Towns: Aberdeen, Graaff-Reinet, Jansenville, Middelburg, Nieu Bethesda, Pearston, Somerset East, Steytlerville, Willowmore.

Vast skies and champagne air, offering the finest star-gazing and sun-sets in South Africa, set against distant rocky mountains and blanketed with arid plains and the largest variety of succulents in the world - Karoo Heartland's dry and rugged beauty has awed travelers for centuries. Today her famously hospitable people are packaging her marvels like never before. This enviro-tourism region offers the famous Valley of Desolation, an unsurpassed fossil assemblage of dolerite pillars, historic architecture, authentic farm stays, world-famous Karoo venison and the oldest town in South Africa.

Karoo Heartland is on the eastern fringe of South Africa's central plateau. The red dust, dry heat and thorny acacias here are, for many, the essence of Africa. Windmills, quaint Karoo towns, Merino sheep, more than 9000 plant species and Angora goats dot the landscape.