Kuruman is situated on the main route between Gauteng and Namibia / Cape Town via Upington. This route is also known as the Namakwari route. Kuruman is the main town in the Kalahari region and is known as the ‘Oasis of the Kalahari’. Due to it’s location on the brim of the Kalahari the Kuruman area is renowned for extreme temperatures during the summer and winter months. Humid north and northeast bearing winds result in thunderstorms during December to April. The town is densely vegetated and is blessed with a permanent source of water. Gasegonynana (‘little water calabash’), commonly known as ‘The Eye’, delivers crystal clear water at approximately 20 million litres per day. here the Scottish missionary, Robert Moffat, lived for 50 years (1820 – 1878) and built the world famous Moffat church (Completed in 1838). The church can be visited at the Moffat Mission, as can the house in which Moffat translated the Bible into Setswana, and the printing press on which he printed it – the oldest press in Southern Africa. The mining and agricultural (cattle and game) activities support the town’s thriving economy.

GENERAL INFORMATION

How to get there

Kimberley 250 km, Kathu 50 km, Upington 272 km, Vryburg 144 km

Altitude: 1340 m above sea level

Average Rainfall: 420 mm per annum

Banks: Absa, Fnb, Standard

HISTORICAL VIEW

Town Crest

‘Procedimus’ means ‘Prosperity’. The symbols represent the different elements that played a part in the development of Kuruman i.e. Mining Industries (mining hammers), Nature (springhorns), Local Authority (mural crown in crest), Christianity and Moffat Church (church), The Eye and the source of Christian Life (fountain water) and the extension of Christianity to all four corners of the earth (cross bearing). Kuruman offers a wide variety of formal and informal accommodation and a visit to any of the tourist attractions in and around town is definitely worthwhile.

Denison and Brown Forts

British forts built during the Anglo Boer War, also used during the Rebellion of 1914.

Dikgoiing Fountain

A water hole that the Tswanas used at Dikgoiing until 1956

Moffat Mission Station

The Kuruman Mission was established by the London Missionary Society (LMS) in 1816 at Marupeng near Kuruman, home to about 10 000 Batswana. Robert Moffat, Scottish missionary, and his wife Mary arrived in Kuruman from Scotland in 1820 and soon obtained permission from chief Mothibi to relocate the mission to it’s present location at Seodin in the valley of the Kuruman River. Moffat (1795 – 1887) laboured at the mission for 50 years, a period often considered the ‘golden age’ of missionary work amongst the Batswana. He was a man of considerable talents and oversaw the building of staff houses, a school house, store rooms, and the ‘cathedral of the Kalahari’, the great Moffat Church (1838), seating 800 people. At the same time he was working on what was to be his greatest legacy, the translation of the Bible into Setswana. Once this gigantic task was completed, the Setswana Bible was printed on a hand press – being the first entire Bible printed in Africa. The mission is also well known as the first African home of Dr David Livingstone. He arrived as a LMS missionary in 1841, and remained in contact with the mission due to his marriage to Moffat’s eldest daughter Mary Jr. The mission also witnessed the first ordination of a Motswana, the Rev Maphaketa Lekalake, who served the church to the age of 97. Moffat retired in 1870, almost at the same time as the discovery of diamonds at Kimberley, an event which changed the political and economical scene of South Africa forever. The mission was declared a national monument in 1939. Today the Moffat Mission is surrounded by fertile fields and syringe, pear, almond, pomegranate and fig trees, it’s quite tranquility disturbed only by the many services and events held regularly in the church.

Roger’s Folly

Irrigation grounds of Dikgoiing village 1880 – 1956

Slaughter Tree

Appointed in 1913 as the official slaughtering place.

Truce Tree (seodin Road)

During the Rebellion of 1914 General Jan Kemp, on his way to join the Germans in South West Africa (Namibia), along with 1200 rebels, ‘invaded’ Kuruman to replenish their rations. After a short skirmish the town’s garrison under command of a Captain Frylinck and Lieutenant Gash surrendered to General Kemp. An armistice was negotiated beneath this shady camel thorn tree, also known as the ‘silent witness’. The tree today bears a plaque in memory of the event. Magistrate Bergh guaranteed safe passage to General Kemp and after replenishing his rations, he left Kuruman, whereupon Captain Frylinck and his men got away safely.

