South Africa: Tankwa-Karoo and Roggeveld Escarpment (Laminated)

Location: Western Cape, South Africa

The Tankwa-Karoo is scarcely a two hour drive from Cape Town, yet until recently the region has been known and explored by only the hardiest of travellers. It is a true desert, but after spring rains it can be a feast of flowers. It is ringed by mountains, the fynbos-clad Cederberg to the west and the beautiful, high Roggeveld around Sutherland to the east. Here are mighty plains – the remains of an ancient seabed – with extraordinary fauna and flora, flanked by mighty peaks scratching 2000 metres. There are breathtaking passes, fantastic ravines and a history filled with great joys and many sadnesses. Here were the first roads to the fabled diamond fields, lost roads to the lure of gold. If you crave silence you’ll find it here like nowhere else, under vast, star-filled skies.

The Tankwa-Karoo is scarcely a two hour drive from Cape Town, yet until recently the region has been known and explored by only the hardiest of travellers. It is a true desert, but after spring rains it can be a feast of flowers. It is ringed by mountains, the fynbos-clad Cederberg to the west and the beautiful, high Roggeveld around Sutherland to the east. Here are mighty plains – the remains of an ancient seabed – with extraordinary fauna and flora, flanked by mighty peaks scratching 2000 metres. There are breathtaking passes, fantastic ravines and a history filled with great joys and many sadnesses. Here were the first roads to the fabled diamond fields, lost roads to the lure of gold. If you crave silence you’ll find it here like nowhere else, under vast, star-filled skies.