Moordenaarskaroo (Murderers’ Karoo)
With a name like that we just had to go and see what it was like. If you’ve got an adventurer’s heart you gravitate to places like these like moths to a flame.
Dana Snyman, a famous Afrikaans journalist, once wrote in the WEG magazine that the Moordenaarskaroo is like the G-spot – everybody’s heard of it, but no-one knows exactly where it is. Well, actually, those in the know do know. The Moordenaarskaroo sort of lies between Laingsburg, Sutherland and Merweville, but it does not include any of these towns. Merweville and Laingsburg are in the Koup while Sutherland is in the Roggeveld. So the Moordenaarskaroo is just this townless area, a mysterious space, almost like the Burmuda triangle. So, when a friend suggested that we visit the Moordenaarskaroo it did not take much convincing.
Our trip started in Laingsburg from where there is a dirt road North named Moordenaarskaroo, the road used during the lawbreakers’ great escape to what was then known as the “Karoo badlands”, a dry inner heart where murderers and robbers could find refuge. There are several stories about where the Moordenaarskaroo got it’s name. None can be verified. The word “Karoo” comes from the word Korusa, which in Khoisan means a dry and barren thirst land. The most popular story tells that the vast plains and endless blue mountains were so named because it once sheltered escaped slaves, runaway soldiers, smugglers and the banished.
It’s a desolate and barren place, but if you love the Karoo this is a must see!
It is said that about 60km from Laingsburg the area is haunted. Strange grey shapes and shadows constantly appear and disappear in parts of the veld in this area of the Moordenaarskaroo. And, weirdest of all, they appear even in broad daylight. Luckily we saw none of that! Some more interesting trivia is that in the Afrikaans TV series “Arende” the character Sloet Steenkamp also fled to the Moordenaarskaroo to get away from the English (but that part of the series was actually filmed in the Cederberg)
The scenery here is amazing. It’s barren and lonely, and yet breathtakingly beautiful. Every so often you ride past an old ruin and wonder about the people that lived here in times past. It must have been a hard life. Closer to Sutherland we ascended Komsberg Pass and with the height you get more breathtaking views. Komsberg Pass is a gravel pass that takes all the way up the escarpment (and into the Northern Cape) where you eventually briefly join the tarred R354 toward Sutherland before turning East on the gravel road to Merweville.
Heading East now we had the sun at our backs. After having been treated to great scenery all the way here you couldn’t think that it would get any better, but this is a very scenic road. We ride to the edge of the escarpment again and soon you start seeing over the edge and onto the Koup region of the Karoo below. You decent into the Koup (and back into the Western Cape) via a hidden gem called the Rammelkop Pass with the most amazing views in front of you the whole time. The scenes unfolding before us was most definitely the most scenic part of the trip. There is “little” to see and yet so much to remember. Ride through here but once and you’ll carry something of this area with you for ever.
Article & Photos: Johann van Tonder
