Koster

Koster was proclaimed in 1913 and named after Bastiaan Koster, the original owner of the farm on which the town was established. It sits at around 1,620 metres above sea level on the watershed between the two great river systems that define South Africa's interior drainage. To the north and east, water flows toward the Limpopo. To the south and west, it goes to the Orange. That is the kind of geographic footnote that does not make it into the brochures but tells you something about where you are standing.

The town is in the Kgetlengrivier Local Municipality, part of the Bojanala Platinum District. The economy is agricultural, centred on cattle farming and maize, with some sunflower and peanut production on the surrounding highveld. Diamonds were discovered north of Koster in 1932, a find that brought brief excitement to the area before settling into an alluvial mining pattern typical of the North West. The Elands River passes through the broader district and the landscape between Koster and Swartruggens to the northwest carries the characteristic dry bushveld and grassland of the transitional North West highveld.

Koster is a small town with the essentials covered. There is a functioning commercial centre serving the farming community, schools, and local services. The Kgetleng River flows through the broader district and the area north of town has farmland that transitions gradually into more open bushveld as you push toward the Pilanesberg. It is 34 km southeast of Swartruggens and roughly 90 km from Rustenburg, which is the nearest major centre.

Most people who stop in Koster are on their way somewhere else: heading to Rustenburg, coming from Lichtenburg, or crossing between the N4 corridor and the N14. That is not a problem. The town does not need to be a destination to be worth knowing about. It is simply a place that works quietly on the highveld, has cattle for company, and carries a diamond discovery story that nobody outside the district talks about much.