About De Rust

Source: Wikipedia.org – De Rust is a small village at the gateway to the Klein Karoo. De Rust is located at the foot of the Swartberg Mountain range between Oudtshoorn and Beaufort West. De Rust is also known for the meandering Meiringspoort pass.

Meiringspoort is a gateway that connects the Klein Karoo (little Karoo) and the (great) Karoo through a gorge with a 25 km road crossing the same river 25 times in the span of the 25 km. This area is also well known for Ostrich farming and most of the farmers in the area either farm exclusively with ostriches or as a sideline to their existing farming.

Source: De Rust Tourism – Early in the last century a young man from Worcester, near Cape Town, Petrus Johannes Meiring (a grandson of Pastor Arnoldus Meiring who arrived from Lingen in Germany in 1743) rode into the Klein Karoo’s Elephants River Valley. He never stopped exploring and eventually discovered the route through the Swartberg Mountain Range, which in later years became the famous Meiringspoort.

Long before the village was established, De Rust had already been a place to outspan and rest before challenging the route through the poort. In 1900 De Rust was established on a portion of Meiring’s farm.

The area is malaria-free, safe with a very low crime rate and we pride ourselves on a fantastic climate – beautiful sunny winter days with cool nights. Summers are perfect, hot and sunny. The town itself is peaceful and tree lined with excellent examples of late 19th century architecture. Our drinking water from a mountain spring puts expensive bottled water to shame..

De Rust Tourism
T: +27 (0)44 241 2109
F: +27 (0)44 241 2109
E:  derusttoer@xsinet.co.za
W: www.derust.org.za
Physical: 2 Schoeman Street,De Rust, 6650