17/09/2026
Profiling Tsitsikamma :
Tsitsikamma is a Khoi word, meaning “place of many waters” or “abundance of water” due to the high rainfall experienced in this area which sustains the lush natural vegetation and is home to a variety of animal and bird life. The original Khoi San people traversed the coastline in harmony with nature – only taking what they needed to live on from their environment.
The early inhabitants of this region - the current owner of Tsitsikamma Manor’s forefathers –lived a unique lifestyle. The late Stone Age group was known as hunter gathers. Men would hunt, and the women would pick fruits and edible roots to provide for their families. Our ancestors were known for their honesty and humble appearance. Evenings were spent with families, recounting their daily activities around a camp fire, where the elders told tales of legendary hunters and sleepy children were lulled to sleep by the murmur of gentle voices and the crackling of the fire. They interpreted the stellar formations of night skies to predict the weather and assist them in hunting expeditions.
At some point the Khoi-San was known to be the largest population group on Earth, but due to Colonial dispossession, most were absorbed into the settler economy as servants, pushed into the most marginal of mountain and desert areas, such as the Kalahari, or simply exterminated.
European settlement started as early as the 1400’s, when the Portuguese traders came in contact with the original inhabitants attempting to find a spice route to Asia. Over the next 200 years, increasing numbers of travelers from foreign lands arrived, until the first permanent settlement took place in 1652, when Jan van Riebeeck arrived at the Cape.
The Tsitsikamma area was then discovered by the settlers, and was soon seen as a natural paradise. Lush vegetation, giant trees, and an abundance of forest animals was now exposed and used for human greed. The once undisturbed forest, became a haven for botanists, geologists, woodcutters and hunters.
Tsitsikamma National Park was once used as a docking point for boats, where the large old Outeniqua trees were cut down for timber purposes
