Call it a tiff or a quarrel, a disagreement or a dispute, the fact of the matter is that the tale behind this town’s name starts with discord and strife, and a good old fight, like most great stories do. The word vrede means ‘peace’ and burg means ‘town’, but before peace and quiet came, tantrums were thrown and tempers flared over one of life’s most essential means, i.e. water. The site became known as Twisfontein (‘quarrel spring’), later renamed Prosesfontein (‘lawsuit spring’), but when the dust settled after the Dutch Reformed Church came to the rescue in 1875 by procuring peace between the two sides who fought over a freshwater spring, the town was promptly renamed Vredenburg (‘peaceful town’). Problem solved. And we all love a happy ending, don’t we?
Today Vredenburg is the transportation and commercial hub of the Cape West Coast. Located about 15 kilometres inland from Saldanha Bay and 140 kilometres north of Cape Town, Vredenburg is largest of the towns in the Saldanha Bay local municipality (one of the best operating municipalities in SA), and therefore the main business and administrate town on the West Coast. During the last few years the town has grown considerably due to large industries, such as Saldanha Steel, Duferco, Namakwa Sands and the Saldanha Harbour. The harbour in Saldanha is the deepest natural harbour and the second largest in South Africa. This has attracted various large overseas companies, such as Ferro Marine Africa, to invest here.
Vredenburg offers excellent modern amenities: superb schools and the West Coast College for tertiary education; various shopping centres, of which the West Coast Mall is the largest; outstanding healthcare facilities and two hospitals; several industrial areas, and great residential neighbourhoods. On recreational front, you can indulge yourself in various activities from golf, hiking and horse riding to bird watching and freshwater fly-fishing at locations in and around town and the neighbouring villages of Jacobsbaai, Paternoster, St Helena Bay, Velddrif, Dwarskersbos, and even as far as upto the Verlorenvlei.
Visit Vredenburg and surrounds during spring to experience nature’s splendour when she starts straightening her flowery ‘feathers’ and strutting her vygies and daisies, wille magrietjies and madeliefies. You will find these wildflowers transforming the Vredenburg landscape as well as the West Coast National Park’s. While you are it, you can also marvel at its other fauna and flora, go back in time in the West Coast Fossil Park and visit the Cape Columbine Nature Reserve and the Cape Columbine Lighthouse – a beacon amidst the rocks, and the only brick and mortar in the reserve.
