Tsomo, Transkei, Eastern Cape, South Africa
Location S 32°02’20.9”
E 27°49’27.4”
Span 36.6m (120 feet)
Width 1.8m (6 feet)
Built 1898
Evidence that this was a Harper bridge: definite
Tsomo sits on high ground to the west of the River Tsomo, which flows swiftly towards the Indian Ocean. At Tsomo, the river is 100 feet (30.48 m) wide. The 1956 map indicates the present road bridge, a probably older road bridge upstream and a third – a footbridge – just above that. On the 1996 map, only the present road bridge can be seen.
We walked the banks of the Tsomo, and upstream found the concrete footings of a road bridge, but there was no sign of the footbridge, and nor did any of the locals remember it. The footbridge appears to have survived alongside an earlier road bridge and the present road bridge until some time after 1956, possibly into the 1960s.
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