Free State Travel, Attractions, Tourism

The origin of the name Bloemfontein, ‘Flower Fountain’, remains something of a mystery.

The Free State is a rural province of wide horizons and blue skies, with farmland, mountains, goldfields and widely dispersed towns. The land of the windpomp and krummelpap is peaceful, with a high quality of life, good infrastructure and a low crime rate. The province covers an area of 129 464 km and has a population of 2,8 million – 6,4% of the national population. 71% of the province’s population – about 2 million people – live in urban settlements. Although the Free State is the third largest province in South Africa, it has the second smallest population and the second lowest population density.

Vaal Dam, completed in 1938, is the main water supply for the PWV and minding areas. Vaal Dam is the largest watersport area abounding with power and sail craft. It has the largest concentration of sailing boats in the country, as many as moor in all the parts along our coastline.

The Sterkfontein Dam is situated in the very upper reaches of the Vaal Dam catchment on the Nuwejaarspruit, a few kilometres from the edge of the Drakensberg Escarpment. The dam receives its water via the Tugela-Vaal Project which is a pumped-storage scheme involving the net transfer of up to 630 million m3 of water from KwaZulu-Natal.

The Free State Province disposes of an extensive system of parks and reserves, including one national park (Golden Gate) and more than 80 provincial, municipal, and privately owned nature parks, nature reserves, game reserves, and game farms. A vast amount of wildlife species can be found and you are sure to find what you're looking for.