Dairy of the Eastern Cape
Humansdorp, which is a bumpy 30km drive into the interior from Oyster Bay, is a hive of farming activity. The town was founded in 1849 by Johannes and Matthys Human around the Dutch Reformed congregation at the time, and today about 30 000 souls call it home.
It’s a no-frills place that is all about things that work. Aside from the usual chain stores, the town has a co-op, hotel, hospital, diesel mechanics, butchers, banks and churches. In short, all that is needed to keep the farming community going.
Humansdorp is known as the dairy of the Eastern Cape for good reason: milk production is the main enterprise around here. Woodlands Dairy, one of the largest in the country, markets its products as First Choice on shop shelves – it is the main driver behind the local economy.
As you’d expect from a working farm town, it’s busy all year round. But it’s not only diesel bakkies you’d find along the main street. Since the town is right beside the N2, everyone travelling to the coastal towns has to drive through Humansdorp.
“It looks so busy because we’re next to the highway,” says Andrew Melville of Humansdorp Boutique Hotel. “But it really is a peaceful place.”
The town may not be as dependent on the December tourist injection as the coastal towns are, he says, but there is plenty of foot and vehicle traffic during peak season. “Many people who cannot find a place to stay at the coast book accommodation in Humansdorp. We’re not complaining. It’s what makes this such a great place, the fact that it is so central.”
Humansdorp residents who travel the 20km to the coast along the R330 don’t only do so to work on their tans – many of them work in St Francis Bay. “The town has expanded a lot – it’s very smart,” says Andrew. “But this place has a tight-knit community; it has a different kind of appeal.”
“We live in the platteland-by-thesea,” says Rudi van Wyk, who runs >