About Us

Springbok Lodge & Restaurant

Springbok Lodge & Restaurant is a family-owned business that has been started in 1947 by the Kotzé family and to this day is still run by the same family. The main building of the Lodge in Voortrekker Road hosts the reception, café, restaurant & book /curio shop. Various iconic photographs of Namaqualand’s history are to be seen here. Jopie Kotzé, the founder of this establishment, has a rock collection on display believed to be older than 50 years. This can also be seen in the main building.

Accommodation is available in the historical little yellow & white houses within walking distance from the main building. The interesting names of the buildings reflects the rich history behind it all. Houses such as Die Ankerhuis and Huis Kallie Fischer are available as en-suite double rooms. Die Stoorand Ou Sendingspastorie can accommodate larger groups of people. Self-catering units such as Bergmans Hof and Ou Dokters are popular choices for guests wanting to cater for themselves.

The restaurant is famous for its fresh milkshakes and delicious home cooked meals and breakfasts. The restaurant is fully licensed and boasts a list of regional wines to try out.

The bookshop, part of the main building, features a wide variety of topics. We go to great lengths to make sure we have the best books available about plants, flowers, history and local stories. Afrikaans books of course lie very close to our hearts, and we make sure you’ll get enough thereof for both old and young.

Our book shop also has another, interesting, part to it: a curio section with beautiful hand-made gifts, supporting local artists and craftsman in the region, or province.

The latest addition to the Lodge is an Art Gallery on the first floor of the restaurant. Artwork by people from Namaqualand can be bought, as well as arts and crafts supplies. Come have a look and see just how handy people of this area can be with a paint brush.

+27 (0)27 7121321

0832312359

springboklodge1@gmail.com

Mon - Fri 7:30am - 8:00pm | Saturday: 7:30am - 8:00pm | Sunday: 8:00am - 8:00pm

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If you are making your way to Namibia, Springbok Lodge can accommodate you, we are on route to Namibia, Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, Richtersveld & the West Coast!

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The Name Springbok

Originally named Springbokfontein, the name of the town was shortened to Springbok in 1911. It refers, of course to (Antidorcas marsupialis), South Africa's best-known antelope, which is depicted in heraldic designs, on the rand coin on the badges worn by South Africa's top sports- men and women and which is proudly used by numerous hotels, services and manufacturers. The town is hardy, lively, and attractive as the graceful buck it was named after.

  • Unique
  • Tranquil
  • Biggest Town in Namaqualand
  • Known for Copper Mining
  • Perfect Stop on your way to Namibia

The History of Springbok

As country towns go, Springbok has some unique features with regards to its situation. It is surrounded by picturesque granite koppies and encircled by smaller villages and townships within a radius ranging from a few to many kilometers. Clockwise, from the south, one may begin with Mesklip, an historical school farm and one of the first established in this region. It was the seat of the earliest veldcornetcy in the area, established in the last years of D.E.I.C. rule. Next comes Matjieskloof, founded nearly a century ago as a Catholic mission station, a fact still evident in its dignified church. Matieskloof boasts a school and a private trade school where apprentices are taught to make furniture.

Nababeep, the centre of the copper mining industry of the region, offers visitors a unique opportunity to visit its copper mines by appointment and to examine its prize exhibit, the last locomotive to puff along the railway line from Okiep to Port Nolloth. The old engine has been restored with great care. Next comes Okiep, where there is one of the oldest working copper mines in the country, complete with smelting furnace. Concordia, the next town, also had a copper mine with the charming name of Wheal Julia which is closed today. This little town was also a seat of the Rhenish Missionary Society, who built the stone church. Carolusberg boasts one of the largest open-cast copper mines(also not in working condition today) in South Africa, a stone's throw from the spot where Simon van der Stel sank a prospecting shaft nearly three hundred years ago.

Springbok is the centre of a far-flung district stretching away in all directions, from the southern peaks of the Kamiesberg Range often white with winter snow, to the hottest place in the whole of South Africa, Goodhouse on the Orange River just west of the famous date plantations and the pump station at Henkries. Springbok lies on the main route from Cape Town to Windhoek in Namibia. At a distance of 560 km north of Cape Town, it is only 130 km south of the Orange. Maps pinpoint the town at 290 40' S and 170 52° E. Its altitude is 990 m above sea level. Its annual rainfall averages 180mm.

Yet the town supports a population of 8 500 according to the census of 1978. As the most important town of Namaqualand Springbok has a bustling air, with various accommodation options, many cafe's, restaurants, super-markets and a flourishing tourism sector. Most of the banks and building societies have established branches here: the town is the magisterial seat of the district, the seat of the administrative offices of several government departments, and serves as the regional head- quarters of the South African Police. It is served by several schools, a hospital and a unique church building constructed entirely of dressed blue granite slabs. There are two printing establishments and several photographic studios.

