I last visited Kameel, a tiny hamlet in South Africa’s North West Province, in February 2020 as part of my (never finished) #10SouthAfricanTowns project. At the time, I was certain I’d be back in Kameel before 2020 was over; it’s a perfect stopover point on the way to the Northern Cape, which I planned to explore later that year. But then covid happened, of course. So I didn’t make it back to Kameel until last week – more than four years later – when I finally did that Northern Cape road trip to celebrate my 50th birthday.
#10SouthAfricanTowns, Part 2: Kameel
Kameel is the second stop in my #10SouthAfricanTowns campaign, for which I’m visiting ten small towns across South Africa in 2020.
Kameel means “Camel” in Afrikaans. The original farm there is called “Kameel Bult”, which roughly means “Camel Hill”, and I assume the town got its name from the farm.
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Five Things to Do in Potchefstroom
The town of Potchefstroom, 120 kilometers southwest of Joburg in North West province, has several claims to fame:
- Potchefstroom is a very old town by South African standards, founded in 1838 by Voortrekker Andries Potgieter.
- Potchefstroom is a university town. The Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education – now the North-West University Potchefstroom Campus – was founded here in 1869.
- Potchefstroom has the longest avenue of oak trees in South Africa – possibly in the entire Southern Hemisphere.
- Potchefstroom is a long and difficult (at least for me) word to say. Thank goodness most people call it Potch. (Read more about the origin of the name Potchefstroom.)
I lived 90 minutes from Potch for nearly nine years before going there. I didn’t expect to particularly like it. With the exception of the oak tree story I’d never heard much about Potch, and it isn’t a town that one unexpectedly stumbles upon. It’s not really on the way to anywhere.
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Adventures in North West Province: 24 Hours at Sun City
Last month I spent a weekend in Groot Marico, a whacky hippie town in North West Province. Soon after booking the Groot Marico trip, I received an invitation to spend the night at Sun City during the same week. I was really excited. I’d never been to Sun City – which is like a South African Vegas – and had been awaiting an opportunity for years.
