Van Zylsrus is a settlement in
John Taolo Gaetsewe District Municipality
John Taolo Gaetsewe (formerly Kgalagadi) is one of the five districts of the Northern Cape province of South Africa. The seat of the authority is Kuruman. The majority of its 176,899 people speak Setswana (2001 Census). The district code is DC45. ...
in the
Northern Cape
The Northern Cape is the largest and most sparsely populated province of South Africa. It was created in 1994 when the Cape Province was split up. Its capital is Kimberley. It includes the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park, part of the Kgalagadi T ...
province of
South Africa.
It is also the nearest settlement to
The Kalahari Meerkat Project
The Kalahari Meerkat Project, or KMP, is a long term research project focused on studying the evolutionary causes and ecological consequences of cooperative behaviors in meerkats. The secondary aims of the project are to determine what factors affe ...
, the filming of nature TV shows such as ''
Meerkat Manor
''Meerkat Manor'' is a British television programme produced by Oxford Scientific Films that premiered in September 2005. Originally broadcast on Animal Planet International for four series, until its cancellation in August 2008, the program ...
''.
The settlement was founded by 6 Trekboer families in 1832, led by the former Heemrad of Calvinia, Petrus van Zyl.
Between 1971 and 2001 it was the location of a Ballistic Missile Battery of the SADF, colocated with an Infantry Company plus a Heavy Mortar Platoon, an Armoured Squadron less one troop, and an advance Radar and Signals Squadron of the SAAF. The settlement also had its own Commando platoon of 21 Riflemen reinforced by the local SAP helicopter flight and Askari detachment. On October 24, 2020, a maximum temperature of was registered.
References
Populated places in the Joe Morolong Local Municipality
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