Table of contents for go! Karoo Guide 2025 in go!

Because I'm from the Karoo (I grew up in Cradock), I feel offended if someone doesn't like the Karoo. Like a friend of mine who doesn't like dust – he just likes damp places… But this edition of go! Karoo is the very opposite of a damp squib! These pages shimmer with fascinating people, back roads and secret spots. Our journalists are good at what they do – they're not just wordsmiths and photographers, they're good travellers. They're expert road trippers and they know how to sniff out a perfect guest farm even in the most unlikely of places. The Sak River (p 18) is one such unlikely place, and not just for a good guest farm, also for water. Willem van der Berg struck it lucky – his trip…

It's always the killer that catches your eye first. In the case of the Karoo Origins Fossil Centre in Graaff-Reinet, that would be a gorgonopsian called Rubidgea – a tiger-sized predator with fierce eyes and a mouthful of dagger-sharp fangs. In front of this beast, a model Aulacephalodon – pig-sized and wild-eyed – is forever frozen in the act of fleeing for its life. Gazing in startled horror at the drama, and hugging the safety of their burrows, are the Diictodons – dassie-sized creatures with strange, beak-like mouths. On the other side of the diorama is a creature the size of a small, portly cow, covered in scaly armour, munching impassively on ferns and horsetails. This is a Pareiasaurus. A few curious, mongoose-sized Procynosuchus cynodonts explore a fallen log near…

Nobody expected this. When farmer Jacques Pienaar opens the doors of his shed, we all just stand there, stunned. Under the roof is a collection of vintage cars that you'd never imagine here, in the middle of nowhere. Centre stage is an ivory 1959 Mercedes Benz 220S. To its left, a Crème Soda green 1953 Morris Minor. To the right, a 1930 Model A Ford Woody, named as such because of its wood-panelled bodywork. At the back: a 1951 Chev Sedan, a 1930 Model A Ford Sedan, even some restored old tractors… Jacques’ farm is called Winterberg and it's in the back country between Beaufort West and Murraysburg. We arrived an hour ago, but we only got to the car collection now because Jacques and his wife Wilna first treated…

Gamkaskloof, also known as Die Hel, is a valley in the Swartberg range, about 20 km north of Calitzdorp as the eagle flies. The first permanent subsistence farmers – known as the Klowers – lived here in relative isolation for over a century, until a new road in the 1960s provided vehicle access to the kloof. The three-day Gamkaskloof Trail follows an old donkey route through the kloof from west to east. It goes past farms and settlements along the valley floor, then climbs out on the dirt road: Elands Pass. Along the way, you'll take in spectacular scenery, soak up the solitude of true wilderness, and experience the warm hospitality of the people who live in this remote place. DAY 1 The Ladder (16 km) The anticipation is palpable…

The Western Cape's Little Karoo, specifically along the R62, is often described as the longest wine route in the world. That should be recommendation enough to visit, but there's much more! This is also mountain country, with ostriches, aloes, orchards, a string of characterful dorps, good restaurants, and a really vivid history. Travelling from the Cape Town side, the R62 takes you along smooth blacktop from Montagu, through Barrydale, Ladismith, Calitzdorp, Oudtshoorn and De Rust (which is on the N12). The Little Karoo is also a great stopover if you're travelling to the Garden Route from the north of the country – make it part of your holiday plans. There are plenty of farm stalls and roadside attractions, interesting day drives and mountain passes. After a recent road trip to…

There were a few Bible stories that really tested my faith as a child. As a farm boy in the southern Free State and later in the Kalahari, the tale of Samson and the jackals bothered me the most. Here's the verse: “And Samson went and caught three hundred jackals, and took torches, and turned the jackals tail to tail and put one torch in the middle between two tails.” After that, tails tied and torches ablaze, he released the animals into the fields of the Philistines, causing widespread fire damage and exacting his revenge. Crazy stuff. But the thing that bothered me most was how he'd caught the jackals. I grew up around them and you don't just walk up and grab one. On the farm Mooifontein between Bloemfontein and…

Local farmer William Quinton knew the stories of the old people, who still remembered the mega herds of trekbokke (migrating springbok) that created a spectacle on the Karoo plains. By the 20th century, those days were gone for good. In the 1950s, Quinton was the first person to propose the idea of a park that would save what was left of this unique natural landscape. By the 1970s, SANParks also recognised the need to safeguard the Nama Karoo biome before it disappeared under too many hoofs and fences. In 1979, the Karoo National Park was officially proclaimed, stitched together from land donated by the Beaufort West Municipality and farms bought up by the Southern African Nature Foundation. The rest camp was built in 1989. Since then, the park has grown…

The man with the sturdy hiker's legs is waiting for us next to the road. In the background, I can see a few houses. That's Nelspoort, half-hidden among the thorn trees that grow on the banks of the mostly dry Sout River. We're late. I'm leading a Karoo Photography Tour (see p52) with Douwe Vlok from Heuningland and we've just departed the Whistling Bridge Café on the N1 with our group of guests. Nelspoort is our first sightseeing stop. How long has Laurence been waiting? Half an hour? Longer? He greets us with a patient smile and welcomes us to his corner of the world. The dolerite koppies around Nelspoort are home to a large numbers of rock engravings. If anyone would know how many there are, it would be…

