Hanover is a small karoo town situated at the intersection of the N1 and N10 National Routes in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa.
The town nestles on the open plains of the Bo Karoo, or Upper Karoo, beneath Trappieskop, a typical Karoo koppie that dominates the view towards the west.
The town was established in 1854 and named after Hanover in Germany.
Hanover falls within the Emthanjeni Local Municipality and the Pixley ka Seme District Municipality.
Almost equidistant between Johannesburg and Cape Town, Hanover is a popular place to overnight on the long journey along the N1 highway linking these two major South African cities.
The R389 Regional Route that links Philipstown with Noupoort passes through the eastern part of Hanover where it intersects with the N1 national highway.
Similar to many Karoo villages the streets are not tarred and the residential areas are tranquil with the older houses in the village built right on the road verges in terms of the municipal requirements of the time. The gardens were always at the back of the houses. The addition of verandas facing the road attracted a local tax of one shilling and this practice has continued into modern times, although the shillings are now Rands.
Hanover is home to a variety of artists and craftspeople, as well as having several restaurants and coffee shops, a delightful bookshop and a museum in Viljoen Street featuring an array of documents, furniture, household appliances and photographs dating back to the establishment of the village in 1854.
Hanover boasts many fine examples of Karoo architecture with the simple Karoo cottage predominating and many houses boast a wind pump standing sentinel in one corner of the garden. Merino and dorper sheep farming predominate, and some of the best lamb is produced in the district.
The tiny St Anne’s Anglican Chuch was built in 1895 and is a national monument. The very imposing Hanover Dutch Reformed Church stands sentinel over the village and its cornerstone was laid in November 1907.
The architect responsible for its construction was William Henry Ford, who immigrated to South Africa from Australia during the 2nd Anglo Boer War.
On a warm spring evening you may be surprised by the arrival of hundreds of Lesser Kestrels on their migration from their breeding grounds in the far off steppes of Russia and Kazakhstan.
These hardy little raptors escape the savage winter months of their northern summer ranges to feed on the bountiful insect life in the hot Karoo summer. They are common visitors in Hanover, and across the Karoo, from October until the hot Karoo summer starts to wane with the advent of autumn.
