PROTEA HOTEL BY MARRIOTT KIMBERLEY

If you want to be close to Kimberley’s biggest attraction, it doesn’t get better than staying at the hotel that is right on the edge of the Big Hole itself. The hotel is only five years old, but was designed to blend in with its surroundings in Kimberley’s historic mine village. Just in case you had forgotten you were at the edge of the Karoo, there is a proper working wind pump which clanks and whirrs happily away next to the swimming pool that is built in the shape of a traditional farm reservoir.

The standard rooms are small but comfortable and the hotel has a decent restaurant. Given its location, it’s the perfect base from which to explore the city and its surrounds.

DETAILS: The Kimberley Big Hole, West Circular Road. Call 053 802 8200, or see www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/kimki-protea-hotel-kimberley

RATES: From R888 per night. Check the website for details.