Ficksburg area info

Ficksburg is a small town situated at the foot of the 1,854m Imperani Mountain in the Free State. The town was set up by General Johan Fick who won the territory in the Basotho Wars. The last Governor-General of the Union of South Africa and the first State President of South Africa, Charles Robberts Swart was imprisoned here by the British in 1914 and released one day before his scheduled execution. Ficksburg, after Bethlehem, South Africa (the chief administrative town) is the second busiest and important town in the Eastern Free State region of the Freestate province. It’s an important agricultural region of the Free State where crops like corn and mealies (maize) are grown. The most important part of the annual crop of Ficksburg is the harvesting of the cherries on the numerous cherry farms surrounding the town. There are also tours of the surrounding countryside, tours to the cherry and asparagus farms where people are shown everything about the industry, and airplane trips to the Katsedam in Lesotho. Ficksburg is known as 'The Gateway to the Mountain Kingdom Of Lesotho'.

The region is also known as the asparagus region of South Africa. Hundreds of tons of asparagus are harvested from September. Other kinds of fruit like peaches, apricots, cherries and apples are also grown in the region. Livestock is also an important industry in the region. There are numerous dairy farms in the countryside. The total population of Greater Ficksburg Area is 100,000. Ficksburg is also the capital of the Sesotho Municipal county which includes the towns of Clocolan, Marquard and Senekal. The total population of the county is 160,000. A rarity and treat for French tourists ever visiting Ficksburg is that it has a repeater for Radio France International (RFI) in the case of Ficksburg that would be because of the multitude of French missionaries in the neighbournig country of Lesotho.