Big Hole Museum, Kimberley

Afrikaans name: Groot Gat Museum

Big Hole Museum, Kimberley

Photo © Johan van Zyl

Northern Cape

The Big Hole of Kimberley is an internationally known tourist attraction next to the town of Kimberley in the Northern Cape province of South Africa. The mine museum takes you back in time to experience the spirit of those crazy mining days. Mining in the hole stopped in 1914 and the hole attracted a lot of attention from locals and visitors alike. During the 1960s there was an organised effort to accumulate relics of the mining era. This eventually led to an open-air museum being established which represent Kimberley during the mining era. It was formally opened in 1971.

The Old Town is an outdoor museum that showcases the buildings, equipment, machinery and lifestyle of those days. One can wander around the town and experience a taste of what life was like over 100 years ago.

The actual “big hole" is the open mine that was created by miners between 1871 and 1914. The miners created a 240-meter-deep hole, which is one of the deepest man-made cavities in the world, in search of diamonds.

Share your thoughts about the Kimberley Big Hole Museum.

Photo © Johan van Zyl

Diamond buyers office

Photo © Johan van Zyl

References and further reading

Southern Africa from the Highway - Author: AA RSA - Published: 1991 - Page: 118

Places to Visit in Southern Africa - Author: AA RSA - Published: 1995 - Page: 334

Hit the Road - 2nd Edition - Author: MapStudio - Published: 2018 - Page: 202

Caravan & Outdoor Life - Issue 671 - Author: - Published: 2018 - Page: 16

Getaway - Vol 33 No 02 - Author: - Published: 2021 - Page: 96

go! - Issue 172 - Author: - Published: 2020 - Page: 116

The Big Hole Kimberley

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