Herschel, South Africa
Herschel is a small village in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. It is in the Joe Gqabi District Municipality, about 19 kilometres north of Lady Grey and just east of Aliwal North.
The village was founded in 1879 and was named after Sir John Herschel, a famous astronomer who worked in the Cape Colony in the 1830s.
Herschel covers about 4.5 square kilometres and sits high in the mountains at around 1,830 metres above sea level. In 2011, about 2,189 people lived there.
Most residents are Black Africans, and Hlubi is the most spoken language (about 80%), followed by Sotho (about 10%) and Xhosa (about 7%).
Postal code: 9756. Area code: 051-603.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 05:11 (CET).