I drive into town on a Friday afternoon, the church tower rising above the other buildings like a landmark. The 350 km journey along the N1 from Cape Town to the turn-off at Prince Albert Road was stressful in the usual weekend traffic, but the final 40 km stretch of tar to Merweville was like a meditation – slowly easing me into Karoo tranquillity. Merweville… wait, let me guess, a Van der Merwe had something to do with it? In the late 1800s, the farmers of this district were tired of travelling all the way to Beaufort West – about 120 km to the east – for communion services, so they decided to build a new Dutch Reformed church on the farm Vanderbylskraal, owned by Johannes Jacobus Le Seur van…

I grew up in the southern Free State, on a farm called Mooifontein between Bloemfontein and Smithfield. There was an old Afrikaans song that we often sang because it happened to include the name of the farm: Op Mooifontein groei die bitter aalwyn, die biedouw en roosmaryn Die ghaap en kambro van die droë Karoo, groet jou op Mooifontein. Basically, this is where the Karoo starts creeping into the grassland of the Free State – it's a meeting of biomes. My dad loved the patches of shrubland in the grass because those Karoo bossies had secret healing powers that kept us and our sheep healthy. Those fragments of Karoo are also healthy for the soul, because the Karoo is a place where your mind can open and where your eyes…

The Sak River is not a “river” in the traditional sense. There are some reed-lined pools, but mostly it's just a dusty ditch that cuts through the plains of the Hardemans Karoo north-west of Williston. Its name is Afrikaans for “sinking river” because it seeps away so quickly. Occasionally, however, the Sak River flows. I steer my Isuzu into a drift near the farm Sakrivierspoort, on a back road between Loxton and Fraserburg. Ahead, a wide, brown stream thunders past. I slowly inch the front wheels into the water. Too slowly. Seconds later, my friend Japie Kruger shouts: “O, f*k, ons oorstroom!” Water sloshes into the bakkie's footwell. A box of biscuits floats near Japie's feet – a gift from his sister for our Easter pilgrimage into the Karoo. It's…

Early one morning, my wife Julienne and I go for a walk around Burgersdorp. A few metres past the retirement centre on the hill (Huis Dirk Postma), the road takes a curve. If you look over town from that vantage point, a minute before the autumn sun peeps over the ridges, you'll be presented with what looks just like a chocolate-box Bavarian village: church spires and rooftops surrounded by summer-green trees, with grey-blue mountains in the distance. The two elegant churches below are at the heart of historical Burgersdorp – a merino sheep farming town with a sideline in cattle and ostriches. The town is named after the people – the burgers – who live there. Not a dominee or a colonial official or a fortune hunter. The Dutch Reformed…

Nieu-Bethesda This village in the lap of the Sneeuberg range is the perfect example of a Victorian-era agricultural settlement. First came the church congregation, then the tuishuise (town houses) and then the seriously big church. The imposing Dutch Reformed church building, a symbol of Victorian-era architecture, was consecrated in 1905 at a cost of £7 000. Nieu-Bethesda only got electricity in 1991 – the last town in South Africa to be lit up. Until then, a certain Oom Taafi had to pump the organ. His signal was a short blast on a whistle from the organist. The congregation would rise as one at the commanding toot. Nieu-Bethesda's church is still rigged for acetylene (welding gas) lighting. It has long been a tradition that once a year, on a Sunday in…

Because I live in Prince Albert, I don't often get the chance to sleep over in nearby places like Beaufort West or Three Sisters. When I drive from Joburg along the N1, it usually makes more sense to push on and sleep in my own bed. Compiling this story therefore granted me the opportunity to explore a little more of my own backyard. If you know me at all, you'll know I'm a big believer in travelling close to home. There's no need for far-flung destinations on the other side of the world when our own country is chock-a-block with gems. I took my mom Megan along for this ride (solo road trips aren't nearly as fun) and we “Thelma-and-Louised” our way through the Karoo. Well, if you can picture…

Nolita Wienster (left) and Charlotte Julies pose with ostrich feathers at Oudtshoorn's Klein Karoo Ostrich Feather Facility (Cape Karoo International). More than 300 tonnes of ostrich plumes are processed here each year, representing about 70% of South Africa's total production. The Little Karoo's semi-desert climate gives rise to the lightest, largest wingtip plumes. Each is graded for market, then washed, dyed vivid colours and crafted into dusters, feather boas and trims by expert artisans. Clients include the famous Moulin Rouge nightclub in Paris (a relationship that goes back five decades), Rio Carnival performers and high-profile fashion houses like Jean Paul Gaultier. Remember that pink-and-black ostrich-plume outfit worn by Lady Gaga during the 2024 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony? Yup, those feathers came from Oudtshoorn!…