Klaarstroom

Klaarstroom

a hamlet in the Prince Albert municipal district

things to see and do history

Photo: Derek Thomas, Prince Albert

Klaarstroom at the entrance to scenic Meiringspoort, has remained virtually unchanged since the days of Queen Victoria. The hamlet was the home of South Africa's last operator of a transport wagon and on Vrolikheid, a farm in the district, you can see a licenced witblitz still, which has been declared a National Monument.

What to see and do in Klaarstroom

	The Anglo-Boer War graves of Corporal Boyd and Trooper Hirschford in the Anglican graveyard at The Church of the Good Shepherd.
	The delightful Victorian architecture, have a good look at the police station (1880)
	Stop for tea at the the Klaarstroom Tea Room and Koffie Kombuis - if the sign is up outside the guest house in the morning or afternoon, feel free to drop in for ... tea and cake, coffee and rusks, a milkshake, breakfast or any combination of the above that tickles your fancy! Tel: 082 4888 370
	A short drive along the road to Willowmore will bring you to Vrolikheid, a farm where witblitz is distilled.
	Take a drive through Meiringspoort - the first road to link the Central Karoo and the coast. Built between 1856 and 1858 it was regularly closed due to flash floods and after the spectacular floods of 1998 the road was reconstructed at a cost of R70 million. Stop at the info centre at the waterfall and discover the stories associated with each of the drifts across the river, all of which bear fascinating names, such as ontploffingsdrif - the explosion drift, spookdrif - ghost drift, pereboomdrif - pear tree drift, and many more. Take a walk along the path into the kranz which was constructed in the 1920's so that the Prince of Wales, later the Duke of Windsor, could walk up to see the bottomless pool where the mermaid dwells. At each of the rest sites through the poort information boards give you insight into the animals, plants and birds to be found in Meiringspoort. Photo: Reinwald Dedekind, Prince Albert

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Klaarstroom's history

Helena Marincowitz, an amateur historian in Prince Albert, wrote a fascinating booklet in Afrikaans about the history of Klaarstroom. Klaarstroom en Omgewing is available from the Fransie Pienaar Museum in Prince Albert, Tel: 023 5411 172.

The first wool washery in South Africa was opened here in 1874 by a Canadian, PJ Allport. It was designed and constructed by George Wallis, the architect who designed the Moederkerk in Oudtshoorn and built the Anglican churches in Willowmore, Oudtshoorn, Klaarstroom and Prince Albert.
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