Wonderwerk Cave

12 km from Boesmansgat and flanking the eastern side of the north south trending Kuruman Hills, the Wonderwerk Cave (‘miracle Cave’) unlocks the mysteries of our forbears and gives us insight into our prehistory. With a floor area of over 2000 m², Wonderwerk Cave runs 140 m into the hillside. An ancient solution cavity in Precambrian dolomite limestone, hillside erosion brought Wonderwerk to light and life about 800 000 years ago. Since then, almost 6 m of stratified deposits made up of windblown dust and small slabs from the roof have accumulated on the rock floor. Ongoing archaeological excavations show human occupation in all these layers, making this one of the longest inhabited caves on earth. The finds of several archaeological excavations are on display at Kimberley’s McGregor Museum. This includes hand axes and cleavers, refined points and blades and the horns of extinct antelope dating back to the Stone Age. Ground stone arm rings, bone arrow points, ostrich eggshell beads and engraved stones made by Khoi hunter gatherers are evidence of the cave’s use during the Later Stone Age and indicate cultural innovations spanning the last ten millennia. Moreover, stone artifacts, pot shards and fat tailed sheep hairs attest to habitation by Khoi San herders during the Ceramic Later Stone Age. The discovery of bedding areas, the controlled use of fire, burnt animal bones, red ochre fragments and ‘pretty stones’ suggest essentially modern behaviour at the dawn of prehistory. In the area near the cave mouth, white, orange, red and black paintings feature abstract patterns, ostriches and a variety of large game animals, including elephant. Such species and remnants of the San (Bushmen) still lived here when traveller Henry Methuen recorded it’s existence in 1946. The 1,98 m tall, 200 kg NJ Bosman, his eleven sons and three daughters were the first white inhabitants of the cave. They lived here from 1909 – 1911 while building the present homestead. To keep out dust, the Bosmans fashioned a floor of flat stone found in the mountains. Later, they used the cave as a stock shelter. Bosman’s commercial exploitation of deposits of ‘bat guano’ 35 m into the cave between 1940 and 1944 resulted in major damage to the upper level of the floor area. Despite the loss, this cave contains a unique record of mankind’s history in South Africa. Proclaimed a national monument in 1993, the cave holds a stalactite that grows during good rainy seasons.

NATURE

Billy Duvehage Nature Reserve

2 km on the road to Kathu. A wide variety of indigenous game is accommodated in this 1400 ha nature reserve. The park is also the proud owner of two white rhinoceros which attract quite a number of visitors.

Bird Sanctuary

On Hotazel Road. The key is obtainable from the attendant at the municipal water works next to the park. The size of the sanctuary is approximately 7 ha. It is a wetland area with lots of grass, reeds and trees. More than 115 different species of birds have been recorded to date.

Dikgoiing Caves

Dolomite caves and water fountain used by the Tswana until 1956 at the Dikgoiing foothills.

Kalahari Raptor Rehabilitation Centre

The Kalahari Branch of the ARI (African Raptor Information Centre) is situated in bilitate injured raptors.

Tswalu Private Desert Reserve

A 100 000 ha, upmarket oasis of designer ecotourism. Stephen Boler’s dream of ‘a new beginning’ (Tswalu) cost R54 million to realize. The area’s 2000 strong population of antelope has been supplemented by 5000 Harmann’s mountain and Burchell’s zebra, warthog, giraffe, blue and black wildebeest, red hartebeest, blesbok, common duiker, springbok, steenbok, impala, roan and sable antelope, gemsbok, kudu, nyala, eland and waterbuck. More important, Tswalu is home to a breeding herd of eight desert, black rhino, a species that has seen it’s numbers, dwindle to 350. Soon, Tswalu will also host a herd of desert elephant tranlocated from Namibia. At the foot of the Korannaberg mountains not far from the Botswana border, South Africa’s largest private wildlife sanctuary offers fine foods, superb accommodation and the total eco experience amid the waving savannahs, acacia bush, umbrella trees and red, desert dunes of the hauntingly beautiful Kalahari.

Wonder Hole

Dolomite caves with seven streams

ATTRACTIONS

Annual Events

Agricultural Show – February

Kalahari Game and Wine Festival – April

Second Eye

A natural spring close to town, currently a holiday resort

ACTIVITIES

Hiking

Aansluit Holiday Farm Trails - Near Van Zylsrus

Kuruman Hiking Trail

Explore the many places of interest along the 11 km Kuruman Hiking Trail. This popular walk will take you from under the willows planted around The Eye in 1881 by Magistrate Scholtz, past the Denison and Brown Forts used by the British during the Anglo Boer War, the Slaughter Tree – proclaimed the town slaughtering place in 1913, across the golf course to a dolomite sink hole and the Dikgoiing Fountain – a water hole used by the Tswana until 1956, Rogers Folly – the Dikgoiing Village’s irrigation grounds from 1880 – 1956. the Dikgoiing Caves – dolomite caves in the Dikgoiing foothills, the Wonder Hole – a series of dolomite caves and seven streams, and the Second Eye – Kuruman’s second natural spring and the central piece of a holiday resort.

