Kidds Beach...
The beautiful little seaside village of Kidds Beach serves as a great stopover for those journeying between the Transkei and the Garden Route. Named after Charles Kidd, a former mayor of King William's Town, Kidds Beach is all about the beach, lack of commercialisation and slowing down to a dawdle. The waves and tidal pool are renowned amongst surfers and children alike, and the surrounding hills are covered with a variety of indigenous flora and a considerable number of birds.
A bit of history…
During the period 1779 to 1878 the Eastern Cape frontier was ravaged by 9 Frontier Wars which were fought between the white colonists and the Xhosa chiefdoms of the area. These conflicts were generally a result of competition for resources - largely land - and for control of the area.
As the militarily-dominant European settlers moved inland from Cape Town, they pushed aside the Khoikhoi until they came face to face with the numerically larger and more organized Xhosa chiefdoms in the lower parts of the Eastern Cape. The Xhosa were not as united as Shaka's Zulu in KwaZulu Natal however and as such were never able to present the colonists with the totally united front which might have prevented, or at least delayed, the occupation of their land.
English efforts to manage the turbulent zone where the colonists faced up to the Xhosa included building a string of forts throughout the area. Over time many of these forts have become derelict; Fort Hare has become a university; Fort Fordyce became a nature reserve; Fort Brown became a police station and Fort Beaufort grew into a town. All efforts, however, eventually culminated in the domination of the area by the Cape colonial government
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