Potchefstroom Accommodation: Things to Do

Privacy, Hospitality and Tranquillity is our motto.

THINGS TO DO IN POTCHEFSTROOM

With the most important birding spots in the area, like the world-renowned OPM Prozesky Bird Sanctuary literally on our doorstep, Cosy Cottage B&B organises customised birding trips on request. Or you can just relax in our lush garden where more than 20 bird species are regularly seen.

Apart from birding, Potchefstroom offers several other nature experiences. Situated in the south-eastern corner of the Southern Region of the North West Province - about 120 km from Johannesburg - Potchefstroom is an ideal destination for the short-time visitor to South Africa. It lies in an area where several major habitat regions overlap. Nature has blessed this province with breathtaking scenic beauty, infinitive tapestries of green maize and golden sunflower fields, vast plains of African bushveld, dotted with umbrella thorn trees, and wide open grassveld interspersed with mixed acacia and other bush.

The Highveld National Park, as well as Buffelsvlei Wild Animal Park, is about 12 km from Cosy Cottage B&B, and about 20 km from us lies the Vredefort Dome. 2000 million years ago a giant meteorite struck the earth near the present day village of Vredefort creating a crater 80km in diameter and forcing the surrounding landscape into a dome-like feature. This is the largest and oldest meteorite impact site on earth and has recently received World Heritage status.

Please contact the Potchefstroom Tourism Association at
+27 (0)18 299 5132
for more detail on tailor-made tours in and around Potchefstroom.

LOCAL ATTRACTIONS

Andrew Carnegie Library and City Hall - two national monuments in Nelson Mandela Avenue. The city hall has a clockwork and bells that were manufactured in the Netherlands.

Goetz Fleishack Museum - The only remaining example of the town houses that graced Market Square in the 1850's.

National Monuments - Potchefstroom offers a wealth of interesting architectural buildings dating back to the 1850's when the town was a major centre serving the Western Transvaal farmlands and the diamond fields of the Northern Cape. These buildings, many of which have been declared national monuments, include the Old Gunpowder House, the Old Police Station Building, the Kruger Kraal Opstal, the Heimat building of the Northwest University (Potchefstroom Campus) and the Old Magistrates Office.

Old Fort, Museum and Cemetery - A British defense position used during the first Anglo-Boer War where British troops were besieged by Boer forces for 95 days. Casualties are buried in the cemetery nearby

Potchefstroom Museum - Excellent exhibits trace the history of the Potchefstroom region with fine ethnographic representation including an oxwagon from the Battle of Blood River. The museum houses a reference library and museum shop. Tel: 018 299 5021

President Pretorius Museum - The residence of MW Pretorius, first President of the ZAR.

Totius House Museum - A museum conserving the life and writings of JD Du Toit, Afrikaans translator, poet and theologian who translated the Bible into Afrikaans.