Swartland

The Swartland begins some 50 kilometres north of Cape Town and consists of the regions between the towns of Malmesbury in the south, Darling in the west, Piketberg in the north and the Riebeeck West and Riebeek Kasteel in the east. Jan van Riebeeck called this softly undulating country between the mountain ranges "Het Zwarte Land" (the Black Land) because of the endemic Renoster bush ("Elytropappus rhinocerotis"). After the rains, mainly in winter, they turn black. The wide fertile plain is the bread basket of Cape Town with its wheatfields reaching up to the foot of the mountains, interrupted by wine, fruit and vegetable farms.

Viticulture in the Swartland is still comparatively young, and is practised under dryland conditions, with minimal irrigation. As a result, the wines from the Swartland are of an extraordinary quality and much sought after. On the well sign-posted Swartland Wine Route the wine farms may be visited and their products sampled.

The Swartland also home to the oldest colonial hotel of South Africa, The Royal Hotel in Riebeek Kasteel.