Festivals in the Eastern Cape

Culture and heritage

Festivals in the Eastern Cape

Prickly Pear Festival
Where: Uitenhage, Nelson Mandela Bay
When: January
Website: www.nmbt.co.za
The Prickly Pear Festival held in late February or early March every at Cuyler Hofstede farm museum near Uitenhage in the Eastern Cape's Nelson Mandela Bay district. It's a day of traditional food such as ginger beer, pancakes, potjiekos, home-made jam, a spit braai and fish braai, bunnychow and home-made pudding.

Sasol Scifest
Where: Grahamstown
When: March
Website: www.scifest.org.za
Sasol SciFest, or the National Festival of Science, Engineering and Technology, is held in late March in Grahamstown, Eastern Cape. Over seven days it features some 600 events: lectures, game drives, a laser show, workshops, sunset shows, robotics competitions, science olympics, school quizzes, interactive exhibitions, the PlayFair, field trips, talkshops and a film festival. Attendance now exceeds 35 000 visitors every year.

National Arts Festival
Where: Grahamstown
When: June
Website: www.nafest.co.za
The Grahamstown National Arts Festival, held in late June or early July every year, is South Africa's oldest, biggest and best-known arts festival. The 10-day event offers culture hounds every indulgence of theatre, music, song, dance, film and a whole lot more. If there's one South African festival you have to attend, this is it.