Pieter Cruythoff and the valley in 1661

In early 1661 a party of explorers led by corporal Pieter Cruythoff set out from the Cape towards the Paardeberg. On 3 February they climbed a lonely mountain and looked down on a broad, fertile valley.

They named the mountain after Jan van Riebeeck, then commander at the Cape, and the settlements that grew along its eastern slope later took their names from it. The explorers reported quagga, black wildebeest and rhino in the valley.

The land had of course belonged for far longer to the Khoi, who grazed cattle here. The valley later supplied grain to the ships sailing between the Dutch Republic and Batavia, and it has been farmed ever since.

You can follow the explorers' line today. The Pieter Cruythoff Route climbs the Kasteelberg from Bothmaskloof Pass, marked by white footprints painted on the rock. Ask Meerhof for permission first.