Wupperthal (sometimes also spelt Wuppertal) is a small town in the

Cederberg The Cederberg mountains are located near Clanwilliam, approximately 300 km north of Cape Town, South Africa at about . The mountain range is named after the endangered Clanwilliam cedar (''Widdringtonia wallichii''), which is a tree en ...

mountains in the

Western Cape The Western Cape is a province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , and the third most populous, with an estimated 7 million inhabitants in 202 ...

province of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...

. It was founded in 1830 by two German missionaries of the

Rhenish Missionary Society The Rhenish Missionary Society (''Rhenish'' of the river Rhine) was one of the largest Protestant missionary societies in Germany. Formed from smaller missions founded as far back as 1799, the Society was amalgamated on 23 September 1828, and i ...

(Rheinische Mission), Theobald von Wurmb and Johann Gottlieb Leipoldt, grandfather of C. Louis Leipoldt – some 100 years before the city of

Wuppertal Wuppertal (; "''Wupper Dale''") is, with a population of approximately 355,000, the seventh-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia as well as the 17th-largest city of Germany. It was founded in 1929 by the merger of the cities and tow ...

was formally established in Germany. In 1965, after the Rhenish Mission had gradually scaled down their activities in Southern Africa over a period of 40 years, a decision was taken that Wupperthal in future should become part of the

Moravian Church The Moravian Church ( cs, Moravská církev), or the Moravian Brethren, formally the (Latin: "Unity of the Brethren"), is one of the oldest Protestantism, Protestant Christian denomination, denominations in Christianity, dating back to the Bohem ...

, which by that stage had already made the transition from a mission to an autonomous church in South Africa. The town remains a Moravian mission station to this day.

Village life

The village remains isolated, and is accessible by a gravel road from Clanwilliam over the

Pakhuis Pass Pakhuis Pass is a mountain pass on the R364 in the northern Cederberg in South Africa. The pass connects Clanwilliam to Calvinia. A turnoff from the pass heads southeast to the Biedouw Valley and Wupperthal. The pass is 25 km long, reache ...

. Community facilities include the Moravian Church, a shop, a tea room, a post office, a school with two hostels and a community hall. Most families in the community are dependent on

small-scale agriculture A smallholding or smallholder is a small farm operating under a small-scale agriculture model. Definitions vary widely for what constitutes a smallholder or small-scale farm, including factors such as size, food production technique or technology ...

or livestock farming for their livelihood. The most important cash crop is

rooibos tea Rooibos ( ; , meaning "red bush"), or ''Aspalathus linearis'', is a broom-like member of the plant family Fabaceae that grows in South Africa's fynbos biome. The leaves are used to make a herbal tea that is called rooibos (especially in Sout ...

. The mountainous areas surrounding the village provide grazing for goats. In its heyday the shoe factory, founded by Johann Leipoldt himself, provided work for many skilled craftsmen. The Wupperthal handsewn '' veldskoen'' (traditional soft suede shoes) were for nearly a century famous across South Africa for their comfort and good craftsmanship. A tannery and a glove factory were also in operation for many years. The shoe factory is still in existence today, but operates on a much smaller scale. Tourism is a growing industry for Wupperthal, particularly during the

Namaqualand Namaqualand (khoekhoe: "Nama-kwa" meaning Nama Khoe people's land) is an arid region of Namibia and South Africa, extending along the west coast over and covering a total area of . It is divided by the lower course of the Orange River into ...

flower season in August and September, when the seemingly barren mountain slopes become covered in flowers for a few weeks. A community tourism project offers self-catering chalets and a camping site. Activities include hiking, 4x4 trails and donkey cart rides.

2018 Fire

On 31 December 2018 a

wildfire A wildfire, forest fire, bushfire, wildland fire or rural fire is an unplanned, uncontrolled and unpredictable fire in an area of combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identi ...

swept through the village and surrounding area causing widespread devastation. The fire destroyed a majority of the buildings in the town, burning down 53 homes, a community hall, clinic, a restaurant and the historic Moravian Mission Station, leaving only the town's church and a few other buildings remaining. One woman was badly burnt in the fire and later succumbed to her injuries. Jackie Valentyn, aged 57, died at Tygerberg Hospital a month after the fire. Telecommunications infrastructure was also damaged in the fire, causing difficulty in communication. The fire left 200 residents homeless.

References

External links

Wupperthal

Step Back in Time. The Vagabond Adventures visit Wupperthal
- An interesting account of a visit to Wupperthal. Includes photos. {{Authority control History of the South Africa Province of the Moravian Church Populated places in the Cederberg Local Municipality 1830 establishments in the Cape Colony Populated places established in 1830 Rhenish mission stations Settlements of the Moravian Church