Qualla: Makhanda (Grahamstown)

Makhanda (Grahamstown): Introduction

Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

More than 40 church spires rise above the rooftops. That fact alone earned this Eastern Cape town the nickname 'City of Saints,' but the name that matters most is the one the town itself carries. For nearly two centuries it was Grahamstown, named for Colonel John Graham, who founded the military outpost in 1812 after the Fourth Frontier War between British forces and the Xhosa. In 2018, the city was officially renamed Makhanda, honoring the Xhosa warrior and prophet Makhanda ka Nxele, who led a bold attack on the British garrison here in 1819. Two names, two histories, one town of 140,000 people where the past is never quite past.

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Makhanda (Grahamstown): Frontier Country

Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The Eastern Cape frontier was the crucible where colonial ambition met fierce resistance. Nine wars between the British and the Xhosa people stretched across a century, and Makhanda sat at the center of most of them. Colonel Graham established the garrison in 1812 to consolidate ...

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Makhanda (Grahamstown): Where Art Fills Every Corner

Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Every June and July, this small city punches absurdly above its weight. The National Arts Festival, inaugurated in 1974 when the 1820 Settlers National Monument opened, has grown into the largest arts festival on the African continent. For roughly eleven days, the population swel...

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Makhanda (Grahamstown): Stone and Steeple

Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Makhanda's architectural heritage reads like a textbook of colonial building styles, concentrated in a town compact enough to walk in an afternoon. The Cathedral of St. Michael and St. George anchors the skyline, its Gothic Revival silhouette visible from the surrounding hills. V...

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Makhanda (Grahamstown): Wild Neighbors

Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The surrounding countryside is frontier territory of a different kind. Private game reserves within 20 to 60 kilometers of town are home to Africa's Big Five: elephant, rhino, buffalo, lion, and leopard. All are malaria-free, a distinction that makes this corner of the Eastern Ca...

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