Hotazel, Pofadder and Die Hel: the stories behind South Africa’s strangest place names

South Africa’s strange place names are part of what makes a road trip here so much fun.

Where else could you drive from Pofadder to Hotazel?

Some names come from history, some from local legends, and some from a bit of brandy.

Here are the stories behind some of the country’s most unusual names.

HOTAZEL, NORTHERN CAPE

Say it out loud, and you’ll get the joke: “hot as hell”.

According to local legend, the name dates back to shortly after World War I, when a group of land surveyors had a drinking session in the red Kalahari sands.

Over a glass of Cape Smoke brandy, they described the place as “hot as hell”, and the name stuck.

When someone later went looking for underground water, they found manganese instead.

Hotazel became a mining town, and manganese is still mined there today.

POFADDER, NORTHERN CAPE

No, the town didn’t get its name from the snake. Probably.

Most people believe it takes its name from Klaas Pofadder, a Korana leader who used a remote spring in the area as a hideout.

He died in a shootout with Cape colonial forces in 1875.

Some people still insist the town was named after the puff adders that are common in the area, so the debate continues.

DIE HEL (GAMKASKLOOF), WESTERN CAPE

Hidden deep in the Swartberg mountains, Gamkaskloof is better known as Die Hel.

The most widely accepted explanation, according to the Dictionary of Southern African Place Names, is that the name comes from the Afrikaans word “helling”, meaning a steep slope.

That’s fitting, since the only road into the valley drops steeply for almost 600 metres.

But there’s a more colourful story too.

A stock inspector is said to have visited the valley in the 1940s, using a notoriously difficult route, and described the experience as “hell”.

Interestingly, the valley’s residents never liked the name.

They called themselves “Klowers”, the Afrikaans word for canyon dwellers.

MUIZENBERG, WESTERN CAPE

Muizenberg doesn’t mean “mouse mountain”, at least not quite.

The name comes from Wynand Willem Muys, a sergeant who commanded a small outpost on the shore of Zandvlei in 1743. “Muys” means “mouse” in Dutch, and the area became known as “Muys zijn Bergh”, or Muys’s mountain.

PUTSONDERWATER, NORTHERN CAPE

The name translates to “well without water”.

According to one popular story, a man dug a well in the area in the 1880s, but refused to share his water with passers-by, so travellers knew it as the well without water.

KEIMOES, NORTHERN CAPE

According to local tradition, this Orange River town’s name means “mouse nest” in the Korana language.

Legend has it that Klaas Lucas, a leader of the so-called “river pirates” who operated along the Orange River in the 1800s, gave the town its name.

BAARDSKEERDERSBOS, WESTERN CAPE

This Overberg village has one of the most memorable names in the country. It translates to “beard shaver’s bush”.

It’s named after a local creature: the solifuge, or sun spider, known in Afrikaans as a “baardskeerder”, because of an old myth that it snipped hair from sleeping people’s beards to line its nest.

THABAZIMBI, LIMPOPO

Not every name is a mystery.

Thabazimbi means “mountain of iron”, a nod to the iron ore that has been mined in the area for decades.

I’ll admit, Hotazel is now firmly on my road-trip bucket list, if only for the photo with the town sign.

South Africa’s place names are like little history lessons hiding on road signs.

Next time you pass one, it’s worth asking how it got its name.