The Karoo Development Foundation (KDF) has launched another exciting project – The Forgotten Highway Route.

Follow in the footsteps of ancient travellers, and stretch your horizons!

This 1 000 km Route stretches from Tulbagh and Ceres in the south to Kuruman in the north. It is the route that was used by the !Xam, KhoeKhoe, Tswana, missionaries and explorers. From there, travellers would venture into central Africa.

To launch the route, the Great Highway Expedition will set off from Sutherland on Saturday 22 October 2022, travelling northwards to Griquatown. This will be led by the well-known horseman, Mr Piet Coetzer, with his magnificent team of six “Vlaamperd” horses pulling an old-fashioned wagon. Other enthusiasts are welcome to join this three-week expedition and learn about the early explorers along the way!

Hier is die tentatiewe datums en plekke wat die Vergete Grootpad Ekspedisie sal besoek (“stanings”):

This is one of the most exciting projects the KDF has launched since it achieved the registration of Karoo lamb as a Geographic Indicator in 2015. (For details, see www.karoomeatoforigin.com).

The Forgotten Highway Route links Tulbagh in the south with Kuruman in the north, traversing several Karoo regions –Ceres Karoo, Roggeveld, Nuweveld, Bo- Karoo, Griqualand West, onto the Ghaap, and into the Kalahari.

From 1823, the Moffat Mission in Kuruman was the last stop from the Cape into the deeper African interior. It was also Africa’s link to the Cape.

Parts of the Route was based on pathways well-trodden by |Xam (San) and other hunter-gatherer groups, later by Khoekhoe herders with sheep and cattle, Tswana farmers at the northern end, and Xhosa who entered the Karoo, taking up residence there and along the Gariep from the late eighteenth century.

From the late 1700s, a trickle of white and ‘baster’ frontiersmen, hunters and fugitives, traders, explorers and missionaries were followed by a steadier spread of Trekboer farmers. The San, Korana, Xhosa (at Prieska and Canarvon), the Griqua at Griquatown, and the Thlaping near Kuruman, met the in-comers in widely varying types of encounter – trade, statebuilding, military power, conflict, and religious competition.

The main theme of the Route is “Encounters” – of people often out of their comfort zones and meeting others of different cultural background. Very often, the result was an intercultural mosaic of mutual influences.

The towns along the route include Tulbagh, Ceres, Sutherland, Fraserburg, Williston, Loxton, Carnarvon, Vanwyksvlei, Prieska, Niekerkshoop, Griquatown, Danielskuil, Postmasburg, Campbell and Kuruman.

There are also “cultural off-shoots”, into the southern Free State (such as Philippolis, also a Griqua state); Witsand Nature Reserve in the Langeberg; and Olifantshoek, Kathu and Deben in the Kalahari.

The Route has already awakened widespread interest along the route towns.

Several museums already offer engaging displays – Tulbagh, Ceres, and Griquatown. More museums are being refurbished along the Route.