Visit the Klein Karoo, South Africa

Wine tasting, ostrich farms, mountain passes, and underground caverns, all in the Klein Karoo

A convenient stop along South Africa’s Garden Route, the Klein (Little) Karoo is a narrow valley that runs between coastal mountains and the Swartberg Range. The sunny, dry climate here is ideal for the area’s two major industries — wine making and ostrich farming.

Our specialists have explored the region and can plan a visit to the Klein Karoo that will offer you the chance to sample local wines as well as explore the history of the ostrich trade. In Oudtshoorn, Victorian merchants made their fortunes by catering to the mania for ostrich plumes on hats, and you can still see their ornate sandstone mansions, known as feather palaces. We can arrange for you to visit a modern-day ostrich farm to learn more about this very niche business. You might also want to visit the CP Nel Museum; set in a feather palace, the museum’s exhibits examine the region’s avian agricultural heritage.

Beyond Oudtshoorn, you can appreciate some of the country’s most impressive mountains by taking a guided driving tour along the Swartberg Pass, a steep, winding mountain road littered with wind-carved sandstone sculptures. Or, venture inside the Cango Caves, a sprawling complex of caverns and tunnels that were inhabited during the Paleolithic and rediscovered in the 1800s.