We LOVE the Karoo. There are just miles and miles of “nothing”. I use inverted commas, because it is semi-desert and fairly deserted, but it is just so beautiful and full of things to see. The lovely Erika and Gerhard told us that people in the northern part of the country have farms with 400 000 hectares! We had a whopping 3 ½ ha…

You definitely get a feel of “you can see today who’s coming for lunch tomorrow” when you look at the horizon where the road just disappears off the edge of the world. The landscape changes constantly and the hills and rock formations are a wonder to behold.

One could be forgiven for thinking that there are only sheep in the Karoo, because at first glance (make that every glance) they are what you see everywhere. The country is suffering from a terrible drought and it was sad to see the sheep trying to find a bit if shade under the next sheeps tummy. One can only hope and pray that it will rain soon and a lot.

At closer inspection, there are loads of animals around. We saw meerkats, ferrets, an enormous tortoise (which I helped off the road), snakes, birds the size of emus (but not emus), baboons, vervet monkeys, weaver birds, azure-wing-tipped starlings and other birds I unfortunately can’t name. The termite hills are beautiful too – where are all those termites, one asks a tad afraid of the answer.

It was incredibly, horribly hot the day we went to Carnarvon and it was the only town we visited that we didn’t quite like. Sorry Carnarvon, you are probably very nice, but it was over 40C and everyone seemed as hot and edgy as we were. It was dusty and dirty and hot hot hot. We should perhaps go again and see what it’s like sans heat.

We did, however, find a lovely self-catering cottage just outside of town and it did definitely make up for any shortcomings the town itself has. Sandrivier Gasteplaas or Sand River Guest Farm is situated on the main R63 road, but the cottage is a kilometre or so away, tucked away behind the koppies / hills.

It is new with lots of attention to detail and perfect for nature lovers. We sat outside till late into the night, just listening to the defeaning sound of silence. The insects and birds were a talkin’, the sheep making soft sheep sounds, a rustle here and a bump there – just super. We loved it.

There is not a house or car in sight, but it is totally safe and close enough to town that you can drive off to get something quickly for dinner. In fact, if we hadn’t already bought a huge steak, we could have bought Karoo Lamb from the farmer who rents out the cottage and they would have even brought it to us! Sigh, we’ll just have to do that next time.
Sandrivier Gasteplaas / Sad River Guest Farm
R63
7km from Carnarvon
• Sandrivier Plaas, Carnarvon, 8925, Noord-Kaap