Prince Albert, South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

 (spelt Prins Albert in Afrikaans

Afrikaans

Afrikaans is a West Germanic language, spoken natively in South Africa and Namibia. It is a daughter language of Dutch, originating in its 17th century dialects, collectively referred to as Cape Dutch .Afrikaans is a daughter language of Dutch; see , , , , , .Afrikaans was historically called Cape...

) lies on the southern edge of the Great Karoo

Karoo

The Karoo is a semi-desert region of South Africa. It has two main sub-regions - the Great Karoo in the north and the Little Karoo in the south. The 'High' Karoo is one of the distinct physiographic provinces of the larger South African Platform division.-Great Karoo:The Great Karoo has an area of...

, nestling under the majestic Swartberg

Swartberg

The Swartberg mountains make up a mountain range that runs roughly east-west along the northern edge of the semi-arid Little Karoo in the Western Cape province of South Africa...

 mountains.

History

Prince Albert was founded in 1762 on the loan farm De Queek Vallei with Zacharias De Beer as its first incumbent. Originally known as Albertsburg, when it obtained municipal status

Municipality

A municipality is essentially an urban administrative division having corporate status and usually powers of self-government. It can also be used to mean the governing body of a municipality. A municipality is a general-purpose administrative subdivision, as opposed to a special-purpose district...

 in 1845 it was renamed Prince Albert in honour of Queen Victoria's consort, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg.

Climate

Prince Albert enjoys a beautiful healthy climate with high temperatures in summer and comfortable sunny but crisp conditions during winter with cold nights, reaching midwinter minimums of 2 °C, with frost in places. Summer and winter blend into one another, leaving only a a matter of weeks for spring and autumn. Prince Albert's dry heat is ideal for anyone suffering from chest conditions and many people feel the health benefits of living here. This dry heat may spike up to 40 °C on a few days in the summer with an average of 33–35 °C, and 17 °C in the winter months.

Points of interest

The village has many well-preserved Cape Dutch, Karoo and Victorian buildings, 13 of which are National Monuments. There are several olive farms and other very large export fruit farms in the area, as well as sheep farms, an export mohair trade, and each year the village celebrates the well-known olive festival. Birding, hiking, cycling and stargazing are other pursuits for visitors. The area is well known for its hardy endemic veld plants and is frequently a destination for botanists from all over the world. Visitors also enjoy excellent dining on fine Karoo lamb and cheeses from the local dairy.