Graaff-Reinet

Description

Surrounded by the Camdeboo National Park, Graaff-Reinet, the heart of the “Great Karoo” – Place of Thirst – is a boundless and mysterious area covered by vast sheep and game farms, where broad plains roll away to distant koppies and multi-layered mountains that seem to touch the indigo sky.

Graaff-Reinet is the fourth oldest town in South Africa and has many well preserved houses which are over 100 to 250 years old. There are a number of interesting museums, monuments and art galleries that visitors can explore; and Graaff-Reinet is also known for being the birth place of Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe, the Pan Africanist Congress creator.

Graaff-Reinet was voted "Town of the Year in South Africa" during 2011, and it is the only town in South Africa which is surrounded by a national park - the Camdeboo National Park. Just outside of town is the appropriately named Valley of Desolation, which provides a bird's eye view over the Karoo - as well as incredible rock spires made from dolerite.