Cape Travel Guides - Accommodation, Safaris, Adventure

ADVERTISE IN THE 2010 SOUTHERN AFRICA TRAVEL GUIDE SERIES  |  HOME

Back one page

Province: Northern Cape
Region: Upper Karoo

Towns: 
Britstown  |  Colesberg  |  Copperton  |  De Aar  |  Hanover | Hopetown  |  Loxton  |  Marydale  |  Noupoort  |  Orania | Petrusville  |  Philipstown  |  Prieska  |  Richmond  |  Strydenburg  |  Three Sisters  |  Vanderkloof  |  Victoria West | Vosburg


With the first rains, the seemingly arid soil of the Upper Karoo (Bo-Karoo) bursts into abundant life, its hardy succulents - mesembryanthemums, euphorbias, aloes, crassulas and stapelias - complementing the sweet grasses on which the region's myriad merino and fat-tailed sheep graze themselves to well-rounded, wooly wealth. The ever-present windmills testify to the countless streams flowing between the doleritic fissures underlying the dry but fertile soil. On the farm Noblesfontein, outside Victoria West, the water of all the ages springs forth as clearly and almost as abundantly as do millions of litres from the Kalahari's miraculous Eye of Kuruman. 

Small, isolated but ever-welcoming villages with fascinating, widely differing histories, a distinct Karoo architecture and imposing churches rest in valleys between desolate, flat-topped koppies. Take a short trip from Colesberg, an essential stopover for all travellers and a sheep-farming centre surrounded by some of the country's finest horse studs, to Hopetown, the scene of South Africa's first recorded diamond find. Return, passing Orania, a peculiar, anachronistic, self-proclaimed Afrikaner volkstaat, before making your way to the resort town of Vanderkloof and the Rolfontein Nature Reserve on the shores of the great Vanderkloof Dam. Indulge in the watersports of your wildest choice or relax on its secluded banks which stretch 100km to the Doornkloof Nature Reserve on the man-made lake's southern shores. 

Throughout this wonderful part of the great Karoo, you can visit, hunt or hike on game farms and nature reserves teeming with every species of antelope. And, like the country they live in, the hardy inhabitants of the Upper Karoo, many being the descendants of 19th century trekboers, exude an uncommon hospitality, making you feel immediately at home in their beloved countryside. For further information on the Upper Karoo please contact