Harrismith travel guide

Most visitors pass Harrismith on the N3 en route to Durban. The town is dominated by a long flat mountain, the Platberg, 2377 m. Each year on 10 October a race is run up the mountain and along the top for 5 km before returning to the town. The origin of the race is very much part of local history. At the end of the Anglo-Boer War a Major John Belcher from the British Army referred to the mountain as ‘that little hill of yours’. He was immediately bet that he could not run to the top in less than an hour. He duly won the bet, and the race, along with a trophy, was born.

The town was named after the British Governor Sir Harry Smith and nearby Ladysmith is named after his Spanish wife. The growth of the settlement was influenced by the discovery of diamonds at Barkly West and Kimberley in the 1860s, and gold on the Witwatersrand in 1886. Before the railway was built from the coast, at least 50 wagons a day used to stop over in the town.

Today it is still a popular stop for travellers between Gauteng and Durban, either over- night or for a break in one of the many service stations off the N3. Information is available from the tourist office Southey St, T058-622 3525, Mon-Fri 0800-1630, Sat 0930-1230.