  | © Karoo Hoogland Municipality 2004 | You are visitor |
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Ever lied on your back and watched awesome star scapes sweep in dramatic grandeur across a majestic night sky? Or yearned for a space so vast that the horizon continues forever into the future? The Karoo Hoogland Region is the place where you can experience such uniqueness. From its timelessness and vast plains to its panoramic views from high cliffs, you will realize that this region is very special. The area is renowned for the hospitality of its farming community. Whether you'll be gazing at the stars at Sutherland, admiring the uniqueness of the corbel houses in the Williston area, or looking back in time at the Gansfontein Palaeo-surface at Fraserburg - your heart will surely be touched by this region as never before.
The people who live here are mostly farmers. The people who visit us are usually in search of an undisturbed, simple lifestyle; eager to indulge in stargazing, fossil-searching, hiking, taking on difficult but beautiful 4x4 trails, and finding rare animals and plants. People who take to the Karoo Hoogland love nature and enjoy eating cultural food and experiencing local cultures. Thus the Karoo Hoogland becomes the ideal destination for travelers who enjoy out-of-the -ordinary, yet value excellent but down-to-earth hospitality. You therefore stand invited to visit this unique destination - one that is with reason referred to as "The Gateway to the Universe" - and experience our tourist offerings. The three towns that make up the Karoo Hoogland Municipality is Fraserburg, Sutherland and WIlliston. Each of these towns boasts with its own well-known poet/writer, namely MIKRO (Williston), NP van Wyk Louw (and his brother WEG Louw) (Sutherland) and also AG Visser (Fraserburg).
According to legislation, all local authorities have to compile an Integrated Development Plan. Amalgamation between Sutherland, Fraserburg, Williston, Sakrivier, Nuweveld and part of the Roggeveld region brought about the establishment of a single, new IDP for this region. The primary purpose of the IDP is to consult with the community in terms of real developmental needs, which had to be identified and prioritized. These identified needs are then integrated into the functions of the Municipality, so as to drive and implement the development plan. The purpose for the IDP is:
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When looking at the map
(right), the
Karoo Hoogland Municipality is the dark pinkish triangular area between the three main
towns, Fraserburg,
Sutherland and Williston, in the Hantam Karoo region of the
Northern Cape Province. As can be seen, this is
the biggest
province in South Africa, covering a vast area of 361830 km2. (29.7%
of the total size of the country.) Its population is 0,84 million, of
which the majority (69.3%) is Afrikaans speaking.
You
can click on the black rectangle on the map to open an enlarged view of the actual
Karoo Hoogland vicinity, with route numbers and main roads.
Tourism offers the Karoo Hoogland Municipal
region new prospects and great potential through astronomy. During 2003 this Municipality
participated in the Cape Tourism
Showcase in Cape Town and also the Tourism Indaba in Durban, marketing the area
as "The Gateway to the Universe". The Indaba is the biggest tourism expo in the country and
one of three top "must visit" tourism shows in the world. The development
of tourism in the region is one
of the Karoo Hoogland Municipality's main focuses and more and more tourism gems are discovered
daily. It is expected that soon tourism will become the backbone of this unique
region. Also see our 
