In the beginning, the aim was to ride from Belfast, RSA to Belfast, NI; it wasn’t until much later that the idea of “Belfasts of the World” was conceived.
On 21st April 2019, I crossed the start line on my trip in eMakhazeni (aka Belfast) having recently discovered two other places called Belfast in SA and thought I might as well pass through them. The first only appears on maps as KwaMhlanga, and my GPS couldn’t get me there; I went round in circles returning to the same spot four times! The second was my designated starting point, and the third was a spot in rural Mpumalanga, at Bushbuck Ridge, close to the Kruger National Park.
The prospect of 200 kms of badly potholed road wasn’t appealing, but the weather was the deciding factor; it was cold, wet and misty. I decided not to visit Belfast No 3.
Sunday 26 April 2026: Fast forward seven years, almost exactly! The mission, by now has creeped somewhat – as you may know – so finding myself back in RSA to meet my grand-daughter,
I decided to take the opportunity to visit the 2nd last Belfast on my RTW odyssey.
Thus it was that on Sunday 27th April 2026, I found myself with Heather, my old friend of some 40 years, whom I had met on my first visit to Zimbabwe, heading west from Johannesburg on the N4 towards Farm Belfast, Mpumalanga.
The road was better than I remembered, and the weather was certainly better than last time; the rain and cold of the last few days had been replaced by bright, warm autumn sunshine. I thought it would be a good idea to visit the first Belfast, now called eMakhazeni, as we would be driving past it, and then we could retrace my steps through Dullstroom, Sabie and Hazyview as we headed to our destination.
As we drove into the town, I commented that it had grown enormously since I was last here. There was no sign of the iconic monument I had photographed at the start of my trip. “That block of flats wasn’t there last time,” I said, “and it’s a bit run down for a 7 year-old building.” “It looks closer to a 70 year-old building,” replied Heather.
Stopping to recheck the route as we headed back to the highway, the truth was revealed; on the way to Belfast one passes a town previously called Witbank, now called eMalahleni. Emakhazeni, eMalahleni ……!
Twenty minutes later we turned off again and in a short spell we came to a sign that I had missed previously, and then KFC with that monument still standing.
At Dullstroom, we stopped for coffee and then headed over Long Tom Pass, finally arriving at Sleepover Kruger Gate, our accommodation for the night. This turned out to be fairly basic, but clean and the staff were extremely helpful and friendly. Compared to some of the places I had stayed at on my odyssey, it was really very good, although Heather is I think used to more luxurious settings.
Nellie, the receptionist had no idea why the place was called Belfast; in fact the area was known as Belfast Trust. However she undertook to try to contact someone who might know.
Monday 27 April 2026 : This morning Nellie was no further forward in her quest for information. The people she had called were either unavailable of had no answers. While we had breakfast, she continued calling.
We finished breakfast and packing and I resigned myself to leaving with no further info. When I went to settle up, Nellie was on the phone and I could tell by her animated expression that she had had some success!
She handed me the phone and I introduced myself to Ruphas Dombeni. Ruphas is a history teacher, he told me, and his grand-father had lived in the area after WW II. At this time, 1948 to be exact, British soldiers were given land to farm by the government. This particular piece of land was given to a man know and Willem. Somewhat to my surprise, he was not Dutch, but came from Ireland, and he decided to name his grant, Farm Belfast, after the place of his birth. Ruphas unfortunately, didn’t know Willem’s real or full name, so a complete picture still evaded me.
Willem stayed there for some 20 years, until 1969, and then sold the land back to the government to be used for the local population. It was then renamed Belfast Trust, the current name of the area.
Prominent on Google Maps was an establishment named Belfast Cafe, so of course we had to visit. On the way we saw the only road sign bearing the illustrious name.
Down a very rutted road, Belfast cafe turned out to be a shebeen, without so much as a sign; a passing girl confirmed my question.
The staff inside were very friendly, already on the Castle Stout at 9 am, and we spent a pleasant 10 minutes chatting.
Then it was back on the road for the 5 hour drive home. And what a drive! Coal mining is a major industry here and for the first 100+ kilometers the road was single lane, heavily used by large coal trucks; it was slow!
Anyway, we made it and that now only leaves one Belfast in Jamacia, that I haven’t visited. Unless of course ….
Belfast-2-Belfast-By-Bike 