Memel is a small town in the eastern corner of the Free State Province of South Africa, near the Drakensberg escarpment, with about 15 000 inhabitants.
Memel is located 240km from Jhb and 300km from Pietermaritzburg. Memel is mainly a sheep and cattle farming area, but a healthy tourism industry has recently blossomed in the Memel area.
The town of Memel was laid out in 1911, on a farm between the Klip River and the Pampoenspruit, becoming a municipality in 1914.
Memel Topography
Memel offers many scenic faces:
- To the east and south, majestic sandstone mountains are just a few minutes drive away.
- 25 kms from Memel, at Moorefield, on the Drakensberg Escarpment, unspoilt indigenous forest can be found.
- To the north and west, the Seekoeivlei Nature Reserve and surrounds offer unique wetland and undulating grasslands scenes.
Memel - The Name
Memel was named after a port town in East Prussia (current day Lithuania), the home town of a landsurveyor, named Straszacker. "Memel" is a Prussian word meaning "surrounded by water".
If you visited Memel a decade ago, this name could not have seemed too fitting for Memel in the Free State, because the town used to be surrounded by a typical Free State sea - of grass, instead of water! But recently, Rand Water rehabilited a huge wetland, which was drained by farmers decades ago. One can now understand where Memel got its name!
Seekoeivlei
The massive Seekoeivlei wetland around Memel was declared a Ramsar (Wetland of International Importance) site in 1999. The extensive meandering floodplain at long last became home to hippo again in 1999, more than 100 years after the last hippopotomus in the memel area was shot,in 1894.
Seekoeivlei spans approximitly 3 000 hectares and the wetland reserve and surrounding area is home to more than 250 species of birds, including 15 species listed on the Red Data list. Thousands of water birds annually congregate in the wetland area, making for incredible bird watching. Seekoeivlei Nature Reserve is located between Memel and Villiers, along the Klip River.
Rebellion at Memel
Memel is a peaceful and picturesque little town. But in 1914, Memel was the source of rebellion, instead of tranquility, which earned the town a footnote in South African history.
Memel had not been in existence during the Anglo Boer War, when the British built blockhouses throughout the area. But around 1908, Boer General Christian de Wet settled on the farm Allanvale, just outside Memel.
Many of the Boer generals saw the end of the Anglo-Boer War as a temporary halt in the war against British occupation. In 1914, with the start of the Great War (WWI), realising that the British forces would be occupied elsewhere, the Boer commandos took up arms again. It is generally accepted that the rebellion was largely planned at Allanvale near Memel, and the Memel commando was one of the first commandos to take up arms.
Towns were occupied and property was destroyed, but the rebellion was rather quickly ended, after skirmishes near Winburg, in early November. Of the 190 rebel casualties, 11 was from Memel, including General De Wet's son.
A monument was erected in front of the church in memel in 1915, but the most of the rebels could not attend the ceremony, because they were still under house-arrest.
