Life is where water is. This is why so many pre historic people made Danielskuil their home. First came the San (Bushmen), then the Shoi-Shosis (Hottentots), followed by the Griquas and the Tswanas. Much later the Europeans arrived. In 1816 the missionary, James Read, was on his way to Kuruman when he passed through the area and named the place ‘Fraaifontein’ (pretty Fountain). Other sources mention the name ‘Koup’ and ‘Tlhakalatlou’ (Tswana for ‘elephant’s reed’) after an elephant was killed by assegai in the reed-bush. The name ‘Daniel’s Den’ was first mentioned by the missionary traveller, Campbell, in 1820. The name derives from a natural sink hole in the limestone formation, and it’s Biblical connotation to Daniel in the lion’s den. Danielskuil is situated at the foot of the Kuruman hills. Approximately 8 km west of Danielskuil is the mining village of Lime Acres, where lime is mined from a deposit discovered here by geologist Digby Roberts in the 1950’s. Other mining activities around the town include, asbestos in the surrounding Asbesberge and diamonds at Finsch, approximately 7 km from Lime Acres. The area also has a large farming community.

GENERAL INFORMATION

How to get there

Kimberley 150 km, Kuruman 90 km

Altitude: 1200 – 1500 m above sea level

Average Rainfall

350 mm per annum, mostly thunderstorms in summer and autumn

Banks

FNB, Standard

HISTORICAL VIEW

British Fort

Built during the Anglo Boer War. Located on a hill overlooking the town.

Sinkhole Gaol

The limestone sinkhole from which the town derives it’s name is believed to have served as gaol to Griqua leader Adam Kok I. The story goes that the hole was home to a variety of snakes and that those whose survived the ordeal has proven their innocence beyond doubt. No historical proof however exists to substantiate the tale.

NATURE

Bosmansgat

On 23 August 1996, Numo Gomes, a Gauteng civil engineer, made history when he dived into the dark depths of Boesmansgat. Beneath the herds of antelope grazing the rich, golden plains of Mount Carmel, a farm on the Kuruman road, lies the entrance to Boesmansgat, a natural dolomite sinkhole of magnificent proportions. No light ever penetrates it’s mysterious depths. The largest natural cavern of it’s kind in the world, it poses the ultimate challenge to scuba divers. Gomes had set his heart on bottoming Boesmansgat when he first immersed himself in it’s all encompassing blackness in 1981. Encumbered by tanks of gas, demand valves, dive torches and dive computers weighing 135 kg, Gromes, resembling an extra terrestrial, entered the chill water of Boesmansgat at 09:22. In seconds, darkness swallowed him. The ‘Big Black’seemed destined to retain it’s deepest secrets and possibly take Nuno’s life as it had taken young Deon Dreyer’s in 1995. It took him fifteen minutes to descend to 274 m. with two of his torches crushed by pressure, his remaining lights picked out a lunar landscapes of grey silt and the odd small rocks. At 282 m, Nuno Gomes became the first person to reach Boesmansgat’s bottom. At 1550 m above sea level, the altitude corrected depth of Boesmansgat equates to 337,72 m. In the middle of the Kalahari, Nuno Gomes had dived deeper than any other humen being. At 21:00 on the same day, having consumed nearly 55 000 litres of eight different types of gas and decompressed over a twelve hour period at different levels, he returned to the surface of Boesmansgat, his name entering the record books.

ACTIVITIES

Outdoors

Hiking, Hunting, Both at Mount Camel, Swimming

Accommodation in and around Danielskuil