Vosburg, Northern Cape

As you drive into Vosburg, which lies in the Upper Karoo between Carnarvon and Britstown, you’ll notice a sign that says:

“Kom geniet ons koeltebome” – Come and enjoy our shady trees.

You have to love a town that celebrates its shade. Especially a town in the Karoo, where the summers can top 50 degrees C – and where shade is almost as precious as water.

Vosburg’s rather grand array of trees includes beefwood, pepper trees, pines, cypress, poplar, carob and a row of olive trees in the grounds of their particularly lovely Mother Church.

This Northern Cape town is the district hub of the local organic lamb industry, which comes in the form of large herds of Merino sheep.

They like to hunt in the area, and in fact the local hostelry (the Vosburg Hotel) used to be called the Hunter’s Home Hotel in honour of the guys who come out here to replenish their biltong (dried venison) stocks.

In high summer when the cloud banks gather in the sky, it’s a grand treat to be caught in the middle of a true Karoo thunderstorm. Just as long as you find yourself home and dry on a wide Karoo stoep somewhere, with something cold and wet to hand…

  Find our new e-Book, 101 Karoo Towns HERE.