Cradock in the Karoo (810kms from Cape Town)

When you enter Cradock, you immediately know that your stay is going to be unique...The atmosphere of this village might trigger your memory with some "deja vu" from some sort of Western movies... Large streets, damaged pavements, houses with characters and farmers walking around town but at the same time a true South African style with Victorian houses, game reserve, and the eternal biltong on sale everywhere...! 

The best place to stay at Cradock is, with no hesitation Die Tuishuie...You can choose from various cottages with beautiful styles. We were booked in the Die Werf! From the moment you open the door, you almost have the feeling that you enter someone's home! And the feeling continued when you entered the kitchen as the table was already set! Awesome! Then you feel like knocking on next door to meet your neighbours and discover the atmosphere of the other cottages!

If you are not in the mood of cooking, Victoria Manor Hotel's restaurant is stunning and it should almost be compulsory to wear 20' style clothes to fully enjoy your sherry in the lounge and the dinner in the Albert room.

While you are in Cradock, you have to  go to the Mountain Zebra National Park. Plan at least half a day to explore this reserve.

Situated 1957 meters above sea level, you can see up to 90 km!

And it is unique to go to a reserve where there are 300 Mountain Zebras. We did not much the difference between Mountain zebras and the 'standard' zebras but clearly they seem to be happy on slopes only! We managed to see them when we went up hill to the highest point of the reserve. Stunning! Apparently Mountain Zebras were very popular in Europe by the zoos and the surrounded farmers.

You can recognize Mountain Zebras by their red noses and it has stripes on legs (not the 'standard' zebra!) and the stripes are striking black and white with no brown. Do you know that no zebras have the same stripe pattern? and that stripes on the left hand side also differ from those on the right? Pretty much like our own hands!

If you are as lucky as we are, then you might also see a black rhino and ostriches, a beautiful red Hartebeest, velvet monkeys, duikers, springboks...

You could easily spend half a day walking around Cradock to visit the Great Fish River Museum and the Olive Shreiner House. I actually did not know this famous South African author of 'Story of an African Farm', before I entered the museum. Just follow the flow and come out of the house with sparking eyes! She is very inspiring! After walking, you could have a nice massage at

going tothe Egg Rock (better if you have a 4x4),