Rouxville to Fouriesburg – a western Maloti Mountains route

The road trip from Rouxville to Fouriesburg exposes you to some of the best visual and historic elements of the eastern Free State, from driving around its vast sandstone cliffs, to visiting its cherry harvests, and to the nostalgic experience of riding in an old steam locomotive.

 

 

 

 

The mountain above Zastron is home to the only Cape vulture colony in the Free State.

It’s basically at Rouxville that a person begins to notice the star attraction of this 300km journey to the eastern Free State town of Fouriesburg: the jagged sandstone cliffs of the Moloti (also spelt Maluti) Mountains in the distance.
Over the next couple of days, as we slowly meander up the western flank of Lesotho, along its borderline, we see the Malotis in many hues of light. At dawn and at sunset the rich sun glints off the sandstone buttresses, turning them into mammoth gold structures. Hunting raptors sweep over their heights and villages cluster at their foothills.
We drive north-east to Zastron, where the ancient San left their mark in exquisite rock art in the many sandstone caves of the area. Legend has it that plains game once ruled the grasslands of this district, and that the first Boer farming family to settle here befriended the local Basotho. They shared a love of peaches, and the farmers used to store peach pips in their pockets and then plant them later as they moved over the land.

Who to contact

Die Ou Stal B&B (Zastron)
Tel: +27 (0)51 673 1268
Email: dieoustal@tiscali.co.za
Lord Fraser Guest House (Wepener)
Cell: +27 (0)82 445 0346 - Melinda Lombard
Email: info@lordfraser.co.za

Fouriesburg Country Inn
Tel: +27 (0)58 223 0207
Email: fburginn@worldonline.co.za

Sandula Tours
Cell: +27 (0)83 286 0206
Email: info@sandulatours.co.za

 

How to get here

Rouxville is 34km north of Aliwal North on the N6 route.