Tankwa-Karoo & the Roggeveld Map #2

The Tankwa-Karoo is scarcely a two-hour drive from Cape Town, yet until recently the region has been known and explored by only the hardiest of travellers. It is a true desert, but after spring rains it can be a feast of flowers. It is ringed by mountains, the fynbos-clad Cederberg to the west and the beautiful, high Roggeveld around Sutherland to the east.

Here are mighty plains – the remains of an ancient seabed – with extraordinary fauna and flora, flanked by mighty peaks scratching 2000 metres. There are breathtaking passes, fantastic ravines and a history filled with great joys and many hints of sadness. Here were the first roads to the fabled diamond fields, lost roads to the lure of gold. If you crave silence you'll find it here like nowhere else, under vast, star-filled skies. As a Wild Card destination, Tankwa (plus this map) is a must for those who crave isolation and don’t fear lonely roads

Armed with this double-sided map, you’ll feel like an explorer on the gravel roads thanks to multiple classifications that indicate the quality of each road to help you plan your route. The waterproof, tear-resistant map links to the Slingsby maps of the Cederberg and the Swartberg and Klein Karoo. The Tankwa has become increasingly popular in recent years; famous for its wonder-filled National Park and for hosting the annual AfrikaBurn festival. There are many delightful places to stay and, in the high Roggeveld with its winter snowfalls, many fascinating nooks and crannies to explore.

This is not a place for the faint-hearted and we advise travelling these lonely roads with at least a pair of well-equipped high-clearance vehicles and two spare wheels! This is the second, revised edition of the first detailed map ever produced of the whole Tankwa and the Roggeveld Escarpment; may you enjoy your exciting journeys of discovery just as we did when we drove every one of these roads for this project.

This map covers the eastern Cederberg mountain range in the west and the Roggeveld escarpment to the east. In between lies the entire Tankwa-Karoo and the smaller but drier Ceres-Karoo. From Calvinia in the north, the map stretches southwards to Middelpos, Sutherland and Laingsburg, and westwards to Touws River and Ceres, with Op-die-Berg and Wupperthal.