Daniëlskuil is a town situated along the R31 Provincial Route in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa, 22.8 km north of Lime Acres and 24.2 km north-east of Owendale.
Daniëlskuil is located approximately 58.6 km north-west of Koopmansfontein, 61 km north-east of Postmasburg, 83 km south of Kuruman, 85.5 km north-west of Campbell, 105 km north-east of Griekwastad, 115 km north-west of Douglas, 117 km north-west of Barkly West, and 156 km north-west of Kimberley.
Daniëlskuil falls within the Kgatelopele Local Municipality and the ZF Mgcawu District Municipality. It is the main town and administrative centre/seat of the Kgatelopele Local Municipality.
The area is known for rich asbestos deposits and for diamonds, while marble is also mined. Idwala Lime is the largest mining and processing operation with one of the mines near Danielskuil in the Northern Cape mining high-grade Calcitic Limestone.
The Tswana name of Danielskuil is Tlaka le Tlou or Tlaka-lo-Tlou, ‘elephant reed’.
History
Daniëlskuil takes its name from a cone-shaped depression 6 metres (20 ft) deep in the dolomitic limestone, with a domed covering, reminiscent of the biblical ‘Daniel in the lions’ den’ (Afrikaans: kuil, ‘hole’, ‘pit’). The Griqua leader Adam Kok is said to have used this depression as a prison and to have kept snakes in it.
The area was famous because of the Griqua Chief who ruled there by the name of Barend Barends. Barend Barends was the son of a “half-Hottentot Dutchman” and one of the most important leaders along the turbulent northern frontier of the Cape Colony from 1790 to 1834. He was one of the first chiefs of the Griqua tribe, an indigenous Khoi group.
During the Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902), the British army built and used a blockhouse fort, which overlooks the town from the north.
