The town of Riversdale rests comfortably in the shade of marvellous Sleeping Beauty, a mountain peak in the Langeberg Mountain which resembles the facial features of a lady with her forehead, eyelashes, nose, mouth, and chin on display.
Riversdale is well known in South Africa as one of the towns within the Cape Floral Kingdom. The town is located about 300km east from Cape Town and about 130km west from George, with the N2 Highway conveniently traversing the town.
Riversdale is a popular destination within the Western Cape and Garden Route, with the town connecting the N2 Highway and the R62 via the picturesque Garcia’s Mountain Pass. This Pass is also a birding hotspot, with the sighting of various species along the route and adjoining farm and mountain areas. The town is home to various tourist attractions including the Julius Gordon Africana Centre, Sleeping Beauty Hiking Trail and various art experiences. The town is also home to a variety of accommodation establishment, eateries, filling stations, grocery and retail stores, health and wellness services, various public services, and excellent educational and training institutions.
Agriculture is the heartbeat of the town, and the annual Riversdale Agricultural Show celebrates the diverse agricultural sector. The town is well-known as a Protea exporter with agritourism being a growing sub-sector. The residents of Riversdale are friendly and passionate about sport, especially rugby, athletics, cricket, and soccer and has recently produced individual and team champions in school sports of high jump, athletics and tug-of-war.
The Kwêla Dorp Van Die Jaar / Town of The Year semi-finalist status brings about a renewed focus on domestic tourism, authentic tourist experiences and hidden gems, which small tourist towns like Riversdale are renowned for.
The town with the most votes will represent the competition region (Province) as their finalist town in the final round. Kwêla will film an insert in each of the nine villages that made it to the final round. When all nine towns have been featured on Kwêla, the public will be able to vote for the winning town in July 2025. The town with the most votes is named Kwêla’s Town of the Year. The town wins R1 million in marketing value from kykNET. Homebrew Films, the producers of Kwêla, will make a 45 second commercial about the town, which will be broadcast during kykNET’s advertising time. There will also be a big kick-off in the winning town – music, food, fun and lots of that winning town spirit! Kwêla will be there again to film it, and it will be broadcast later in the year. Lottoland will also donate a R1 million cash prize for the town to plough back into their town, which will be audited by them. Each finalist town (Provincial winner) will be asked in advance to submit a business plan on what they intend to do with the potential prize money.
We need your SMS to ensure that Riversdale is crowned the Western Cape winner. The public is encouraged to vote for the marvellous Riversdale as the Kwêla Town of The Year for the Western Cape Province by SMSing the name RIVERSDAL to 33157. All SMS’s are charged at R1.50 per SMS, with a limit of 30 SMS’s per number. All SMS’s must be sent before Friday, 18 April 2025 at 12h00 (noon).
