Groot Karoo
Harsh in climate, gentle in lifestyle and breathtaking in beauty, the Groot Karoo is a place of extremes.
It surprises in its contrasts: arid plains and lush valleys, wide open spaces and vibrant village clusters, quaint architecture, scorching summers and bitter winters. The towering Swartberg mountain range separates the plateau of the Groot Karoo from the lower Little Karoo. It's a place of the purest starlight and the widest dawns, aromatic, bittersweet in their nostalgic brevity, for all of it is swiftly consumed by the rising sun.
Karoo is a Khoisan word that means 'dry, hard, thirst land'. This semi-desert interior region is a unique, arid zone, considered a wonder of the scientific world. It boasts the richest diversity of succulents (over 9000 species) and greatest variety of land tortoises on the planet, the Western Cape's largest collection of San (Bushman) rock art and the country's first Braille fossil trail, with a record of mammal-like reptiles dating as far back as 250 million years. Although the Groot Karoo initially appears to have been unscarred by time, it has a fascinating historical and cultural heritage.
At the 19th century, Imperial British forces moved across its vast plains to engage the Boers in the Anglo-Boer War, leaving British graves to mark their northward path. In the past century it made medical history, being the birthplace of both Dr Christiaan Barnard (heart- transplant pioneer) and Dr Emil Hoffa (founder of the modern science of orthopedics). The recent historical reality of the apartheid regime did not leave the Groot Karoo unscarred either. A tourist route through Kwa-Mandlenkosi Township, in Beaufort West lays Nelspoort (where the largest collection of San rock art is found) and the quiet town of Murraysburg.
South of Beaufort West along the N1 are the small settlements of Leeu Gamka and Merweville and the picturesque and historic town of Prince Albert, with its thriving dried fruit industry. Laingsburg, further south on the N1, is the most geologically interesting area of the Groot Karoo. Traces of the devastating flood of 1981 can still be seen on some of the buildings. Still further south is Matjiesfontein, a small fragment of Queen Victoria's Empire. Stare up at the huge, high, blue day skies and the spectacular star-budded night skies, the clearest in the southern hemisphere. Smell the sweet, dry Karoo air and soak in the sound of silence, un-interrupted.
Food and drink
Because any trip to the Groot Karoo is characterized by unique sensations of all kinds, the only way to absorb the true essence of the area is through all your senses. Taste your way around the region by visiting the many little farm stalls that dot the landscape. Essential local foods include figs, nectarines and peaches, which are all made into konfyt (fruit preserves), biltong (dried and salted raw meat) and witblits (white lightning - a local alcoholic drink of fiendish potency).
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