Prieska is a small isolated town on the banks of the great Orange River in the Upper Karoo region of the Northern Cape. It offers a golf club, The Koppie Nature Reserve, small coffee shops and some great accommodation. Its the perfect stop en-route to Namibia or the Kgalagadi.

If ever you were wondering about how Prieska got its name, it’s a Koranna word pronounced “Prieskab” and it means “The Place of the Lost Goat”. Whose goat? Was it ever found? Did they eat it? No one knows.

This little Northern Cape town near the Orange River has another oddity: on Prieska Koppie, there’s a rather handsome British fort made entirely out of unprocessed tiger’s eye. It must be the only fort in the world constructed from semi-precious stones.

To love Prieska, you need to have eyes for the dry country. The town is part of the ‘Rock Garden Route’ which stretches all along the N10, west to the N7 and up to the Namibian border. But once you have an appreciation for Pachypodia (called the ‘half-mens’ – half-human in Afrikaans) and quivertrees and Lithops succulents, you’ll never fancy an English garden again.

During flood season, the normally khaki-toned Prieska presents a delightful sight of the Orange River in full spate, rushing through the endless brown landscape of the Northern Cape on its way to the Atlantic Ocean

Mampoer
Mampoer, a white spirit distilled from fermented fruit, is the South African equivalent of moonshine. In the Western Cape it’s commonly known as Witblitz (white lightning), while in the northern provinces it’s called Mampoer. Novelist Herman Charles Bosman has forever linked mampoer with the tiny hamlet of Groot Marico in the North West Province, but you’ll find mampoer distilleries to tour from Pretoria to Prieska.

Golf Club
This golf club offers 9-hole course, open 7-days a week. Putting greens, rental carts, rental trolleys, clubs are all available plus there is a clubhouse. Price range for weekdays & weekends is R45.

Anglo Boer war blockhouse
The historic old British stone fort, situated on Prieska Koppie, in the Prieska Koppie Nature Reserve

Places to stay
- BoKaro Boutique Accommodation - www.bokaro.co.za
- Riverview lodge - riverviewprieska.wixsite.com

Places to eat
Riverview Lodge is the only accommodation in Prieska offering guests the pleasure of relaxing in an on-site bar and a la carte restaurant.

A mere stone's throw from the banks of the Orange River, the Riverview Restaurant serves up lip-smacking home-style cuisine. From succulent prime-cut steaks, juicy ribs and tender schnitzels, to sole and calamari, to regional specialities like Karoo lamb chops, our dishes delight the taste-buds and soothe the soul.
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The Riverview Restaurant is run by Willa Botha. For reservations or inquires, contact her on 079 170 5383.

The Area: The Karoo
With the first rains, the seemingly arid soil of the Karoo bursts into abundant life, its hardy succulents complementing the sweet grasses on which the region's merino and fat-tailed sheep graze. The everpresent windpumps testify to the countless streams flowing between fissures underlying the dry but fertile soil.

Small, isolated but welcoming villages, a distinct Karoo architecture and imposing churches rest in valleys between desolate, flat-topped koppies. Take a short trip from Colesberg, an essential stopover for all travellers and a sheep-farming centre, to Hopetown, the scene of South Africa’s first recorded diamond find.

Return, passing Orania, a self-proclaimed Afrikaner volkstaat, before making your way to Vanderkloof and the Rolfontein Nature Reserve on the shores of the great Vanderkloof Dam.

Indulge in watersports or relax on its secluded banks which stretch 100km to the Doornkloof Nature Reserve on the man-made lake's southern shores. Throughout this wonderful part of the great Karoo, you can visit, hunt or hike on game farms and nature reserves teeming with every species of antelope. And, like the country they live in, the hardy inhabitants of the Karoo make you feel immediately at home in their beloved countryside.