KAROO:
The Great Karoo, an area in excess of 400 000 square kilometres was, approximately 250 million years ago, a vast inland sea. As the world's climate gradually changed from cold to hot the water evaporated leaving a swamp where reptiles and amphibians prospered. Read more about it here.
In recent history, less than two hundred years ago large herds of antelope and zebras roamed the grass flats. The Hottentots and Bushmen, the last Stone Age people, shared the “Place of Great Dryness”. They differed basically in their cultures and lifestyles: the Hottentots herding their sheep and cattle in the age-old pastoral pattern and the Bushmen following their traditional nomadic pursuits of hunting and feasting.
With the occupation of the area by stock farmers the sheep gradually replaced the game and the grass receded along with the changed grazing and weather patterns.
During the Anglo Boer War of 1899-1902 three Republican Commandos, reinforced by the rebels from the Cape Colony, conducted widespread operations throughout the Karoo.
Countless skirmishes took place, with the Calvinia Magisterial district contributing a significant number of fighters to the Republican cause.
Fought both conventionally and as a guerilla struggle over the Karoo's vast expanses, it was a bloody war of attrition wherein both sides used developing technologies to their advantage.
Numerous abandoned blockhouses can still be seen at strategic locations in the Great Karoo with a prime example at the Geelbeks River 12 kilometres outside Laingsburg.
Currently sheep farming is the economic backbone of the Karoo with other forms of agriculture taking place in areas where irrigation is possible. Lately game farms and tourism to this fascinating area is also making an impact.
GRAAFF REINET:
Eastern Cape, South Africa
The oldest town, it is known as the 'Athens' of the Eastern Cape, with magnificent examples of Karoo architecture, fynbos and more monuments than any other town in South Africa.
Cradled in a crook of the Sundays River, to the approaching traveller, Graaff -Reinet seems like a verdant oasis in the stark surrounding landscape.
Graaff-Reinet is home to more National Monuments than any other town or city in South Africa. Round every corner a piece of our history is revealed to interested visitors.
A short stroll down Cradock Street will reveal more than 50 of these historic homes. Take a walk down Parsonage Street in the centre of town - on the western end is the seat of the former Dutch authority of the Cape (Drostdy Hotel), while facing it at the estern end lies the erstwhile ecclesiastical power.
Or visit Reinet House, which forms part of a museum complex of four historic builidings.
The imposing stone structure of the Grootkerk at the northern end of Church Street overlooks the commercial hub of the town.
Activities:
Karoo Nature Reserve:
Which is a Mecca for hikers, photographers and students of flora and fauna. Included in this reserve is the famous and awe-inspiring Valley of Desolation as well as the peak Uitkyk, from which paragliding enthusiasts from all over the world come to share the thermals of the vast Karoo skies with the resident Black Eagles.
The Drostdy:
Once the headquarters of the town's first magistrate, designed by Louis Thibault and completed in 1806.
Dutch Reformed Church:
Designed to resemble the neo-Gothic lines of England's Salisbury Cathedral, this is considered to be the finest church of its kind in the country.
Hester Rupert Art Museum:
A former oefeningshuis (activity centre), school and mission church, this building was once saved from demolition by the Rembrandt Corporation and was named after the mother of Anton Rupert, head of the corporation.
Huguenot Monument:
Marking the arrival of the French Huguenots of South Africa, who form an indelible part of history.
Independence Plaque:
A plaque opposite the Drostdy, commemorating the town's brief spell as a republic in the late 18th Century.
Jan Rupert Centre:
Originally a mission church an now a spinning and weaving industry. Includes a neo-Gothic London Missionary church and a factory from where products are sold.
The 'Kruithuis':
A gunpowder magazine built on a hill by local merchants in 1853.
Old Jail:
The banks of the Sunday River were the site chosen for this jail, built in 1861. Among the jail's many inmates was Anna Rabie, the last South African woman to be publicly executed.
Old Library Museum:
Costume collection, reproductions of San artwork, art exhibit, photographic collection and fossil collection.
Pyramid:
A memorial on Magazine Hill to the forming of the Union of South Africa in 1910.
St James Church:
This beautiful 1850 building is the oldest original church still in use in the town.
Van Ryneveld Dam:
Part of the Valley of Desolation, this Dam is famed for its rich birdlife, including many duck, cormorant and flamingoes among its inhabitants.
War Memorial:
A great bronze victory peace angel in the mayor's garden; dedicated to local citizens, including Die middellandse Regiment who lost their lives in WWII.
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