Category: South Africa

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Friday/ a big Braai Day 🥩

“Kom ons braai” (translation “Let’s barbecue”)
A warm, social invitation used in South Africa to gather friends and family around an open fire for food, drinks, and conversation.
A braai (say: ‘bry’ as in dry) is an integral part of South African culture, centered on cooking meat over wood or charcoal fires, rather than a standard gas grill.

Happy Friday.
Yesterday was Heritage Day in South Africa, informally known as ‘Braai Day’ (barbecue day).

Thousands of determined South Africans tried to set a record for people grilling simultaneously. The current record number of 2,220 was set in Japan’s Ishigaki City in 2023. (For the attempt, Ishigaki beef skewers were prepared for the participants. Ishigaki beef is the signature brand of meat of the city.)

As of Friday night, Guinness World Records has not indicated if yesterday’s attempt to set a new record was indeed successful.

From the Seattle Times today, as reported by The Associated Press.
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Wednesday/ a low blow 😁

Here is a meme published in Thursday’s South African newspaper Die Burger (‘The Citizen’).

The kiwi is a small, nocturnal, flightless bird with hair-like feathers that serves as a national symbol for New Zealand.
The blue crane is the national bird of South Africa.

Kiwi: You’re too low!
Blue Crane: Not as low as you!
[From Die Burger newspaper, Sept. 3]
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Tuesday/ an extremely low fly-over 😱

This is DHL Stadium in Cape Town, South Africa, last Saturday, at the start of the Castle Double Malt Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry match between the South African Springboks and the New Zealand All Blacks.
Some 56,000 spectators are ensconced inside the stadium.
The airplanes skimming over the stadium’s roof with some 45 feet to spare for the lowest one, are two Embraer E190/ E195 regional passenger jets.
They belong to a domestic airline called Airlink.
The observers/ photographers on the rooftop had permission to be there.
The ‘pyrotechnic’ effects are made by very fine powder and didn’t pose a danger to the aircraft (or so we are told).

Here is Matthew Klint writing on the website liveandletsfly.com:
Airlink says the South African Civil Aviation Authority approved the altitude and speed and that the aircraft remained within those parameters, so this was not some rogue pair of pilots deciding to buzz a stadium.
That makes me ask: why was such a small margin approved in the first place?
South African regulations ordinarily prohibit aircraft from flying less than 1,000 feet above the highest obstacle when over a congested area or open-air gathering, though regulators can authorize special operations.
Clearly, some sort of authorization existed here. But approval does not make a maneuver prudent.
Airlink has said it will have the event independently reviewed, which seems entirely appropriate.
I hope that review asks not only whether everyone followed the approved plan, but whether the plan itself created an unnecessary risk.
A flyover could have certainly occurred without going so low … but on the other hand, I’m not pronouncing final judgment at this time.
Let’s see if a transparent investigation occurs.

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Tuesday/ a stranded elephant seal 🦭

Happy World Nature Conservation Day.

This elephant seal found itself stranded on a farm near Mossel Bay in South Africa two weeks ago, on July 15. (There were heavy rains and flooding in the area. The seal had lounged around in the shallow waters near the coastline for too long.)

It is estimated to be about 8 years old and to weigh about 900 kg (2,000 pounds).
The beast is somewhat emaciated and should have more blubber on its bones, but it was given shots against rabies and a bacterial infection by a veterinarian from he Stranded Marine Animal Rescue Team. It seems to be doing better now.

These photos were posted on Facebook by the Stranded Marine Animal Rescue Team.  S.M.A.R.T. was established in 2015 as a non-profit company. It is run by volunteers who are passionate about the safety, survival, and care of stranded marine animals.

