South Africa

The small South African town covered in mist which claims to have inspired a book series that sold 150 million copies

Declan Thompson • 26 September 2026

The small Eastern Cape village of Hogsback is famous for its natural beauty, which it claims inspired J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

The town falls under the Amathole District Municipality, and is situated 144 km away from KuGompo City (East London) in the Amathole Mountains.

The earliest known written reference to the town dates back to 1848, when painter Thomas Baines wrote in his journal that he had passed the “Hog’s Back” on his travels.

While it is unclear how the town received its name, two popular theories exist. Some believe it is named after Captain Hogg, the commander at the nearby Fort Michell.

The second theory suggests that the town derived its name from one of the three peaks that overlook the village, which resembles the “hogback” rock formation.

A small hotel named the Hogsback Hydro was built in the village during the 1880s, and still exists today as the Hogsback Inn.

As forestry began to develop in the area around this time, the town grew into the small village it is today, with its population now over 1,000.

Hogsback is well-known for its surrounding indigenous Afromontane forests, large waterfalls, mountains and valleys, and misty weather.

The town experiences a cool oceanic climate, with temperatures ranging from as low as 3.5°C in July to as high as 34.9°C in January.

It receives an annual rainfall of 974 mm, with most of it falling during the summertime, accompanied by thunderstorms and heavy fog.

The woods surrounding the town constitute the second-richest per-unit woodland area in South Africa, with a disproportionate number of rare and endangered tree species.

The area’s famous “Big Tree”, known as the Eastern Monarch, is the largest tree in the Eastern Cape at a height of 36.6 m and a girth of 9.3 m. It is also said to be 2,000 years old.

Alleged ties to Lord of the Rings

One of the main drivers of tourism to Hogsback is the town’s claim that it inspired parts of J. R. R. Tolkien’s highly successful The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Specifically, some businesses in the town claim that Tolkien was influenced by the forests around Hogsback when creating the fictional forest of Mirkwood in Middle-Earth.

While Tolkien was born in South Africa, he was born 500 km away in Bloemfontein, Free State, and emigrated to the United Kingdom with his family at three years old.

There is no evidence that Tolkien or his family ever visited Hogsback or its surrounding area, as he never returned to South Africa after leaving.

The mistaken association is more likely related to the Hobbiton-on-Hogsback camp, which was established in 1945 as a non-profit camp for underprivileged children.

Some claim that Tolkien’s nanny was from the town and would tell him stories about it, while others claim his son visited the town many times and would send him stories and drawings of it.

The camp was founded eight years after Tolkien’s The Hobbit was published, and the name came to camp superintendent Jack Press as he read it to a group of children.

According to the camp’s website, the children gravitated towards the name as it brought forth associations with the safety and tranquillity of The Shire, the home of the Hobbits in Middle-Earth.

The name was also seen as highly fitting, as the misty woodlands surrounding the town were said to perfectly capture the atmosphere of Tolkien’s work.

The camp is still running today, with 11,000 children having participated in its sponsored holiday camps over the decades.

Other places in the town followed the trend set by Hobbiton, with businesses, cottages, and even streets named after locations from Middle-Earth, such as The Shire or Rivendell.