Location

In the south-eastern segment of Northern Cape Province.

A largish town in the dry heart of the Great Karoo and a communications centre of some note. De Aar ('the vein' or 'the artery') takes its name from the underground spring on the farm on which it was established, but draws its prosperity largely from the railway line - after Germiston, it's the second biggest rail junction in South Africa (there are more than 100 kilometres of track within the precincts of the town itself).

Highlights

Olive Schreiner's House The celebrated author and feminist (1855-1920) lived in De Aar when her husband, William Cronwright-Schreiner, held office as town clerk. Olive is best known for her novel The Story of an African Farm, published in 1883 and hailed as the first fictional work of quality with an African setting. In her later years she became a passionate propagandist for pacifism and women's rights, and her Women and Labour is still considered a landmark in the women's movement. Her house is now a restaurant.

Bushman Rock Art Paintings and engravings, the legacy of Bushman people, regarded as perhaps the finest of prehistoric artists, can be viewed on the farms Nooigedacht and Brandfontein.

Nearest towns

Colesberg lies to the east; Middelburg on the N14 highway to the south-west; Kimberley on the N12 to the north.

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DE AAR

Locations
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PROVINCES

Western Cape
Gauteng
Eastern Cape
Free State
Kwazulu Natal
Mpumalanga
Northern Cape
Northern
North West