The Arid Arch Road Trip
This is a long road from Johannesburg into South Africa’s dry interior. Kimberley’s mining history gives way to Karoo towns, old windpumps, quiver trees and the Bokkeveld around Nieuwoudtville.
Highlights include:
- Seeing the Big Hole and reconstructed mining town in Kimberley
- Exploring Northern Cape history and archaeology at the McGregor Museum
- Visiting the trenches and memorials at Magersfontein Battlefield
- Eating Karoo lamb at Manna Restaurant in Williston
- Browsing the historic windpumps at the Fred Turner Museum
- Walking among the quiver trees at Gannabos
- Stopping at Nieuwoudtville Waterfall on the Doring River
- Eating roosterkoek at Matjiesfontein Roadstall
- Visiting the wildflowers and canyon waterfall at Papkuilsfontein Guest Farm
South Africa road trip from Johannesburg to Nieuwoudtville (1350 km, about 18 hours driving). Plan this trip with Sideroads Africa.
Stops along the way
- Kandirri Game Lodge: Lion sanctuary lodge and campsite on Spitsdam farm near Petrusburg — wildlife viewing from camp between Bloemfontein and Kimberley
- Big Hole & Kimberley Mine Museum: Vast open-pit diamond mine hand-dug by thousands of miners, featuring a reconstructed 19th-century mining town.
- McGregor Museum: Historic sanitarium turned museum showcasing Northern Cape archaeology, natural history, and Siege of Kimberley.
- Magersfontein Battlefield Museum: Anglo-Boer War battlefield and museum south of Kimberley — the 1899 Magersfontein trenches and memorial hill.
- Annie's Inn: Karoo guesthouse and camping at 3 Van der Spuy Street Williston — rooms and camp stands on the R63
- Manna Restaurant: Williston Karoo lamb restaurant at Karoo Internasionaal on Lutz Street — flags on the R63 and local farm cooking
- Fred Turner Museum & Windmills: Loeriesfontein folk museum with an open-air collection of 27 historic windpumps — Bushmanland’s most famous stop.
- Loeriesfontein Caravan Park: Town caravan and camping stop in Loeriesfontein — a practical overnight beside the windmill museum and Hantam basin
- Gannabos Quiver Tree Forest: Largest natural quiver tree forest in the southern hemisphere on Gannabos farm between Nieuwoudtville and Loeriesfontein.
- Nieuwoudtville Waterfall: 100-metre cascade on the Doring River near Nieuwoudtville — a dramatic stop on the Bokkeveld escarpment.
- Matjiesfontein Roadstall: Nieuwoudtville flower-route farm stall about 13 km south of town — boerekos roosterkoek and the Matjiesfontein flower fields (not the N1 village)
- Papkuilsfontein Guest Farm: Conservation farm south of Nieuwoudtville with stone cottages wildflowers and a canyon waterfall — roosterkoek and fynbos on the Bokkeveld