Elephant seals are deep-diving carnivores whose diet primarily consists of squid and fish, alongside opportunistic prey like rays, sharks, and octopuses. They spend about nine months of the year at sea hunting, diving into the dark depths of the ocean where they can consume hundreds of small fish daily. [Source: NOAA]

 

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Sunday/ 🇨🇦 Canada 1, South Africa 0 🇿🇦

They gave it their all, but eventually, in added time, a brilliant strike from distance broke their resistance.
South Africa dominated possession, patiently building up from the back and then waiting to beat the press at the appropriate moment, though in attack they struggled to create clear opportunities.
At the other end, their last line of defence repeatedly repelled Canada. Defenders Mbekezeli Mbokazi and Aubrey Modiba made heroic clearances, the former denying Jonathan David with an open goal gaping in the second half, while goalkeeper Williams made a string of important saves, too.
– Chris Waugh writing for The Athletic in the New York Times

Headline from The Athletic in the New York Times/ picture by Alex Grimm/ Getty Images.
Canada will play the winner of the Netherlands-Morocco match, on Sat. July 4th.
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Saturday/ stamps of the world 📮

I attended the opening ceremony of the Boston 2026 World Expo stamp show, and spent the best part of the day looking at the displays, and checking out the offerings from the vendors. (And making a few acquisitions— nothing too extravagant).

There was a little pomp and ceremony during the opening of the exhibition. A marching band called the Concord and Acton Minutemen came in. They performed the national anthem for us, and then marched out.
Lexington is known for Lexington Common, or Battle Green, where the first shot of the American Revolutionary War was fired.
This picture is from the end of the opening ceremony, with the unveiling of ten new stamps issued by the United States Postal Service, called Treasures of the Revolutionary Era. On the stage are several dignitaries of the Expo, of the USPS and the Lieutenant Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (The Honorable Kim Driscoll).
A view of the main exhibition hall as one descends down the escalator from the main lobby. There are some 10,000 exhibits with a total of 4,000 frames, each with 16 pages, on display.
An estimated inventory of some $10 million worth of stamps are for sale at the booths of the vendors and at the auctions that will be held.
The USPS is a major sponsor of the show and there were long lines at the counters in the morning.
Prints of about 2 ft x 3 ft of stamps of the world adorn the panels that form the spaces on the floor of the exhibition center. I still have to track down the ones depicting stamps from South Africa. (Do you know where in the world Zanzibar is?)
An offering for serious collectors that also have deep pockets: a whole sheet of the 1918 issue of USA airmail stamps, 24c apiece, can be yours for $13,000.
The 24c airmail stamp from the previous picture was printed in separate runs for the red link and blue ink.
On one AND ONLY ONE SHEET, the Curtiss JN-4 “Jenny” biplane was accidentally printed upside down. These stamps are called the 1918 24¢ “Inverted Jenny”. 
When this single sheet of 100 Inverted Jenny stamps was purchased by William T. Robey in May 1918, it was quickly sold to stamp dealer Eugene Klein. Klein then sold the intact sheet to the eccentric multimillionaire collector Colonel Edward H. R. Green.
Colonel Green instructed Klein to break the sheet up into single stamps and smaller blocks. While most of the sheet was split into individual singles, Green deliberately kept the most important positional units intact.
The Centerline Block of Four is shown in this picture: Taken from the exact center of the original sheet of 100, this block features the horizontal and vertical guide lines used by the printers. This unique centerline block survived intact and sold at a Spink auction in 2019 for $1,740,000.
The famous Cape of Good Hope stamp from the Cape Colony in South Africa, issued 1853 to 1864. It was the world’s first triangular stamp. This panel is part of a thematic collection of triangular stamps of the world.
And here is the stamp that started it all: the 1840 Penny Black issued in the United Kingdom.
These were imperforate and cut apart with scissors. This is one has four full margins around the edges of the stamp. The display envelope with the stamp on goes for $295. So far I have resisted the temptation to buy one!
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Thursday/ †Mimi Coertse (1932-2026)

Beloved South African soprano Mimi Coertse (93) passed away on Monday.

On 17 March 1956, she made her debut at the Vienna State Opera as the Queen of the Night in Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute) by Mozart.
She remained with the Vienna State Opera until 1978.

