An estimated 220 million year ago, at the time when dinosaurs roamed the earth, mountain formation in the Cape Fold Belt came to an end. What followed was a spectacle on a scale nowadays, is nowhere to be found on earth. Around 180million years ago, hot black basaltic lava poured out over the whole of the southern continent as Gondwana started to be placed under enormous intercontinental tentional stresses. The lava that did not make it to the surface are today seen as the thick dolerite sheets (sills) and associated dykes, which give the Karoo its ”ysterklip” ridges and spectacular scenery. Read about the geology of this area in the files you will find in the cottages