Detour #329: In Search of the Karoo, South Africa

Photo Bresmedia

South Africa’s Karoo offers open roads, big skies and plenty of 19th Century charm – but where exactly does it start and finish? 

There’s no sign to tell me I have entered the Karoo – if you’re travelling from the north in South Africa it’s difficult to know exactly where it begins – but some kilometres after crossing the Orange River at Maletswai the character of the journey starts to change.

The roads are now long, straight and lonely, and they cross a land of golden-green plains and anvil-topped mountains, dotted with the skeletal, squeaking wind pumps – or ‘steel flowers’ – which I soon discover are a hallmark of the Karoo.

There are also a few towns every now and then, small islands in the grassy ocean, and staying in these places give this trip an unexpected theme; for this is time travel as much as it is road travel.

For instance, my accommodation in Nxuba (also known as Cradock) is a mid-19th Century cottage, complete with period furniture, bathroom and kitchen, one of a number on a quiet street called Die Tuisehuise; a wonderful experience, like sleeping in a museum. But beware, Nxuba really does cling on to its history – I buy a bottle of Castle Lager that has passed its ‘best before’ in 2020!

One thing that never gets old in Africa, though, is spotting wildlife, and close to Nxuba is Mountain Zebra National Park, a beautiful place where I see all sorts of antelope, cheeky black backed jackals and, of course, zebra. I stay the night, then rise early to try to catch the lions at their favourite watering hole. I wait for an hour, but see no big cats. Then, just as I am about to leave, I spot a lioness in the wing mirror. There’s no time for a picture, she’s gone in the flick of a tail, but the excitement stays with me all the way to Graaff-Reinet.

Driving to Graaff-Reinet is no less exciting, with dramatic mountain passes to negotiate. But while these are a change from the long, straight roads, the best drive is the narrow climb up to the grimly-named Valley of Desolation in Camdeboo National Park, where I stop and wait for a rather large tortoise to cross the road – it’s worth the hold up as the views of the Karoo from the top are magnificent.

Graaff-Reinet itself is another time capsule, a lovely town with whitewashed Cape Dutch and Victorian buildings, but it is good to get back on the road the next day, heading north and crossing the Orange River once more. Initially I think this will spell the end of the Karoo for me, yet there is still the empty veld, big skies and wind pumps. Some even say the Karoo stretches north as far as Kimberley, but I’m not sure about that.

It doesn’t matter anyway, for there is something I have always wanted to see in Kimberley: The Big Hole. Which is exactly that, a 463m hollow, around 1.6km in circumference, dug by pick and shovel in the late 19th Century to a depth of 240m – a former diamond mine that many claim is the world’s largest hand-dug hole.

Because I’ve read so much about the Big Hole, I’m prepared to be underwhelmed, but it really is spectacular, especially with the cityscape of Kimberley seemingly tottering along its rim to give it scale. There’s also a recreation of old Kimberley at the site, the buildings are largely original and mostly very basic, many made of corrugated iron, and they give some idea of what life was like for the white mine workers in the 1870s. Unsurprisingly, it was far worse for the thousands of black miners.

As for the few men who made their fortunes here, among them Cecil Rhodes, well they hung out in the Kimberley Club, which is now a hotel. It has relinquished none of its grandeur inside, with its stained venetian glass, elegant terrace and even a billiard room. The enormous billiard tables are now used for pool, with an extra-long cue to reach balls stranded in the middle of the Karoo-like baize expanse. There’s no one to play with, though, as I’m the only guest at the hotel! It’s all quite surreal, and I wonder if even Rhodes had ever had the place to himself.

As to where the Karoo actually starts and finishes, well, it’s still with me right now…

Words & Photography Mike Breslin

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ROADBOOK

CLASS: African Adventure

NAME: THe Karoo

ROUTE: Maletswai to Kimberley

COUNTRY: South Africa

Distance: 520 Miles

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