When we visited this Karoo Town, I knew that millions of readers will enjoy to read more about Calvinia… Learn about the town’s History and bookmark this page for the listed attractions.  Read more about the Spring Flowers and yearly Meat Festival. Get to know where to Shop, Eat or Stay. Enjoy a visual tour and book that holiday!

 This principal town of the Hantam is located 120km east from Van Rhynsdorp & 70km east from Niewoudtville.

Time seems to stand still in this nostalgic town.  Calvinia was founded in 1847, first under the name “Hantam” a Khoi-Khoi word meaning “where the red bulbs grow”….

Thereafter the town was named after religious reformer John Calvin.

Calvinia lies at the foot of the Hantam mountain range at a height of about 1000 meters above sea level.

Calvinia enjoy’s 80% starlight and the night sky is as much an attraction for city-dwellers as it is astronomers.

The vegetation is mainly Karoo flora and the rainfall is around 100mm per season.

Calvinia is one of S.A.’s largest wool producing areas and known for it’s Merino & Dorper sheepbreeding.

Attractions:

• The largest operational postbox in the country.
• See the unique Cape-Dutch Style Hantam House, build by Field Cornet A van Wyk, in 1854.
• Visit the museum  –  where you will find a cederwood horsemill and a display of mounted Cape fat-tailed, Merino & Dorper sheep relate to the history of the area.
• Dutch Reformed Church in neo-gothic style.
• Akkerendam Nature Reserve with two hiking trails which allows you an opportunity to enjoy the magnificent scenery, study the sterboom and up to 65 species of birds.
• Grave of Abraham Esau – an Anglo Boer War  martyr.
• Spring flowers for nature lovers and the ever popular Meat Festival at the end of August.