The Karoo is a vast, ancient, and arid landscape that hides a prehistoric world.

Countries & Cities · Published 30 September 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: Spanning much of South Africa, the Karoo is a semidesert defined by extreme temperatures and sparse rainfall. Beneath its surface lies the Karoo Supergroup, a massive geological record of Gondwana that preserves fossils from 270 million years ago, revealing a time when this dry expanse was a lush, swampy basin.

The Karoo is a region of vague boundaries, characterized by its arid air, cloudless skies, and dramatic shifts between heat and frost. Geologically, it is dominated by the Karoo Supergroup, a sequence of sedimentary and igneous rocks reaching up to 8,000 meters deep. This formation began 320 million years ago when the region lay over the South Pole, eventually transitioning from a glacial basin to an inland sea and finally a vast, reptile-rich plain.

The landscape is famously marked by 'Karoo Koppies'—flat-topped hills capped by erosion-resistant dolerite. These features formed about 180 million years ago when titanic volcanic activity forced molten lava between horizontal sedimentary layers. This same period of intense geological upheaval brought an end to the flourishing reptile evolution that had defined the region, leaving behind a treasure trove of fossils that have made the area a site of immense interest for palaeontologists since the first discovery by Andrew Geddes Bain in 1838.

Today, the region is divided into the Great Karoo and the smaller Klein Karoo, separated by the Swartberg Mountains. While the Great Karoo is a tectonically inactive plateau ideal for astronomical observation, the Klein Karoo features distinct geological anomalies like the red 'Enon Conglomerates' and the limestone-carved Cango Caves. Despite its harsh climate, the Karoo supports permanent settlement through borehole water, enabling a significant sheep-farming industry that relies on the region's resilient, xerophytic vegetation.

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