Towns of the Karoo: Nieu-Bethesda

2Summers | 1 July 2025

At the end of my recent trip through the Karoo, after a stopover in Philippolis and an Inventure in the desert, I spent two nights in another tiny Karoo town: Nieu-Bethesda.

Mountains kilometer or two outside of Nieu-Bethesda. — A kilometer or two outside of Nieu-Bethesda.

The Compassberg in the Sneeuberge Mountains. — Nieu-Bethesda is in the foothills of the Sneeuberge Mountains. The mist-capped peak is the Compassberg, the highest mountain in South Africa outside the Drakensberg.

I passed through Nieu-Bethesda very briefly about ten years ago, and I’ve been wanting to go back ever since. It has a fascinating history and is most famous for the Owl House, which I’ll tell you about just now.

An army of crazy concrete figures at the Owl House.

Some people find the Owl House – and the rest of Nieu-Bethesda, by extension – spooky, but I don’t feel this way at all. I’m obsessed with Nieu-Bethesda, especially the Owl House, and I particularly enjoyed being there after several days in the wilderness without a phone. Nieu-Bethesda was the perfect place to ease myself back into civilization.

Nieu-Bethesda is so tiny that it doesn’t even have a petrol station or a full-sized grocery store (they only got an ATM earlier this year), so stock up on everything before you arrive.

Church in Nieu-Bethesda — Nieu-Bethesda doesn’t have a petrol station. But it does, of course, have an enormous and beautiful Dutch Reformed church.

Where I Stayed in Nieu-Bethesda

I stayed at the Bethesda Guesthouse, a stately Karoo house in the middle of town that has been perfectly restored by its owners, Carla and Ludolph Smit. After camping in the desert for the previous four nights, it was the ultimate luxury to take a leisurely bath and climb into my enormous bed at the Bethesda. I enjoyed it immensely and have zero notes.

Greylene at the Bethesda Guesthouse — Greylene parked outside the Bethesda.

My room at the Bethesda — I loved this room, which also had a stunning bathroom with a big shower and tub.

Stoep at the Bethesda — I wish I’d had more time to relax on this stoep.

When I arrived, Ludolph gave me a useful map and a rundown of everything to do in town. Ludolph and Carla also serve breakfast and run an onsite pizza restaurant, Bruno’s, but it has limited open days during winter (I was there in late May). If you stay there, ask Ludolph to show you their secret wine cellar.

Visiting the Owl House

Now a museum, the Owl House is the former home of Helen Martins, a Nieu-Bethesda native who, with the help of several artistic collaborators, transformed her home into a spectacular work of outsider art.

Owl sculpture — One of many owl sculptures in and around the house.

The interior walls of the Owl House are coated in crushed glass, giving them a shimmery quality, and the garden is packed with outlandish concrete sculptures of owls, camels, biblical and mythological characters, and much more.

Bedroom at Owl House — A glimpse of one of the bedrooms in the Owl House.

Helen, who was reclusive and suffered from vision loss – possibly due to many years spent crushing glass in a coffee grinder – took her own life in 1976, when she was 78 years old.

The last time I visited the Owl House, in 2015, I was with a group of bloggers on a whirlwind tour of South Africa and we only had a few minutes to walk through the museum. Some of the others were freaked out, joking around about how scared they were, and I yearned for more time to explore the house and garden on my own.

Statues in the Owl House garden — It’s hard to decide what to focus on (literally) when talking pictures in the garden.

I finally got my chance this time around and I took full advantage – walking slowly through the garden and every room multiple times. It was blissful, especially considering the semi-dreamlike state I was in after five days of online deprivation.

Entrance to the Lion’s Den and garden sculptures — The dark doorway is the entrance to “the Lion’s Den” – the room where Helen’s father lived before he died. Helen spent a couple of decades caring for her elderly parents; her father was known as a difficult and possibly abusive man.

Debauchery Corner statues — This area outside the Lion’s Den is called “Debauchery Corner”.

Golden glass building in Owl House garden — There are a couple of these cylindrical glass towers in the garden – I love them.

Main bedroom at the Owl House — The main bedroom.

