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Unearth Karoo heritage and explore charming towns and their rich cultural narratives

Unearth Karoo heritage and explore charming towns and their rich cultural narratives
Part of the elegant Drostdy Hotel in Graaff-Reinet. (Photo: Chris Marais)
Chris Marais and Julienne du Toit
By Chris Marais and Julienne du Toit
7 Nov 2024
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Five settlements that offer unique and varied experiences for the traveller in the timeless surrounds of the Karoo.

The village of Aberdeen, lying south of Graaff-Reinet within sight of the Camdeboo Mountains, is best appreciated during an early morning walk.

If you start at the Dutch Reformed Church in the centre of Aberdeen, you’ll notice the large olive tree in the grounds of the Mother Church. This was once a cutting from an olive tree in the Garden of Gethsemane in Jerusalem. 

If the church hall is open, have a look inside at the 20 large panels displaying biblical scenes — they’re artfully made of sheep’s wool, cloth, hessian and glue.  

Now stand outside the Dutch Reformed Church and look up at the steeple. Perfectionists will claim it’s 4.5cm off-kilter. Anglo-Boer War historians will tell you about May 12, 1902, when there was a shoot-out on the steps of the church. Boer guerrilla Carel van Heerden was downed in a hail of British bullets here. He’d been trying to steal their horses.

Nearby is the former town Post Office – now part of the local magistrate’s court. There are even grimacing gargoyles looking down from the tiled roof. They say this building was meant to have been the magistrate’s court of Grahamstown. An administration snafu meant that the builders arrived in Aberdeen instead. Locals were grateful. The befuddled builders, however, were not paid for their efforts.

Read more: Here be dragons… but that’s just one of the surprising things in Aberdeen, a remarkable Karoo town

Down the little streets of Aberdeen, you will see architectural gems in Victorian, Gothic, Georgian and pure Karoo styles. And then you arrive at Pagel House and immediately you know this is a Feather Palace of note.

Bedford


Cradled sweetly in the lap of the Kaga Mountains at the foothills of the Winterberg Range, somewhere between the Hogsback, Tamboekie country, Daggaboer’s Neck, Post Retief, the Koenap and the Baviaans rivers, lies the sleepy village of Bedford.

Catch Bedford on a rainy day and its untarred side streets resemble quaint English tree tunnels, complete with wandering geese. The Rosarium down by the river displays Heritage Roses like the legendary General Gallieni, a spectacular crimson bloom.

Bedford gardens in full summer bloom. (Photo: Chris Marais)



They’re very special roses. They don’t need lots of pruning, mulching or VIP treatment. They survive severe abuse and neglect, and flower like mad for most of the year – even after a long drought. Heritage Roses will climb a tree and flower on top, given the chance. They are tenacious, disease resistant and fit in with the latest trends of “free-flowing” gardening.

Every year in the high summer month of October, the Bedford Garden Festival lures thousands of butterflies (of the insect and the human variety) to its blooms. The yards and farms of the district put their best feet forward and there are always serious real estate enquiries from urbanites who have discovered the village.

With its temperate weather, good rainfall and Old World village atmosphere, Bedford can be described as the “gentlest” of Karoo settlements. 

Burgersdorp


As you stroll around Burger Square in the Eastern Cape town of Burgersdorp, you will come upon a rather imposing object called the Jubilee Fountain. It’s a large cast-iron piece, more in the shape of a gazebo, and very ornate in design. At the top of the “fountain” is a series of rampant egrets, and look, here’s an inscription:

“Keep the pavement dry.” In the Karoo? Really?

Only four such fountains were ever made. This one was purchased for less than 70 British pounds to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1897.

The Victorian-era pergola in central Burgersdorp. (Photo: Chris Marais)



Nearby is the Taal Monument dedicated to the Dutch language, which gave birth to modern-day Afrikaans. One of the statues is that of a rather beautiful woman, said to be modelled on the daughter of one Daantjie van den Heever, a prominent local Afrikaner rights leader. The statue was carved in Italy from Carrera marble.

The British moved into Burgersdorp during the Anglo-Boer War and built the massive blockhouse you see on the hill overlooking the town.

They also damaged the Taal Monument statue of the lovely lady. It ended up buried somewhere near King William’s Town. Long after the war, Britain agreed to make things right with the rather angry burghers of Burgersdorp in this respect. It paid for another statue to be made, a replica of the original. The “first lady” was unearthed in 1939, cleaned up and moved to Burger Square where it stands, headless, next to the replica.

Cradock


In 2014, the Karoo Heartland river town of Cradock turned 200.

In those two centuries, this remarkable little town that straddles the Great Fish River has gone from being a frontier supply settlement to one of the major farming centres of the Karoo.

Die Tuishuise and Victoria Manor Hotel in Cradock. (Photo: Chris Marais)



The Victorian pride of Cradock is, of course, Market Street. With its Tuishuise cottages and heritage-styled Victoria Manor, the Market Street accommodations host thousands of visitors every year, from up country and abroad.

Cradock has also become the Festival Town of the Karoo, boasting no fewer than four major annual events.

The year begins with a Karoo Food Festival in April, a new gathering that celebrates food of origin and welcomes chefs, growers and producers from all over the Karoo.

The literary types have their day in the sun with the Schreiner Karoo Writers’ Festival, held in honour of Olive Schreiner, author of The Story of an African Farm. 

Come spring, the festivals begin again. The Cradock Agricultural Show is more than 150 years old, and attracts the farming gentry of the area and their best livestock.

The Fish River Canoe Marathon (cancelled for 2024 due to a foot and mouth scare) sees thousands of athletes and their supporters arriving in Cradock and spending nearly four days in and about town. 

Graaff-Reinet


Graaff-Reinet is the Karoo’s premier heritage town and the fourth-oldest settlement in South Africa.

This is not a town where you arrive, buy an old house and knock it down. Graaff-Reinet is proud of its history, its traditions and its old buildings – and defends it all with great passion.

The best way to first see Graaff-Reinet is from up in the Camdeboo National Park, looking down on the circular-shaped town layout and then swivelling around to take in the whole Valley of Desolation below. 

In the 1800s, vast herds of springbok (trekbokken) crossed these plains in the millions, crushing everything afoot. 

Part of the elegant Drostdy Hotel in Graaff-Reinet. (Photo: Chris Marais)



And then the biltong hunters came. And the “limitless” numbers of springbok dwindled down to a few forlorn souls wandering the plains. But they’re starting to come back now because game farming and controlled hunting are once again essential players in the Graaff-Reinet economy. 

The jacaranda-flanked Parsonage Street in the middle of Graaff-Reinet is one of the great historical avenues in the Karoo.

With the legendary Drostdy Hotel at the top and the Reinet House Museum at the bottom, this street is lined with period cottages, antique shops and original homes. You can stay over in some of the guest cottages and dine well on dishes like kudu schnitzel in a nearby restaurant based in a national monument. DM



For more stories on the Karoo from Julienne du Toit and Chris Marais, try their Karoo Roads series of books, priced at R350 (landed) each.

The Karoo Quartet Special (Karoo Roads 1 – 4) consists of more than 60 Karoo stories and hundreds of black and white photographs. Priced at R960 (including taxes and courier in South Africa), this Heritage Collection can be ordered from [email protected].

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