Damn, the Gariep Dam is something spectacular!

OOverlooking the great expanse of water is the town of Gariep Dam, established in 1960 for the resident labour force. As the youngest town in South Africa, Gariep Dam has become a popular holiday resort, and is home to about 600 people. On a ridge overlooking the dam is the De Stijl Gariep Hotel, a surprisingly cosmopolitan establishment you would probably expect to see in a large city more often than a tiny Free State village. It is popular with locals, contractors working the area and visitors to the dam.

At the waterside is a Forever Resorts holiday camp, complete with chalets and boating facilities. Nearby is the Gariep Nature Reserve, which runs around part of the dam.

TTwo more lakeside reserves (the Oviston Nature Reserve and the Tussen-die-Riviere Reserve near Bethulie) will one day combine with the Gariep Nature Reserve to form nearly 100 000ha of ‘wilderness at the water’.

The other great attraction of Gariep Dam is in the air: there’s an airfield with a double-tarred runway, and the kind of aerial conditions that make the district ideal for flying gliders.

International gliding championships are held there every December, and a number of world gliding records have been set in this area.