Ladismith is a small town in the Klein Karoo, in the Western Cape, sitting at the foot of Towerkop, the split-summit peak of the Klein Swartberg that rises over 2 000 m behind it. Route 62 runs through the town, and Karoo Stone Camper is on a farm off that road about half an hour to the west.
Where this sits on Route 62
Route 62 is the inland alternative to the N2 between Cape Town and Oudtshoorn, and it is a better drive by a wide margin. Running east from Ashton the order is roughly:
| Town | Roughly, from the farm |
|---|---|
| Barrydale | about 50 km west |
| Ladismith | about 30 km east |
| Calitzdorp | about 80 km east |
| Oudtshoorn | about 130 km east |
| Montagu | about 110 km west |
The section between Barrydale and Ladismith is the emptiest and least-photographed part of the whole route. Most traffic treats it as the gap between two stops. That emptiness is the product.
What Ladismith has
Enough. Fuel, a supermarket, a bottle store, a pharmacy, a handful of cafes and restaurants, and the ordinary machinery of a working Karoo town rather than a tourist one. The district is known for fruit, olives and dairy, and the drive in passes orchards that come as a surprise if your idea of the Karoo is only scrub.
For a stay at the camper, Ladismith is the place you stock up. Do it on the way in rather than planning a trip back.
The Klein Karoo is not the Great Karoo
Worth knowing before you arrive. The Great Karoo is the vast interior plateau. The Klein Karoo is the long valley between the Langeberg and Swartberg ranges, narrower, greener in places, with mountains on both horizons rather than flat distance in every direction.
That is why the view from the camper has a skyline in it. You are in a valley floor with ranges on either side, which makes for better sunsets and considerably better sunrises than open plains.
Weather, honestly
Summers are hot and dry, regularly into the mid-thirties, with the heat breaking sharply after sunset. Winters are cold at night, often near freezing, with clear bright days. Rain is low and unreliable in any season, which is what keeps the skies so good.
Pack for both ends of the day whatever month you come. That single piece of advice covers most of what visitors get wrong about the Karoo.