Green bedroom with creepy sculpture — Okay, I’ll admit the sculpture on the floor in this room sent a bit of chill down my spine. It appears to be a child, lying face-down, with one cloven hoof and a spoon lying next to it. No one is sure what it means.

Living room at the Owl House — The living room.

Across the garden from the Owl House, there is a separate museum building with a gift shop and a room screening a film about Helen’s life. You can exit the Owl House through the opposite side (the front door of the original house), where you’ll find a row of crafters selling sculptures inspired by the Owl House.

Freddy the Owl House crafter — Freddy, the only crafter whose name I can remember because he carved it on the back of the concrete star ornament that I bought from him.

Maybe it was the emotional rawness I was feeling and my semi-dreamlike state, but I wound up crying in front of the crafter’s row. There were about ten crafter’s stalls, each with amazing work for sale, and I was the only customer. I bought three pieces from three different people but felt awful that I couldn’t buy from everyone.

Artist with birdbath — I had a long chat with this artist before buying her birdbath. She repeatedly told me her name. But in my semi-dreamlike state, I seem to have forgotten to write it (or any of the names of people I met in Nieu-Bethesda) down. Or maybe I wrote them down but forgot where. Or maybe I thought I would remember? Ha. Story of my life.

To learn more about Helen Martins and the Owl House, read this informative post by blogger Roxanne Reid.

Other Things I Did in Nieu-Bethesda

The Kitching Fossil Exploration Centre

After the Owl House, my second favorite activity in Nieu-Bethesda was visiting the Kitching Fossil Exploration Centre. (Note: For R150, you can buy a combined ticket to visit both the Owl House and the Fossil Centre.) James Kitching, also from Nieu-Bethesda, was a self-taught paleontologist and one of the world’s greatest fossil-finders.

The area around Nieu-Bethesda is a hotbed for fossil-finding. Even today, you can walk outside in the middle of town and see fossils from 255-million-year-old mammals that roamed these parts long before the dinosaurs.

Room in the Fossil Centre — Models of 255-million-year-old mammals in the Fossil Centre.

The Fossil Centre is a nice little museum, easily explorable in under an hour, with lots of great models and a couple of interesting short films to watch. The best part of visiting the museum is the 30-minute “fossil safari”, in which a trained guide takes you to the dry riverbed outside the museum to see actual fossils in the ground.

Lady drilling rock for fossils — How did I not record the name of this delightful woman? She was so nice and fun to talk to. Here she is demonstrating how to remove a fossil from rock using a special drill.

Looking at fossils in the riverbed — Then we walked out to the Gats riverbed, where she showed me how to reveal fossils by spraying water onto the rock. The river floods a couple of times a year and sometimes uncovers new (very old) fossils.

Walking the Streets

I loved walking around Nieu-Bethesda in the late afternoon, taking pictures and browsing shops.

Baby horse walking in Nieu-Bethesda — Many of Nieu-Bethesda’s pedestrians are of the equine variety.

Inside bookshop in nieu-Bethesda — Dustcovers, the charming bookshop where I bought a copy of “The Road to Mecca”, the Athol Fugard play inspired by Helen Martins’ life.

Eating

I ate at three great restaurants: The Village Inn, Nieu-Bethesda’s oldest restaurant; the Tot Hier Toe Padstal, and an upscale restaurant called Die Waenhuis.

A hearty, delicious burger from the Village Inn.

Breakfast at the padstal — I love a good Karoo padstal, and Nieu-Bethesda has a great one. I went there for breakfast and had roosterkoek with mince and fried eggs.

Lambchop dinner — My final dinner in the Karoo: tasty lambchops from Die Waenhuis.

Thanks to everyone who made my visit to Nieu-Bethesda enjoyable. Despite the freezing weather that descended on the day I left – I saw snow on the Sneeuberge – I was sad to leave. Hopefully it won’t take another ten years for me to go back.

My stay at the Bethesda Guesthouse was complimentary. Opinions expressed are mine.

Towns of the Karoo: Nieu-Bethesda

Where I Stayed in Nieu-Bethesda

Visiting the Owl House