Grahamstown is in a warm hollow amidst the hills of the Eastern Cape. In the early 1800s Grahamstown was a bustling town of ivory traders, big game hunters and soldiers thronging the streets. Here are some more interesting facts:

Grahamstown was founded in 1812 as a military outpost by Lieutenant-Colonel John Graham as part of the effort to secure the eastern frontier of British influence in the then Cape Colony against the Xhosa.

The vibrancy of evangelism during Grahamstown´s heyday, has resulted in the City being home to more than forty religious buildings.

Grahamstown is home to the oldest surviving independent newspaper in South Africa - the Grocott´s Mail founded in 1870 by the Grocott family.

Grahamstown has the "tallest toilet in the world" (housed in an abandoned chimney)!

Grahamstown is the centre for South Africa´s National Arts Festival - the largest African Arts Festival for Visual Arts, Dance, Music, Theatre and even stand-up comedy.

Grahamstown has the internationally renowned Rhodes University - which has shown consistent growth in student numbers and diversity of tertiary education.

Grahamstown is known as the ´City of Saints´ because it has more than 50 churches!

The most bizarre thing you might see in Grahamstown is the pre-historic Coelacanth, a fish caught off the east coast of Africa which was thought to have been extinct for more than 80 million years!

South Africa´s oldest official letter box stands in Grahamstown. Though not the oldest letter box known, it might rank among the top twenty of the world´s traditional "red box" survivors!

Grahamstown has the second oldest museum in South Africa - The Albany Museum established in 1855.

The most well-known historical attraction is the 1820 Settler´s National Monument - commemorating the Settler´s campaign for Press Freedom and the need for democratic government.