Capital of Red Meat
Harrismith is renowned for its delicious steaks, with the town being the capital of South Africa’s top red meat producing industry. Harrismith is also the centre of one of the five wool-producing districts in Southern Africa.
For a cultural experience of note, the Intabazwe Township Tour offers an eye-opening experience into the effects of apartheid. This township has a population of 60 000 black South Africans, smaller than many of the townships in the larger cities. Tours will include a look into the day-to-day lives at township schools, taverns and spaza shops. Local children are eager to impress, and will put on traditional dance and drum performances for your entertainment.
Harrismith Landscape
It's all high grassland around Harrismith as you descend and approach the Wilge River. The road splits and you do a big loop around to the left to reach and then cross the river by a narrow causeway. This is where you begin to see the ‘giants' castles’ sandstone bastions that loom out of the grasslands looking for all the world like the fortresses of a long-gone giant race.
In fact they are the sandstone remains of a landscape that has eroded away that once supported a thick slab of Drakensberg basalt. In between these are interspersed wetlands where you might see congregations of waterbirds in spring and summer.