A Guide to Accommodation, Activities, Restaurants and Businesses in 

Graaff-Reinet, South Africa

Graaff-Reinet … where history continues to live …

Established in 1786 Graaff-Reinet is named after Cornelis Jacob van de Graaf and his wife Cornelia Reynet, and is one of only two towns in South Africa that is named after Dutch governors.

Graaff-Reinet is situated in the Sarah Baartman region of the Eastern Cape and is a unique and historical town that is almost completely surrounded by Camdeboo National Park.  Neatly placed in a curl of the Sundays River, it is the fourth oldest settlement in the country.

Perfectly viewed from the height of the Valley of Desolation, the town provides a pretty backdrop to the plains of the Karoo.

Once a vast inland sea, the Karoo is known for its fossils and has a largely unbroken 50-million-year fossil record reflecting the evolutionary pathways and patterns of different animal groups through time.  A very popular and extensive collection of fossils collected over a period of 18 years is displayed in the Old Library Museum.