De Rust

A popular country escape for artists, the area is also well known for excellent dessert wines; pot-stilled brandy and fruit and like most towns in the region, it is ostrich country!

Take in all this little town has to offer. Beautiful picnic spots are found in Meiringspoort, one of the most visited spots in the Klein Karoo. At the bottom of the 60m Meiringspoort waterfall, a magical, deep mountain pool has been formed. You might catch a glimpse of the mystical and elusive Meiringspoort Mermaid … she may even join you for lunch in the pool at the foot of the waterfall! Ask the locals to tell you more about this magical myth.

The Klein Karoo boasts a shy range of browsing antelope and the majority of animals are nocturnal, as is the case in arid and hot desert-like regions. At night, aardwolf, jackal, bat-eared foxes, owls, porcupines, hares, civets and genets claim back the veld. During the day, however, tortoises and other reptiles are visible, alongside some meerkat and the odd klipspringer or grysbok.

More than 130 bird species have been recorded here, notably black, fish and martial eagle, Cape Sugarbird and Pied Kingfisher. Truly a nature-lover’s heaven.

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