After retiring in 1978, she devoted her time to exposing young South African singers to the neglected art of Lieder singing.
In 1996, Austria’s Federal Ministry for Science and Art awarded her the Austrian Decoration for Science and Art.
In 1998, she received an honorary doctorate from the University of Pretoria.

Picture from the front page of South African newspaper Die Burger (The Citizen).
‘Goodbye, Our Mimi‘ says the headline, and ‘She was a true opera diva. When she entered a room, you knew you were in distinguished and important company. An era has come to an end. Rest in peace, dear Mimi.’
Statement from the Vienna State Opera.
KS stands for Kammersängerin, is a prestigious German honorific title for distinguished opera and classical music singers.
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Tuesday/ shorter drives, lights out 🕯️

The gas price (petrol price and diesel price) increases for April in South Africa have been announced.

Gas (petrol) prices will increase by 15% (not 30%, as was feared).
The South African government reduced the general levy on gas for April and May to make this possible. Gas prices are regulated and adjusted once per month. Diesel prices are not as strictly regulated, and follow a government-issued guideline.
In Johannesburg, gas will now cost ZAR 23.36/ liter ($ 5.24/ gallon).

Diesel prices will increase by 40%.
In Johannesburg, 50 ppm diesel will now cost ZAR 26.11/ liter ($ 5.89/ gallon).

Two million of the poorest South Africans (3.6% of households)— that live off the electrical grid in rural areas— use paraffin for cooking, for heating during winter, and to illuminate their homes.
The illuminating paraffin price increase is set to increase by more than double, so more than 100%.

Dad to kids: Sorry, but we only have enough gas for Easter weekend to drive down the street to go visit Uncle Gert and Aunt Gertrude. (Sidebar in the corner: Does not sound like a high-octane getaway.)
[Cartoon from South African newspaper ‘Die Burger’ (The Citizen) by cartoonist Dr. Jack Swanepoel]
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Tuesday/ added a page 📄

German stamp album publisher Leuchtturm generally did a great job with their preprinted stamp album for South Africa.
They followed a minimalist, clean layout without the year of issue only, and no descriptions for what the stamps commemorate.

On some pages like the first two below, for example, several versions of the same stamp exist, but there is place for only one. (The stamps were issued on on different types of paper, or with different watermarks, for example.) 

So I added a page into my album with the sets that had stamps with multiple versions. 

P.S. That monument on the green 4c stamp is in my hometown of Vereeniging. Its inscription says ‘Wounded but invincible’. Sculptor Coert Steynberg is shown working on it (it was unveiled in 1961). 

The monument commemorates the Treaty of Vereeniging, a peace treaty, signed on 31 May 1902, that ended the Second Boer War between the South African Republic and the Orange Free State on the one side, and the United Kingdom on the other. 

.
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If one looks closely at the stamps with the mail coach, or the transmission tower, or the green ones with the monument, one can see that the colors are different. That is because the stamps were printed on different types of paper.
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Wednesday/ postcard from Cape Town ✒️

Here’s another postcard that the hopeless romantic (me) had bought on Ebay for a few dollars, and that landed in my mailbox. 
(The seller is actually from Vancouver, Washington State).

The postcard features Victoria Road and the mountain range called The Twelve Apostles from outside Cape Town, South Africa, from the late 1920s. At the time, the typical method for printing colored postcards was lithography, specifically the photo-lithography process. This involved creating multiple printing plates, with one plate for each color, and running the paper through the press multiple times to build up the final image.
Victoria Road was first constructed in the late 1800s by Thomas Bain. The original purpose was to connect the city of Cape Town to the growing suburb of Camps Bay, following the coastline. Later, the road was extended to Hout Bay. -Google AI Overview.
The Twelve Apostles are part of the Table Mountain complex overlooking Camps Bay in Cape Town, South Africa. The mountain range stretches 6 km almost to Hout Bay. They actually consist of eighteen peaks. From north to south they are named Kloof, Fountain, Porcupine, Jubilee, Barrier, Valken, Kasteel, Postern, Wood, Spring, Slangolie, Corridor, Separation, Victoria, Grove, Llandudno Peak, Llandudno Corridor, and Hout Bay Corner. The average height above sea level is 2,460 ft (750 m), compared to 3,478 ft (1,060 m) for Table Mountain. – Wikipedia
The postcard was written on 28 Nov. 1929 and has a Cape Town postmark of 29 Nov. 1929. A penny and a half took it all the way to Oberburg near Bern, Switzerland. This would be by ship. Airmail was available but was almost ten times more expensive.
The stamps are from South Africa’s Second Definitive Series that were issued in 1926.
The sender’s address is from the suburb of Tamboerskloof on the slopes of Table Mountain in the city (Cape Town).

