The Makana Heritage Route is named after Makana, also known as Nxele-Makhanda, the only Xhosa not of royal lineage to be accorded chiefly status, in acknowledgement of his courage, his leadership abilities and his ability to see beyond the obvious, to the heart of a situation. Initially a Christian convert who went back to his people to preach against witchcraft and bloodshed, he gradually came to the conclusion that Christianity, and the missionary movement, had been hijacked by colonial interests as a means of subduing and, consequently, dispossessing the Xhosa. He called on Xhosas of all clans to stand together in order to resist the political erosion of their land, cattle and heritage, and he led them into battle. The Makana Heritage Route therefore represents, and celebrates, the fact that any person can rise above his or her circumstances and contribute to the development of society as a whole. The Makana Heritage Route reminds us that there are no limits to what we can achieve. No matter how helpless we appear to be, we always have the power of choice in how we react.

The Makana Route spans the last two hundred years of South African history, with a particular focus on the influences brought to bear on that history by the racial, cultural and philosophical groupings of the Eastern Cape. The route will take you back to the Frontier Wars (or Wars of Land Dispossession, as they are now known) of the 19th century triggered by Xhosa resistance to the invasion of their ancestral lands by British colonial forces. Those forces were represented, not only by the British army, but also by the British “1820 Settlers” and, later, the German settlers, brought out by governors of the Cape Colony to provide a buffer against raiding Xhosa warriors. The settlers were given land taken from the Xhosa by disingenuous and ambiguous treaties. The Route will remind you that you are travelling through an extraordinary country, chiselled out by racial and social dispossession to become a dynamic monument to human dignity.

Other places of interest are Hamburg Heritage Initiative, the Keiskamma tapestry, Milkwood Tree; historic Westbank precinct (home to Mercedes Benz South Africa and a race track). Major towns are Peddie and Hamburg. The relics of the old homestead of one of the early African scholars, SEK Mqhayi is in Berlin.