Little Karoo

Little Karoo

It is very difficult to resist the lure of the Little Karoo. The undulating hills that rise and fall within the valley roll back in shades of green and gold towards the blue craggy mountains that hold this region together. Trapped within the landscape are pockets of aloes – spectacular when in flower – and lonely windmills, gaggles of ostriches, tufts of shrubs and succulents, and the occasional explosion of trees. The roads either stretch way ahead into the distance, or gnarl themselves through crude mountain passes that reveal the curved lines of once-horizontal rocks crumpled like soft tissue paper.

It is in the Little Karoo that you’ll find the world’s longest wine route; out here, too, are natural hot springs, heritage and art tours, rock faces loved by climbers, hiking trails, nature reserves, and an abundance of wildlife.

The quirky Route 62 winds through the Little Karoo. It’s an inland alternative to the Garden Route (which lies just over the mountains) that connects the charming villages of this semi-arid region, taking travellers east through Montagu and historic Swellendam and on towards Oudtshoorn.

Montagu is a pretty town with wide streets and old Cape Dutch buildings; from there the road winds through the wine and olive farms around Barrydale and Calitzdorp. The region’s padstalle – farm stalls – are themselves a reason to travel this route: the small roadside shops sell homemade delicacies like rusks, dried fruit, chutneys and biltong.  In Oudtshoorn, the unofficial “end” of the Little Karoo, there are the ostrich farms and impressive rock formations of the Cango Caves – and throughout the route an abundance of photogenic windmills.