Here is a translation of the German:
Cape Town
November 28, 1929
Dear Family!
Very soon it will be the end of the year again.
Contrary to what you might think, I do not only ever remember you at this time of year. Very often, I find myself talking about you here in a faraway country, especially when we talk about our old school days.
Furthermore, I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year with only the best of health.
Your ever-grateful former student,
John Blaser.

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Sunday/ it’s World Lion Day 🦁

World Lion Day is celebrated annually on August 10th. 

It’s a day dedicated to raising awareness about the challenges lions face in the wild and supporting their conservation. The day was founded in 2013 by Derek and Beverly Joubert to highlight the declining lion populations and the threats they face, such as habitat loss and poaching. 

The Lion Hotel in the city of Springs in South Africa, advertising Lion Beer, circa 1954. Lion Beer would later become Lion Lager. Lion Lager is a popular choice for various gatherings and social events to this day. It’s often enjoyed during braais (South African barbecues), sports matches, and family celebrations.
Lion safety matches. There was a time in the ’50’s in South Africa when an entire little box of 50 matches could be bought for one penny.
I had been to Botswana with my family for more than a dozen times by 1993, and even by then had never seen a lion in the wild from up close there.
When we were there in July 1993, though, one of the locals came to tell us of a lion that they had spotted nearby. Seven or eight of us piled into an open-top Jeep ( ! ), and I took this picture through the mopane leaves with a telephoto lens.
2018 Austria Copper €5 New Year’s ‘A Lion in Winter’ coin.
Artwork by David Pollack, used in Jell-o’s campaign of printed ads in LIFE magazine and others in the 1950s. The lion and a plate of Jell-O appeared in the ads, with the words
“When I’m eating Jell-O, I wish I were a lion .. because then I could roar for more of my favorite dessert! (Jell-O, of course!)”
I took this picture in New York City in 1999.
The Pleistocene Epoch, often referred to as the Ice Age, in Alaska, as with the rest of the world, extended from approximately 2.6 million years ago to 11,700 years ago.
Look at the center of the picture for the lions that once roamed in North America.
The North American lion, also known as the American lion, became extinct around 10,000 years ago along with several other large mammals.
[Picture taken inside University of Alaska Museum of the North, Fairbanks in 2023]
A ‘Hungry Lion’ fast food franchise in Stellenbosch, South Africa, in 2017.
A pride of lionesses inspect a remote controlled camera buggy.
I believe the photographer is Chris McLennan and that the pictures were taken in 2019. I’m sure it is in Africa, but I don’t have the specific location.
On a South African bank note from 1992: lionesses at the water hole, and a regal stare from the king of the beasts.
Luggage locker in Tokyo Station, Japan.
Lion figurine (model #17107) by toymaker Schleich.

 

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Wednesday/ off Gough Island 🪨

Check out this cool 1979 envelope.
It was mailed paquebot off Gough Island, with all kinds of outrageous postmarks on the envelope.

Paquebot cancellations on postage stamps indicate that the mail was posted on a ship at sea and canceled at the ship’s next port of call.
The term paquebot is French for “packet boat” (steam ship, steam vessel) and signifies that the mail was handled according to international regulations for mail posted on vessels. These cancellations are distinct from regular postmarks and are often sought after by collectors. 

