Prince Albert & Around

Isolation has left intact the traditional rural architecture of Prince Albert, an attractive little town 70 km north of Oudtshoorn, across the loops and razorbacks of the Swartberg Pass - one of the most dramatic drives and entries to a town imaginable.



Although firmly in the thirstlands of the South African interior, on the cusp between the Little and Great Karoo, Prince Albert is all the more striking for its perennial spring, whose water trickles down furrows along its streets - a gift that propagates fruit trees and gardens.



The town's essence is in the fleeting impressions that give the flavour of a Karoo dorp like nowhere else: the silver steeple of the Dutch Reformed church puncturing a deep-blue sky, and residents sauntering along or progressing slowly down the main street on squeaky bikes.



Prince Albert is known for its mohair products: rugs, socks, scarves and other garments; check out Karoo Looms at 55 Church Street, which has some funky, bright designs, or, further down Church Street, the more traditional Wolskuur Spinnerst.

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The Groenfontein Valley

A circuitous minor route diverts off the R62, just east of Calitzdorp, and drops into the highly scenic Groenfontein Valley.

The narrow dirt road twists through the Swartberg foothills, past whitewashed Karoo cottages and farms and across brooks, eventually joining the R328 to Oudtshoorn.



Winding through these back roads is also an option to reach Cango Caves and Prince Albert, one of the best drives you'll ever do in South Africa.
Many of the roads are unsealed but are perfectly navigable in an ordinary car if taken slowly.

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Cango Caves, the History (2)

In the 1960s and 1970s, the caves were made accessible to mass consumption when a tourist complex was built, the rock-strewn floor was evened out with concrete, ladders and walkways were installed and the caverns were turned into a kitsch extravaganza with coloured lights, piped music and an indecipherable commentary that drew hundreds of thousands of visitors each year.



Even apartheid put its hefty boot in: under the premiership of Dr Hendrik Verwoerd, the arch-ideologue of racial segregation, a separate non-whites entrance was acked through one wall, resulting in a disastrous through-draught that began dehydrating the caves.

Fortunately, the worst excesses have now ended: concerts are no longer allowed inside the chambers, and the coloured lights have gone.

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Cango Caves, the History (1)

San hunter-gatherers sheltered in the entrance caves for millennia before white settlers arrived, but it's unlikely that they ever made it to the lightless underground chambers.



Jacobus van Zyl, a Karoo farmer, was probably the first person to penetrate beneath the surface, when he slid down on a rope into the darkness in July 1780, armed with a lamp.

Over the next couple of centuries the caves were visited and pillaged by growing numbers of callers, some of whom were photographed cheerfully carting off wagonleads of limestone columns.

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Cango Caves (2)

The caves must be visited on a tour.
The one-hour Standard Tour takes you through the first six chambers, but if you're an adrenaline junkie the ninety-minute Adventure Tour is a must; this takes you into the deepest sections open to the public, where the openings become smaller and smaller.

Squeezing through the tight openings, with names like Lumbago Walk, Devil's Chimney and The Letterbox, is not recommended for the overweight, faint-hearted or claustrophobic, and you should wear clothes you don't mind getting dirty and shoes with a grip to negotiate the slippery floors.



The visitor's complex includes an interpretive centre with quite interesting displays about geology, people and wildlife connected with the caves, and a restaurant.

Below the complex you'll find shady picnic sites at the edhe of a river that cuts its way into the mountains and along which there are hiking trails.

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Cango Caves (1)

The Cango Caves number among South Africa's most popular attractions, drawing a quarter of a million visitors each year to gasp at their fantastic cavernous spaces, dripping rocks and rising columns of calcite.

In the two centuries since they became known to the public, the caves have been seriously battered by human intervention, but they still represents a stunning landscape growing inside the Swartberg foothills.



Don't go expecting a serene and contemplative experience, though; the only way of getting inside the caves is on a guided tour accompanied by a commentary.

Cango is a Khoi word meaning a wet place - accurate enough, given that the caves' awesome formations are the work of water constantly percolating through rock and dissolving limestone on the way.
The solution drips from the roof of the cave and down the walls, depositing calcium carbonate that gradually builds up.
Although the caves are many millions of years old, the calcite formations that you see today are geological youngsters, dating back a mere 100.000 years.

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Oudtshoorn, What to See

C.P. Nel Museum

The C.P. Nel Museum is a good place to start your explorations.
A handsome sandstone building, it was built in 1906 as a boys' school, but now houses an eccentric collection of items relating to ostriches.



Le Roux Town House

A perfectly preserved family town house, and the only way to get a glimpse inside one of the much - vaunted feather palaces.
The beautifully preserved furnishings were all imported from Europe between 1900 and 1920, and there is plenty to stroll around and admire.

Buffelsdrift Game Lodge

Though not hugely traditional for Oudtshoorn, Buffelsdrift Game Lodge offers the opportunity to feed and touch elephants.
Book ahead for a really worthwhile experience where you get to stroke elephants under the guidance of their handlers, and watch them at training and play.
From the Lodge's restaurant on the large dam you are likely to see hippos, and may be lucky to see other animals coming to drink.
It's also possible to stay here.

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