New mug design featuring towns in South Africa with names that imply wandering around, getting lost, or just meandering without a destination in mind.
Fort Mistake, KZN – to find out how it got it’s name, click here; Riviersonderend, WC – “River without end” In the Overberg region with a few different stories on how it got its name – find out here; Hoopvol, WC – “Hopeful”; False Bay, WC – The name “False Bay” was applied early on (at least three hundred years ago) by sailors who confused the bay with Table Bay to the north; Wilderness, EC – a beautiful seaside town; Redoubt, KZN – I know a redoubt is a part of a castle’s battlements, but if you are lost, then found, and lost again, no doubt, you will redoubt yourself too; Toeslaan, NC – “slam closed” another one-station town in the middle of nowhere; Avontuur, WC or NC – “Adventure” Thousands of kms apart you would either be north of Knysna or north of Hotazel, but which one? It’s your adventure, you choose; Valsrivier, FS – “False River” farming country – maybe the river dwindled to nothing in the dry season; Dwaal, NC – Afrikaans word for “A state of befuddlement”, which was probably felt by the people who settled here. The next nearest town is 18kms away; Loskop, MP – If you are a loskop, in Afrikaans you are an “airhead” or literally “loose head” – you would definitely be lost too; Hazyview, MP – on the border of Kruger National Park,the town’s name is derived from the shimmering haze that occurs during the heat of summer; Signal Hill, WC – On the flank of Table Mountain. The signal gun was (is?) shot from this hill. It is also very important for its critically endangered vegetation. Misty Mount, EC – I guess you get lost in the mist here; Halfweg, NC – “Half road” or “Half gone” In the middle of nowhere (80km to anything of significance) ; Grootmis, NC – “Big wrong” or maybe “Big Mist” either way you would be befuddled. Also in the middle of nowhere; Verkeerde Vlei, FS – “Wrong Marsh” named after a stream which runs in the opposite direction to other streams in the area; Phantom Pass, EC – A stunning mountain pass west of Knysna; Committees, EC – Just west of Grahamstown, on the way to Breakfast Vlei (featured in the Wake Up Mug), In my opinion, the easier way to get lost and bogged down – join a committee!
I have designed a little pamphlet to go with each of these mugs to translate the meanings and give a little bit of background info, so that if given to people overseas, they are not sitting there with this incomprehensible artifact going “What the hey?”