Postmarks and stamp on envelope—
S.A. Agulhas is a South African ice-strengthened training ship and former polar research vessel. She was built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Shimonoseki, Japan, in 1978. S.A. Agulhas retired from Antarctic service in April 2012 when the replacement vessel, S. A. Agulhas II, was commissioned. She was transferred to the South African Maritime Safety Authority as a training ship.
Mailed paquebot off Gough Island on Nov. 2, 1979.
Penguin and Gough Island coordinates. Gough Island is home to northern rockhopper penguins (Eudyptes moseleyi).
Neutron research postmark from University of Potchefstroom in South Africa. The main scientific station on Gough Island is a South African weather station, which has been in operation since 1956. The Physics department at Potch University studied cosmic rays. Cosmic rays are primarily composed of high-energy particles, with about 90% being protons (hydrogen nuclei). Neutrons are secondary particles that are knocked out of atoms in the earth’s atmosphere.
The blue helicopter postmark is most likely a commemorative or mission-specific cachet used on mail handled during the 1979 Gough Island expedition. The 22 might refer to a flight number or a team identification.
The Cape Town postmark of Nov. 17, 1979 likely marks the arrival of the vessel there, at which time it was dispatched to the street address in Stellenbosch.
The 4c stamp is from South Africa’s Third Definitive Series
Issued May 27, 1977 |4c Protea longifolia |Perf. 12½ |Photogravure |Fluorescent paper |No watermark
Look at the bottom of this map for Gough Island.
The island is also known historically as Gonçalo Álvares, and is a rugged volcanic island (area 35 mi²) in the South Atlantic Ocean.
It is a dependency of the Tristan da Cunha island group and part of the British overseas territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha.
Nobody lives on Gough Island except for the workers of a weather station, which is usually six people. The South African National Antarctic Programme has maintained the island with British permission since 1956.
[From Wikipedia]
[Map in Lambert azimuthal equal-area projection by Rand McNally and published in 1984 in an atlas by Encyclopdia Britannica]
One of these stamps would have fitted the envelope perfectly.
Unfortunately, it would be 18 more years after 1979 before these stamps featuring the Antarctic skua would be issued.

South Africa Sixth Definitive Series (Endangered Fauna, Redrawn)
Issued Aug. 27, 1997 |R1.20 Antarctic skua (additional value to series first issued in 1993) |Perf. 14×14¼ |Lithography |Coated paper |No Watermark

 

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Monday/ more animals 🦏

This series is still called the sixth definitive series of South African postage stamps— but the redrawn version of it.

The images of animals and birds are larger and without frames.
Up to four different kinds of paper were used in the printing process for some denominations.

I still don’t have all the combinations, but this is a great start.

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Saturday/ the 6th Definitive Series 🇿🇦

I reworked my pages with the sixth definitive series of South African postage stamps. 
The inscriptions with the animal names were first in Latin (1993). 
A new set with additional denominations was issued later, with inscriptions in English (1996).
These pages with 8 pockets (rows) allows me to display all the stamps in one set on one page— very nice.

P.S. Some of the pairs of stamps look the same but they are printed on different paper, with slightly different shades of white.  That makes the ink colors look different as well. And of course I cannot just choose one. I need to put both in.

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Tuesday/ a check with a revenue stamp 💷

As part of the ever-expanding scope of my collection of South African stamps, I have started to collect revenue stamps of the South African colonies.
(Before the establishment of the Union of South Africa in 1910, South Africa consisted of four British colonies: the Cape Colony, Natal, Transvaal, and the Orange Free State.)

Location of the Orange Free State c. 1890 [Source: Wikipedia]
From 1854 to 1902, the Orange Free State was an independent Boer-ruled sovereign republic under British suzerainty* in Southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century. It ceased to exist after it was defeated and surrendered itself to the British Empire at the end of the Second Boer War in 1902. It is one of the three historical precursors to the present-day Free State province in South Africa.

*A suzerain is a person, state or polity who has supremacy and dominant influence over the foreign policy and economic relations of another subordinate party or polity, but allows internal autonomy to that subordinate.

