We love this time of the year when visitors and holidaymakers enjoy taking photos of the beautiful Stilbaai – like this photo by Cobus Bester taken of the bridge over the Goukou River in Stilbaai.
This bridge took 17 months to complete and was opened in August 1955. According to an article in WEG Magazine, residents and visitors had to use a flat-bottomed boat for their goods between the east to the west before a ‘tiekieboot‘ was used (you had to pay a threepence to use it). This was then replaced in the early 1930’s by the ferry.
When the bridge was constructed, residents had to be convinced that the huge amount of money (£60 000) spent on the bridge with its double lanes, would be worth it. Nowadays one can’t imagine how life in Stilbaai would be without this important link between the east and the west.
Visit the Stilbaai Tourism Bereau at the Palinggat Homestead at the end of Langenhoven Street for more information and photos about Stilbaai from the early years.
Photo from WEG Magazine
