About Nieu Bethesda

In 1878, when the town was first formed, the name nu Bethesda was misspelt as "Nieu Bethesda". "New Bethesda" is also popular. Other creative misspellings include: New, Nu, Nieuw, Niew, Bethesda, Betesda, Bathesda, Batesda, Bethesta, [...]

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Nieu-Bethesda is at the foot of the Sneeuberge along the banks of the Sundays River. The village falls into the Cacadu District of the Eastern Cape and is approximately 50 kilometres (31 mi) [...]

Nieu Bethesda is part of the semi-arid Great Karoo climactic region. It has long hot summers and moderate winters. In South Africa, the summer and winter months are opposite to those in the Northern Hemisphere. [...]

The rocks of Nieu-Bethesda are part of the Karoo Supergroup. These were formed in the Permian Period, between 285 million and 180 million years ago when the continents were merged in a supercontinent called Pangea. [...]

The history of South Africa is marked by immigration and ethnic conflict. The Khoisan peoples are the aboriginal people of South Africa who have lived here for millennia. Black South Africans are believed to originate [...]

The Great Karoo has an area of more than 400,000 square kilometers. From a geological point of view it has been a vast inland basin for most of the past 250 million years. At one [...]

The Earliest inhabitants of the Camdeboo area were early, middle and later Stone Age people. There is evidence of this in the Stone Age industry sites on the south eastern plains of the Camdeboo National [...]

Nieu-Bethesda was established by Rev. Charles Murray, the Dutch Reformed minister in Graaff-Reinet. On seeing the beautiful valley with its fertile soil. He is reported to have said “Laten wy deze plaats nu Bethesda noemen” [...]

In 1875, a commission appointed by the Graaff-Reinet Dutch Reformed Church, purchased portion of the farm, Uitkyk, from A.S. & J.P. Pienaar for ₤4000. Plots were sold off to interested parties and the Dutch Reformed [...]

The KhoiSan peoples are the aboriginal people of South Africa who have lived here for millennia. The Khoi The Khoikhoi ("people people" or "real people") or Khoi, in standardised Khoekhoe/Nama orthography spelled Khoekhoe, are a [...]

{nomultithumb} by A de V Minnaar (HSRC) from the Military History Journal, Vol 7 No 3 - June 1987 The Graaff-Reinet experience of the Second Anglo-Boer War is of particular interest in that it covered [...]

The wildlife in the area around Nieu Bethesda has adapted to survive in the dry and unstable Karoo environment. The mammal species include primates, rodents and carnivores. Mammal list Cape rock elephant-shrew Rock elephant-shrew Smith's [...]

The area around Nieu Bethesda boasts around 280 bird species including water birds, mountain birds and several species of raptor and other birds of prey. Be on the lookout for the Blue Crane, South Africa's [...]

Due to the hot conditions, the Great Karoo has a diverse range of reptiles and tortoises. Species to look out for Karoo toad The Karoo Toad (Bufo gariepensis) is a species of toad in the [...]

Species to look out for Gladiator Arthropod or Heelwalker The twentieth century was uneventful when it came to discoveries of new insects. Two new orders were discovered as early in the century as 1913 and [...]

Around 1 000 residents make their home in Nieu Bethesda,. Sixty or so live in the central area and about 900 in the township extension, Pienaarsig. Nieu Bethesda is home to a growing [...]

Athol Fugard (1932-) is a playwright, novelist, actor and director, best known for his anti-apartheid plays. His most renowned plays, including “Boesman and Lena” and “Sizwe Bansi is Dead”, have been produced internationally. [...]

Prof. Bruce Rubidge is director of the Bernard Price Institute for Palaeontological Research at the University of the Witwatersrand. Bruce inherited his passion for fossils from his grandfather, Dr. Sidney Rubidge, who farmed [...]

Palaeontologist James Kitching (1922–2003) was considered one of the world’s best fossil finders. Kitching grew up in Nieu Bethesda, where his father was a road gang supervisor. At the tender age of 6, [...]

Frans Boekkooi was introduced to sculpture at the age of fourteen and won his first major sculpture award (ATKV) at sixteen. He received the ‘Best on Show’ Award at the 2000 EPSAC Annual [...]

Princess Irene Emma Elisabeth of the Netherlands (1939-) is the sister of current Dutch monarch, Queen Beatrix. In 1999, the nature-loving royal bought a farm outside of Nieu Bethesda and turned it into [...]

Nieu Bethesda is an isolated community, far off South Africa’s main tourism routes. It forms part of the Camdeboo in the Eastern Cape Karoo that is identified by National Government as a poverty node and [...]

Sunday Times, 3 March 2009 by Paul Ash Every now and then you stumble across an idea that is so simple it stops you in your tracks. Such as as travelling by donkey cart. Imagine [...]

Getaway - 1 July 1998 by Cathy Lanz There's more to Nieu-Bethesda than sheep, camels and an Owl House, Cathy Lanz realised during a recent visit to the mountain-encircled hamlet in the Central Karoo. "Meet [...]

Country Life, October 2007 by Julienne du Toit Like many other Karoo farmers, JP Steynberg has ‘fossil eyes’. Back in 2000, as the estate agent was showing him around Ganora Farm near Nieu-Bethesda, JP spotted [...]

National Geographic photographer, Karen Kasmauski, gives us her thoughts on Nieu Bethesda.

Afrikaans music group , Die Kaalkop Waarheid, shot the video for their song, Kom Terug, in Nieu Bethesda.