Red Sands Country Lodge Trails – Outside Kuruman

Mount Carmel

North of Danielskuil, day walks

Springbokpan

In the vicinity of McCarthy’s Rest

Hunting

Kuruman is home to the Kalahari Hunters’ Association. The abundant game bred and culled in the area is fast turning it into a hunter’s mecca. Bucklands, Caledonia, Duffield, Elgin, Gilanders, Leeuduin, Lymington. Meyer & Chapman, Newton and Chalmers, Outpost, Robert, San Souci, Troubridge, Springbokpan

Paragliding / Hang gliding

Raptor Route

Kalahari Raptor Rehabilitation Centre

The renowned Kalahari Raptor Route, starts at Kuruman’s Raptor Rehabilitation Centre. View birds and small mammals in rehabilitation at close range – tracks the flight of these majestic birds of prey across the Kalahari, the Green Kalahari and the Diamond Fields. If you want to view or photograph a Bateleur, Marial Eagle, Whitebacked or Lappetfaced Vulture, African Fish Eagle, Greater Kestrel, Lanner Falcon or Secretary Bird during your visit, the chances are excellent that you’ll catch sight of all of them. The Raptor Route is the result of determined diplomacy in winning farmers over to the conservation cause. It is also a resounding victory for common sense. The Kalahari is home to 40 raptor and and vulture species – of the 67 in South Africa – and seven owl species – of the 12 nationally. Without the diversity of birds of prey, many of these fragile ecosystems would face collapse and extinction. To extend the area of their conservation as widely as possible, it is ideal to protect the birds where they are at their most visible and at their most vulnerable. For this reason, the 400 km long main route from Kuruman to the Kalahari Gemsbok Park along the Kuruman River has been chosen as a core conservation area. Most trees and water points sought by raptors lies close to or in the riverbed. The Molopo power line also follows the road and riverbed. Although the power line is not one of the Kalahari’s most aesthetic drawcards, it acts as a wonderful, highly visible perch for larger raptors. Farmers, who actively conserve breeding birds on their land, monitor or try to prevent unethical hunting or the indiscriminate shooting of these birds.

‘The Eye’

Each day, in an exuberant display of abundance, millions of litres of crystalline, mineral rich water pours into this arid landscape. Known as the ‘Oasis of the Kalahari’, Kuruman is blessed with a permanent and abundant source of water. More densely vegetated than most oasis, it’s water flows from Gasegonynana (‘the little water calabash’), commonly called ‘The Eye’. Flowing from an amazing dolomite spring as steadily as if from the rock struck by Moses, The Eye feeds forests of majestically tall camel thorn trees silhouetted against the seamless horizon of the great, mystical Kalahari desert. A spring delivering 20 million litres of water daily to 9000 inhabitants, the water flows from solution cavities in the mammoth doleritic dykes and sills that thrust themselves into prominence from the earth’s core some 190 million years ago. The source of the Kuruman River, The Eye supplies all Kuruman’s domestic water and fills two 7 km irrigation canals. This miraculous surfeit of water in one of our country’s most arid areas has led to the establishment of the Moffat Mission and coining of a second name for The Eye, the ‘fount of Christianity’. The University of Grahamstown’s Ichthyology Institute discovered that the spring nurtures an endangered species of cichlid fish, Psuedocrenilabrus philander. First documented by Samuel Daniell during the Truter Somerville expedition of November 1801, The Eye is the largest natural fountain in the southern Hemisphere and stocks goldfish, carp, barber and blue kurper. Not surprisingly, fishing is strictly prohibited. ‘The Eye’ was proclaimed a national monument in 1992.

PARAGLIDING HISTORY MADE

Bojan Majic knows what it is to fly on a wing and a prayer. On Christmas Day in 1996, the Slovenian paraglider pilot reached out and touched the sky. Winched into the azure skies above Kuruman, he began a voyage that rewrote the record books. Bojan returned to earth at Bloemfontein in the Free State province, having covered 337 km. today, his record heads the list of those who have taken paragliding to it’s limits.

Beneath Majic’s record is that of Briton Kate Thurston. She became the first woman to fly 285 km. The Westgates of Britain, who flew tandem for 200 km and soared to 4390 m, have their name under hers. Of the nine record categories recognized by the world governing body, the FAI, five belong to pilots who made the long journey to Kuruman.

Like Bojan Majic, many paragliders slip the surly bonds of earth from the airport to sail the endless skyways of the Kalahari. Beneath their wings the land is flat, dry and barren – emanating a quiet tranquility and stretching to an horizon that softens to meet and merge with the titanium air on which they fly. Alongside or ahead of them, one of the many raptors found in the area might lead the way from thermal to thermal. Fro the air, the only visible man made landmarks are the roads threading the maize farms and cattle ranches sprawling across this great land. Paraglider pilots are able to see the dust clouds created by their recovery teams tracking their progress along the region’s excellent network of roads.

During summer ground temperatures rise as high as 40°c. This means that, on good days, you can fly forever. The bases of the huge, white cotton clouds deep etched into the cobalt skies begin at between four and five thousand metres. Thermals soaring from the baking earth to the cooler climes of high altitude are average to strong. Their suitability for flying lies in their large diameters and pronounced cores. At 100 m above the ground, a dust devil might take you by surprise and launch you to well over 5000 m! In a country where anything is possible, it is always best to expect the unexpected. As did Bojan Majic.

Accommodation in and around Kuruman