Here is a plea for anyone interested in tourism, interested in boosting our country, interested in…. well, in anything really:  please contemplate the smaller places of South Africa.  It’s the less obvious little towns that – when investigated – reveal the quirky and unusual side of South Africa, the tiny stitches that make up the tapestry of what makes this country home. When you go on the road, start a few hours earlier (yes, it’s possible), take along a copy of TV Bulpin’s Discovering Southern Africa and read up about the little towns that you pass by.  And make an effort – it’s an effort richly rewarded – to turn off the highway and visit the obscure little museums, odd little tourist attractions, little craft shops.  There are treasures to be found here – shops and restaurants and galleries run as a labour of love by city geniuses who have fled the rat race; or local people who cherish their individuality and their eccentricity.  Alternatively, stick a pin in an atlas, find a little town on the map, and then go and research it in the library or online.  Serious explorers can choose a river or road and visit all the towns along its length.  It’s a strangely compelling pastime, like building a living jigsaw puzzle.  Avoid the towns that you might have any reasonable reason to visit – such as towns with famous monuments, attractions and museums.  There is nothing to discover here – you will only be treading in the footsteps of those who have gone before.  No, rather concentrate on the places that are just a dot on the map. This is how you will discover that willow-patterned Parys has a time-capsule built into its high school pavement, with a message from the class of 1938 (the date of the Symbolic Great Trek), to the class of 2038:  "We promise to build on the foundation laid by the Voortrekkers by making ourselves useful and self-respecting citizens and placing the interests of our beloved South Africa above our own gain."    You will come across Kalkoenkrans…and not just one Kalkoenkrans but several.  The one in the Eastern Cape, however, is world famous as the first rock art site that was ever declared a national monument. On the wall outside the only café in Douglas, 10km from the confluence of the Vaal and the Orange rivers, is a head-high marker that denotes the level of the Vaal River during the famous floods of 1977.  In Barkley East is a fabulous little museum in the local church manse, giving a slice of life from centuries ago.  You will see from the visitors’ book, perhaps, that the last visitor was a week before you.  And there are musical stones on a hill called Rooipunt in the Northern Cape. Marydale, also in the Northern Cape, is the largest producer of blue asbestos in the world and is part of the mineral belt in this forsaken province that provides the most fabulous riches to the rest of the world.  Copper, quartz, zinc, iron, semi-precious stones – even salt is found in the most lavish quantities.  Adjacent Taung is known as the origin of the Taung Skull, but it is also less well known as housing the biggest cheese factory in the country, with daily tours and a produce shop.  Nearby Vryburg has an unexpectedly swashbuckling history worth looking into. You might want to investigate towns simply because they have compelling names.  I can’t tell you anything about Gompies or Hermanusdorings but I can tell you that there is a house built in the shape of a shoe just outside Branddraai in Mpumalanga.  And we are not talking about a mere resemblance to a shoe, this is a shoe house, complete with shoelaces.  Why it ended up in Branddraai, I have no idea.  And Noenieput is the place where the land-speed record was broken in 1929 by Sir Malcolm Campbell.  He chose Verneukpan, (the cheating lake) just outside Noenieput for its extreme dryness, but with typical Kalahari orneriness the rains poured down and flooded the pan and the attempt was less than successful.  The place certainly lived up to its name. One of the unique features of small South African towns – which I would claim might even be unique in the world – is that every tiny outpost has a butchery that specialises in biltong or boerewors that is of the finest quality and taste.  Commercial travellers measure their journeys between these butcheries, and it is a point of pride that the smaller the dorp, the finer the meat products. The hidden gems are not going to be found in the pretty, overdeveloped villages of the Cape and KwaZulu Natal.  They are going to be found in the flat heat of the north and the west.  So next time you are planning a journey, try the road less travelled.  Take the time to explore.  Open your mind to the unexpected.  You have nothing to lose but your preconceptions!