Williston Mall
The famous Williston Mall is the main attraction of the town - many local celebrities have their faces plastered on the karoo guesthouse walls from their visit to the iconic bar, coffee shop and ‘kuier’ place.
The Mall is centered around a guesthouse with various sections to sit and take in the unique surrounds - the bar roof is lined with flags, shirts and hats, the outside area has a small stone swimming pool and almost every metal trinket ever made. The shop is filled with vintage local goods, plants and a few farm cats that call the Mall their home.
The Williston Mall is run by two lovely locals who will join you for a beer and tell you stories of the many patrons that visited over the years. The decor of the mall is bound to delight any creative and you can even purchase indigenous succulents legally from the small nursery. Any traveller going through the Karoo needs to make a stop at this eclectic place for their famous filter coffee and local charm.
The Winter Festival is an annual showcase of the town’s weird and wonderfulness hosted at the Williston Mall. Musicians from across the country come to perform, but the real stars of the show are the Nama Riel dancers.
Langbaken Cheese
Although the dry Upper Karoo is not the first place you think of for cheese making, Langbaken Farm has proven that cheesemakers can be found anywhere. The owners of the farm were respectively a cheesemaker and dairy farmer that married and settled in the Karoo.
Langbaken lies just outside of Williston and has a unique charm - the 1860s farmhouse still stands on the property, and the cows used for dairy all have delightful names like Kloks, Vlooi and Dassie. They live on hay and organic lucerne grown along the river. Each cow has there own milking stall and get milked twice a day. Pigs are also residents on the farm, and happily devour all failed cheeses. The farm also has a cold room where wheels of cheese line the walls.
Langbaken’s cheese include the famous Karoo Blue, which won a Slow Food Award in 2012 and 2013, as well as other varieties called Karoo Swiss and Karoo Crumble. Their cheese is sold at the Williston Mall in Williston, as well as deli’s in Cape Town.