This yellow revenue stamp with green ink from the Cape Colony is affixed to a checque (using the queen’s English— Queen Victoria) that was issued in 1897 by the Harrismith branch of the National Bank of the Orange Free State.

The Revenue Stamp
First issued in 1865 by the Cape Colony | Perf. 14 |Rotogravure
One penny (1d) | green on yellow paper| Queen Victoria’s profile in classical style* surrounded by grapevine and vine leaves in the corners, symbolizing the Cape Colony’s viticulture | Crown at the top, denoting British authority
*Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, queen from 1837 until her death in January 1901.

The Cheque
Written by the treasurer (Charles Truter) of the Dutch Reformed Church on Nov. 9, 1897 to Esquire J. Theron. (Esquire here is the title of a young nobleman).
The cheque is from the Harrismith branch of the National Bank of the Orange Free State, written for an amount of 11 Orange Free State pounds*, 8 shillings, 6 pennies.
*Like the South African pound, it was divided into 20 shillings, and a shilling into 12 pennies.
On the far left of the check is the coat of arms of the Orange Free State.
The cheque was printed by William Brown & Co. of Old Broad Street in London.
Security features at the time included the fine print at the bottom of the check, and so-called fugitive printing, that would use ink that would change, fade, or disappear under specific conditions, if it was tampered with.
The revenue stamp was affixed to the cheque on Nov. 15.
The check was stamped ‘Paid’ on Nov. 19. It seems Esquire Theron had the amount of the check paid into his account at the African Banking Corporation Ltd. in the town of Worcester in the Cape Colony.
A hole was punched in the check to also indicate it has been cashed.

The signature of Esq. J. Theron on the back of the checque.
Let’s take a closer look at the coat of arms of the Orange Free State printed on the far left of the check.
VRYHEID (freedom) at the top, and GEDULD EN MOED (patience and courage) on the ribbon.
IMMIGRATIE (immigration) at the bottom, presumably a call to Europeans, or settlers from other South African colonies to emigrate to the Orange Free State colony.
The livestock look like cattle (the OFS coat if arms image on Wikipedia shows sheep).
The lion on the right must mean ‘courage’, right?
The ox wagon signifies the trek that the pioneers made from the Cape Colony to escape British rule, to establish their own independent Orange Free State republic.
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Saturday/ hello kitty (don’t eat me) 🦁

A reader sent in this set of photos to the South African newspaper Die Burger (The Citizen).

Kitty of the Kgalagadi
The reader Estelle Jordaan writes:
“A once-in-a-lifetime experience .. we were in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park (in the Kalahari Desert region of Botswana and South Africa, bordering Namibia to the west).
On our early morning drive from Nossob (at Marie se Draai) we came across seven young lionesses who came walking up the road from the front. One was very curious and approached our vehicle. The next moment she first stood with her paws on our pickup’s runner board, and then upright against the pickup with a ‘high five’ with one paw against the window (luckily the window was closed!). Then she decided she wanted to explore the side mirror more closely and taste it… the damage to the mirror? A small tooth hole, and a few light scratches– but we rather see it as lasting evidence of the best memory so far.”
[Photos by Estelle Jordaan. Published in Die Burger newspaper online, Thursday Jul. 10, 2025]
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Friday/ Nelson Mandela International Day 🕊️

Happy Friday.
It is Nelson Mandela International Day— the annual international day in honor of Nelson Mandela, celebrated each year on 18 July, his birthday.