The History of Springbok - Timeline

1685
Foundation
The first white expedition from the South to this part of the Cape Province was headed by none other than Simon van der Stel, governor of the settlement established 33 years earlier at the Cape of Good Hope by the Dutch East India Company. He set out on this journey of exploration in 1685, having heard reports of rich copper deposits in the area and still charmed by the old legend of the fabulously rich Christian empire of Monomotapa somewhere in the North. Van der Stel camped a mere 5 km to the East of the present town of Springbok, at a spot where he sank three prospecting shafts. The largest of these shafts, on which he carved his initials, has been declared a national monument and is a great tourist attraction. Van der Stel sent scouts to the West Coast to look for a suitable harbor for the ships that would one day load his copper, but received reports that the coastline was so smooth and unbroken that there was no suitable bays or inlets. The scouting expedition had ridden back and forth the very area where 241 years later the richest diamond deposits in the world would be discovered – Vigiti Magna had lain.
1760
A land of Riches
Interest in the riches of the region waned after this, but several travelers were drawn to this dry land. Some came to hunt, others to thrill to the adventure of the wild interior & others to spread the Gospel. Jacobus Coetsé hunted elephant here in 1760. Hendrik Hop headed an official expedition in 1761. Willem van Reenen, lured by tales of copper and gold, came soon after and found a few white farmers already established in the Kamiesberge to the south of the present town of Springbok. In these years the French naturalist and adventurer Francois le Vaillant travelled here, to leave highly romantic accounts of his observations.
1777 - 1847
Settlers
In 1777 – 1778 Col. R.J. Gordon distinguished himself as an explorer and reached the Gariep North of the Sneeuberg. He named the great river the Orange in honour of the ruling house of the Netherlands. In 1813 John Campbell of the London Missionary Society traveled through these parts. The official border looped forward over the migrating settlers from the Buffelsrivier to the Orange only in 1847. But as early as 1836 when large numbers of stock farmers were leaving the Eastern frontier of the Cape Colony on the Great Trek which took them into the Free State, Natal, and Transvaal, Sir James Alexander found European settlers at Springbok fountain.
1852
Prosperity
The partners Philips and King of Cape Town had bought part of the farm Melkboschkuil from the Cloete brothers here in 1852 and on the North-Western slopes of the ridges about the present town established an open-cast copper mine. The venture brought prosperity to the region. Before the smelting furnace was built here. High-grade ore had to be transported by ox wagon from Springbok to Hondeklip Bay in the form of broken ore packed into bags of about 45 kg. Tradition has it that the transport riders of the district were paid a hundred sovereigns for each wagon load of ore taken to the coast and of mining machinery, groceries and other supplies brought back, but it was a grueling round trip. Parts of the old Copper Road they traveled can still be seen. The famous Messelpad across the mountains west of the Buffelsrivier was the product of convict labour and inspired engineering. When richer deposits of copper were discovered at Okiep S km to the North of Springbok and at Nababeep 19 km to the North-West, the little village of Springboktontein suffered a reversal and its development was arrested.
1862
Cape Copper Company
Surveyor P. Fletcher laid out the town in 1862 and four years later a furnace for the reduction of copper was constructed in the gap in the ridges to the North-East of the town. Here the Cape Copper Company intended smelting the piles of lower-grade ore mined in earlier years around Springboktontein. For years this oldest smelting furnace in the whole of Southern Africa was to prove a boon in the town. When it came into production the farmers of the district once more had an extra source of income as in the days of transport riding, but now they set about meeting the demand of the smelting furnace for hardwood, the Company was prepared to pay very high prices for suitable wood in this treeless region. Many an old-timer of Springbok used to recall how, as a child, he had helped to load the heavy logs of noenieboom (Boscia species) and Olienhout (Olea Africana) onto the wagons. The smelting furnace was declared a national monument in 1959.
1899 - 1902
End of Boer War
Towards the end of the South African war (1899 – 1902) the Boer commando under General Manie Maritz engaged the British garrison in its stronghold on the koppie in the middle of the town, and in the short  Sharp battle Springbok (1902) won a tactical victory. The British were also taken by surprise in an unexpected attack from the mountains to the west of the town. General J.C. Smuts established his headquarters in the old drostdy, which in later years served as a school hostel for boys from the outlaying farms and was appropriately known as “Die Ark’. It is a great pity that this historic building was demolished some years ago.
1908
Growth
The discovery of diamonds along the West Coast and particularly at Alexander Bay heralded a boom period for Springbok, whose growth is influenced by the demand on the world market for the other base minerals mined in the region. The future of this pretty town set amongst the most beautiful of Namaqualand’s granite ridges and koppies seems secure indeed. A German hotel owner, FW Ernst Martins, started prospecting for diamonds in Alexander Bay in 1908. Dr. Hans Merensky, a renowned geologist, picked up 487 diamonds from under one flat stone, and he recovered a total of 2762 diamonds in the month of September 1926 in the Alexander Bay area.
1921
The Stone Church
On approaching this stately building on a hill in the centre of town, one is touched by the austere but moving work of art, created in the blue granite of this earth. When you read the words engraved on the cornerstone, you realize that this is more than only a house of God in which His people could meet and worship Him.

“Den God der Wondren alleen de eer. Gemeente

gesticht 1830, Kerk voltooid 1921. Nageslachten!

Zicht wat eendracht onder Gods zegen kan doen.”

1922 - 1933
Town Management
The first town management board was established in 1922 and in 1933 Springbok was accorded municipal status. Few people realise that the land on which the town was laid out remained the property of the mining company until 1942. On 21 February of that year, the municipality bought the land from the Copper company for ₤750.
1955- 1976
Water Supply
The supply of water from the boreholes soon proved inadequate for the growing town and in 1955 the supply was augmented from the Nababeep mine in terms of an agreement with the Okiep Copper Company (whose generators also supplied electricity to the town). Since 1976 a pipeline of about 48 cm in diameter has been conducting water to Springbok and the surrounding villages from the pumping station at Henkries on the Orange River.