Siyathemba

The upper Karoo stretches south from the Orange River through a dry country of plains and low hills. San communities lived here long before the arrival of colonial stock farmers, leaving rock engravings and stone tools across the region. Old paths later carried travellers towards the river and the Tswana country beyond. In 1801 William Somerville's expedition passed Schietfontein on its way north from the Cape, seeking cattle among the Batlhaping.