Murraysburg
Murraysburg, Central Karoo, South Africa The farm once named Loneliness is today neither lonely nor merely a farm. The dusty Karoo farming district of which Murraysburg forms the hub, has turned to tourism to supplement the plough and the town's premier attraction these days is traditional Karoo hospitality.
Local farms have moved into eco-tourism and hunting ventures and the range of outdoor activities on offer is all but complete - from cycling, hiking, horse-riding, rock-climbing, game-viewing, partridge hunting, trophy hunting and 4x4 routes to a full complement of water sports. Bar river-rafting. Water has long been scarce in the thirsty heartland of the country but then, there's plenty of sun.
Three Sisters
This is little more than a route marker on the long road north.
Laingsburg
The Karoo is a vast and inhospitable dryness peppered with isolated outposts of warmth and hospitality. Travellers through the region have long been welcome at the lonely farms and the town of Laingsburg was established from one such popular pit-stop - the farm Salty Flats. (Zoute Vlakte) Today the coaches and tour buses that pull into the Laingsburg gas stations continue the tradition.
Boer War Blockhouse
Built by the British in 1901 to guard the bridge over the Geelbek River and keep watch for Boer commandos during the South African Anglo-Boer War of 1899, this unprepossessing guard tower was declared a National Monument in 1965.
There are three others in the vicinity, also guarding bridges; the one at Ketting features in the poem 'Bridge Guard in the Karoo' by Rudyard Kipling, a colonial English writer. Access to the others is difficult but one you've seen one, you've pretty much seen them all. There is a good view from the top, however.
The Block House Route
The erosion-exposed rocks of the Karoo hills are up to three hundred million years old and were formed when much of the world's land mass made up the single super-continent of Gondwanaland. If you know how to read them they tell of a time when these arid plains were covered in water and leafy with life. The ancient rocks also yield fossil remains of the dinosaurs that once roamed the swamplands.
A number of farms offer holidays and rambles but farmer Dries Swanepoel of the farm Geelbeksbrug takes the visitor on a guided walk of the rock formations on his property and interprets the ancient stones. Accommodation is in a restored farmhouse.
The energetic walker will find numerous hiking trails of varying duration including the 24 kilometre Klipkraal Route along the Swartberg with its spectacular scenery. Anysberg Nature Reserve nearby has a two-day pony trail in the mountains as well as abseiling and caving opportunities.
Floriskraal dam, 20 kilometres south of town is scenically set amongst the hills and caters to all manner of watersports. And if you have any energy left, the 80 kilometre Karoo Marathon is run in September.
By Laurianne Claase