The greatness of the great karqo
Your trip starts in the village of Hopetown in the Upper Karoo, about 600 km southwest of Johannesburg if you took the N12 highway here.
Hopetown was originally one of the northern frontier towns of the Cape Colony, where things weren’t going well during the middle of the nineteenth century. Around 14 000 Afrikaner farmers left the colony during the Great Trek, the decline of British Empire began with the loss of the North American colonies and to top it all the Suez Canal was completed, which meant far fewer ships visited the Cape of Good Hope. Just when the colony seemed doomed to failure, Africa’s first diamond, the 21-carat “Eureka”, was discovered in 1866 by one Fanie Jacobs right here in Hopetown. For the next century, Africa, but particularly Southern Africa, would produce 98% of the world’s diamonds. These tiny treasures would save the Cape Colony for the settlers and eventually lead to first the Union and later the Republic of South Africa.
The newfound wealth paid for the very first bridge across the Orange River in 1871 – it is on the Douglas road about 10 km outside Hopetown. The steel bridge was built in Scotland, then shipped in pieces to the Cape Colony and brought to Hopetown by rail. In 1901, skittish British troops destroyed part of the bridge when they mistook a herd of cattle for Boer rebels, but the damage was later repaired.
This advice may sound strange, but sometimes you may need four-wheel drive to drive over Hopetown’s old wagon bridge, because its gravel surface turns a bit muddy after heavy rains. During our visit, there were signs that someone had recently gotten stuck on the bridge and had to dig out their vehicle. It’s not often a car gets stuck on a steel bridge…
Leave Hopetown on Wiid Street and drive south on the N12 in the direction of Strydenburg. After 2 km, turn left onto the R387 regional road to the Kraankuil railway
