Category: South Africa

The Africander is a native South African breed. It belongs to the Sanga type and is used primarily for meat production. The breed is usually red with long lateral horns. Sanga cattle, in huge herds, were owned by the Hottentots when the Dutch established the Cape Colony in 1652. The animals were obtained by the colonists who improved them for use as draft animals. It was Africander oxen that drew the wagons which carried Boer farmers and families on the Great Trek of 1835 – 36 from the Cape of Good Hope to the Orange Free State, Natal and the Transvaal to escape British rule. The word trek is originally Afrikaans, meaning draft. Farming descendants of the Dutch colonists named this breed ‘Afrikaner’. These photos are made in Napier, South Africa.