and
Avontuur The kloof was given its name by
Isaq Schrijver in 1689, and more thoroughly explored by a later expedition under ensign
August Frederik Beutler in 1752. The valley has been farmed since 1760 and developed into an important fruit-growing region during the 1900s, specifically prized for its apples and pears.
Joubertina is the largest but also the youngest town in the Langkloof, and was founded in 1907 as a Dutch-Reformed community, named in honour of the Rev. W.A. Joubert of Uniondale. The reverend prohibited the sale of alcohol in the town, a ban which was never lifted but is nonetheless no longer enforced. The Langkloof is also home to early
Bushman paintings and the Kouga mummy – the only mummy ever found in Southern Africa from a cave in the Baviaanskloof Wilderness Area. The remarkably well-preserved mummy is relatively young - estimated to be buried approximately 1930 years ago. These buried human remains were found wrapped in
Boophone disticha bulb tunics, appeared to be of the
Khoi people, and was subsequently transferred to the
Albany Museum in
Grahamstown. ==Geography==