenery of the area! but battle to get source materials for my amature drawings, would you mind if i drew some of your photos???

LESLEY		11-Aug-2008 18:14
VERY BEAUTIFUL & ATTRACTIVE.THANKS FOR SHARING WITH US..

Eurika		04-Aug-2008 13:52
Unbelievably beautiful! Thanks for sharing this, I've always thought that the tourists to SA, miss out on seeing one of the most beautiful places on earth. They seem to stay on the coast or go to the parks mostly. The Eastern Free State is one of my favourite parts or South Africa. I am now living in the Caribbean and really miss scenery like this!

Glen Allen		02-Feb-2008 00:56
nice gallry thnx for sharing

Iowa-City		19-Dec-2007 21:57
Hello Tessa what a good job u have done with this beautiful pictures I have been there before, u posted them just the way they look at home, good job.

Liz Taylor		14-Dec-2007 17:04
what beatiful photos you have taken! My daughter will be visiting next year 2008 and staying for 6 month's working holiday in Bloemfontein with a friend. She is very lucky to be visiting such a beautiful region.

Guest		18-Sep-2007 14:26
Hi Tessa, your photos are very beautiful and atmospheric; as a former "Bloemfonteiner" now living in Scotland (and missing the Free State dreadfully) I was delighted to see "The Road to Bloemfontein" among your collection. Delightful! Heather

Guest		10-May-2007 03:45
Hi Tessa :) Its been a rare treat viewing all your photos. You have amazing talent. I found your galleries doing a search for Ficksburg, in particular the monument to Gen. Fick. Of course, there just isn't a photo on the net of the monument, but your photos more than made up for it. Thank you for showing this beautiful part of my homeland! Tint~ www.tintalasia.com

Jane Joughin		02-Jan-2007 23:52
I have just treated myself to a viewing of all of your galleries. It was a great pleasure. Thanks!!!

Ola		02-Sep-2006 11:15
Fantastic !

Claudia Kisch		01-Sep-2006 21:39
Totally amazing set! Congratulations!

Eldar Kadymov		01-Sep-2006 18:43
Knockout gallery, every single image leaves you in awe ! V

Rob Legeland		01-Sep-2006 15:03
Wonderful set of pictures! Gives a good impression of the area. Very well done...

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