The charming Karoo town filmmakers go crazy for

The small Karoo town of Merweville is so picturesque that it has often been used as a film location.

Merweville is part of the Beaufort West Municipality in the Western Cape and lies in the heart of the Great Karoo. 

It is located in one of the most arid areas of the Karoo, with annual rainfall rarely exceeding 150 millilitres. This makes its residents almost fully dependent on boreholes and windpumps.

The lack of rainfall has also left the land dry and empty of vegetation. Cape-Dutch-inspired buildings and flat-roofed Karoo cottages dot the dry landscape.

The town’s rural atmosphere and desert-like vegetation have made it the perfect spot for shooting film scenes set in areas of Arizona and Nevada. 

Some farms in the area have named their properties after this, with farm names such as Montana and Arizona.

A J & B Whiskey commercial was shot on the outskirts of Merweville. The scene called for a small town on the Mexican border, and producers proudly said, once the commercial was complete, that “no one could tell the difference.”

The town is also the central focus of the popular Afrikaans TV Show, Die Boekklub, which is set in Merweville itself. The town now has a coffee shop called Die Boekklub as a reference to the show. 

The village has fewer than 2,000 inhabitants, two tarred roads and no streetlights. Its houses and buildings exude old-world charm, and at the centre of the town lies the Dutch Reform Church, one of the most magnificent in South Africa.

The church dates back to 1905 and has become a National Monument. 

Off the beaten track

According to the town, local farmers in the area have been around since the 1800s. However, the farmers had to travel more than 120 km to visit the Beaufort West Church.

And so in 1887, Reverend Pieter Van der Merwe and the local farmers appealed to the church authorities to create a new church to serve the area. 

Permission was granted, and a piece of land was purchased from the Vanderbylskraal farm to build the church.

The outbreak of the Anglo-Boer War in 1889 disrupted the plans to build the church, and it wasn’t until 1905 that the church was constructed and the town was created, named after the reverend who built the church.

In the village’s early days, most economic activity centred around this farm, where a shop, a post-office, a small police station and a jail were built. 

The town continued to grow and expand, with more homes and businesses popping up. In October 1918, however, the town was hit by a Spanish Flu pandemic that wiped out many residents. 

The lack of streetlights is by design. According to the town, the residents elected not to have streetlights when Eskom power was introduced in 1998. 

Other than being known as a film location, the village received national attention in 1977 when a meteor struck the farm of Waterval.  Despite these notable events, the town remains a hidden gem.

“Due to Merweville being off the fast-moving beaten track, it has been possible to maintain a jealously guarded old-world charm and pace,” the town said. Businesses in Merweville still close everyday for lunch. 

Today, the main economic activity is sheep farming, although goat and game farming are also common. 

Farmers also cultivate onions, lucerne, oranges and olives, having learned to adapt to the harsh drought conditions. 

“With the unfortunate but well-known drought cycles, farmers need to diversify to endure in this harsh farming environment. They have learnt to work with nature and not against it,” the town said. 

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More photos from Merweville: