Porterville

Porterville at a glance

Porterville is a town situated in the Western Cape province of South Africa. The distance from Cape Town to Porterville is about 150 km.

Porterville is also home to some of the best campsites in the Cape; Waterfalls and Beaverlac.

The town rests at the foot of the Olifants River Mountains, 27 km south-east of Piketberg and 155 km north-east of Cape Town. It was laid out in 1863 on the farm Pomona, previously Willems Vallei, and became a municipality in 1903. It is situated 140 km north of Cape Town on R44 road at the base of the Olifants River mountains. Agriculture in the area is dominated by wheat production.

This unspoilt country town of some 9 000 inhabitants is a land of extremes, offering diversity, hospitality and authenticity. The region is famous for the rarest of flowers, the Disa Uniflora. It is the only place in South Africa where one can see fields of these flowers in nature, the rarest being the sulphur yellow Disa, which has been found only in one small colony in Porterville.

Climatic conditions vary from dry, hot summers with powerful thermals (making it the ideal location for paragliding enthusiasts) followed by severe winters, with snow on the mountain peaks and storms rolling in from the Atlantic coast in the west. The Dasklip Pass takes one to the mountain and the Groot Winterhoek Nature Reserve.

Hiking trails, to places called Die Hel and De Tronk, reveal dramatic rock formations and an abundance of flora and fauna. Die Hel has one of the largest rock pools in South Africa. The Waterfall Trail leads where waterfalls plummet down towards undulating wheat fields. Also to enjoy is the Tulbagh Cellars with their own unique organically produced wines.

Porterville is a paragliding mecca and annually hosts many local and international paragliders plus events during the summer. Flyer's Lodge offer a shuttle service for flyers to Dasklip Pass.

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