Inauguration of President Nelson Mandela (May 10, 1994)
Issued May 10, 1994
Perf. 14½x14 | Des. Liza van der Wal | Litho. | No Watermark
882 A293 45c | Photo image of Mandela
[Source: 2021 Scott Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue, Vol. 6A]
50th Anniversary of the Rivonia Trial
Issued Nov 26, 2013
Perf. 14¾x14½ | Des. Marie Vermeulen‑Breedt | Litho. | 12 Booklet panes of Rivionia trial defendants with 1 stamp each | No Watermark
1510 A547 Standard Postage (R2.80) | Photo image of Mandela as defendant at Rivonia Trial
[Source: 2021 Scott Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue, Vol. 6A]
P.S. From Wikipedia: The Rivonia Trial was a trial that took place in apartheid-era South Africa between 9 October 1963 and 12 June 1964, after a group of anti-apartheid activists were arrested on Liliesleaf Farm in Rivonia. The farm had been the secret location for meetings of uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK), the newly-formed armed wing of the African National Congress.
Speaking in the dock of the court on 20 April 1964 during the trial, Mandela said: During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to this struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.

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Monday/ stamps from Venda 🐘

The stamps of last of the four South African homelands that issued stamps, made it into my album: those of Venda.  (A sample below).

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa’s parents were of the Venda ethnicity. The Venda people reside primarily in the Limpopo province of South Africa, near the border with Zimbabwe. They have a rich and distinctive culture, including a unique language called Tshivenda or LuVenda (I see it is simply called ‘Venda’ on Google Translate). 

Venda, officially the Republic of Venda, was a Bantustan that was declared independent by the apartheid regime of South Africa in 1979. (In the far north of South Africa on the map).
On 27 April 1994, independent Venda ceased to exist as it was reintegrated into South Africa to became part of modern-day Limpopo Province.
Venda’s stamps were still valid for postage, though— the 16c stamp below on the last page has a 1997 cancellation.

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Tuesday/ a successful cruise season in Cape Town 🛳️

South African newspaper Die Burger (‘The Citizen’) reports that Cape Town has had a very successful 2024/25 cruise season. A total of 83 cruise ships visited the cruise terminal at the V&A Waterfront , of which 11 were there for the first time.

The cruise terminal saw an increase of 16% in terms of passengers and crew numbers over last year. (The 2023/24 season generated US$ 67.4 million for the regional economy and supported 2,000 jobs. The numbers for 2024/25 are still being compiled).

A sign at the cruise terminal at the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town.
[Picture from Facebook/Wesgro]
The 2024/25 cruise season in Cape Town concluded with the departure of the Crown Princess from the cruise terminal at the V&A Waterfront on June 29.
The Crown Princess is currently on a 60-day world cruise that began on May 31, 2025, in Auckland, New Zealand. She is scheduled to arrive in Dover, England, on July 30, 2025.
The ship’s itinerary was adjusted last week due to stormy weather conditions around Cape Town and Walvis Bay.
As a result, her arrival in Walvis Bay, Namibia, was delayed until July 1, and she subsequently bypassed Mindelo, Cape Verde (Cabo Verde).
[Picture from Facebook/ Wesgro]

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Saturday/ stamps from Bophuthatswana 🐆

My set of Bophuthatswana stamps are in the stamp album.
Below are the first two pages of stamps, including the colorful set of first definitives that feature stylized African animals as totems for Bophuthatswana clans.

Bophuthatswana was a homeland in South Africa that gained nominal independence in 1977.
Its citizens suffered a number of political crises during its existence (see below).
By 1994 the homelands experiment was over, and Bophuthatswana was reincorporated into South Africa along with all the other homelands.

•  Self-government 1 June 1972
• Nominal Independence 6 December 1977
• Coup d’état 10 February 1988
• Coup attempt 1990
• 1994 Bophuthatswana crisis
• Dissolution 27 April 1994

Also see a previous post for Ciskei.

Bophuthatswana (lit. ’gathering of the Tswana people’), officially the Republic of Bophuthatswana (Tswana: Repaboleki ya Bophuthatswana; Afrikaans: Republiek van Bophuthatswana), and colloquially referred to as ‘Bop’ was a Bantustan (also known as “Homeland”, an area set aside for members of a specific ethnicity) that was declared (nominally) independent by the apartheid regime of South Africa in 1977.
However, like the other Bantustans of Ciskei, Transkei and Venda, its independence was not recognized by any country other than South Africa.
[Source: Wikipedia]