one crazy little village
Most people driving along the R72 towards East London ignore the tatty sign directing them down an uninviting dirt road. A pity. The road’s not at all bad and at its end lies the little enclave of Hamburg, nestling at the mouth of the Keiskamma estuary.
When I first visited Hamburg, I was reminded of the villages of my childhood holidays – no billboards, no fast-food joints, no supermarkets; rather cows, goats and chickens sharing the roads with a few cars.
Hamburg was settled in 1857 by demobbed members of the British-German Legion who had fought alongside the British in the Crimean War. In naming the place, the Germans must have been feeling homesick. But gimme this Hamburg any day.
In the early 20th century it was a typical holiday resort
