Koffiefontein

The name means coffee fountain in Afrikaans, which tells you what this place was before diamonds arrived. In the 19th century, transport riders crossing the southern Free State stopped at the spring on this farm for water and to brew coffee. Then one rider found a diamond, and within a generation a De Beers mine was sunk. The Koffiefontein mine started production in 1870 and ran for well over a century, eventually passing from De Beers to Petra Diamonds in 2007, going onto care and maintenance in 2022, and being sold again to the Stargems Group. The mine is still visible and defines the town's silhouette.

The diamonds from Koffiefontein were known for exceptional quality, described as being of the first water. The Big Hole is accessible by getting a key from mine security, which tells you everything about how low-key the tourism infrastructure is here. The town also has a collection of British blockhouses from the Anglo-Boer War and the remains of a large World War II internment camp where up to 2,000 Italian and German prisoners of war were held. The Italians left behind wall paintings, including a faded portrait of Mussolini, that survived long enough to be photographed and documented.

The homestead of Etienne Leroux, one of the most important Afrikaans novelists of the 20th century, is nearby. San rock paintings are scattered across the surrounding district. The town entrance features a giant suspended kettle fountain, a nod to the Victorian transport riders and a piece of roadside sculpture that works better than it sounds.

Koffiefontein sits 125 km southwest of Bloemfontein and 150 km south of Kimberley, deep in flat Free State Karoo country. The landscape is wide and empty. The town has a roughness to it, a high poverty rate, and a diamond history that never quite lifted it the way people hoped. That tension is part of what makes it interesting.