Klein Karoo Nasionale Kunstefees

The KKNK has run in Oudtshoorn since 1995 and is the biggest Afrikaans-language arts festival in the country - several hundred productions over about a week, filling school halls, church buildings and the town's theatres with drama, cabaret, music, comedy and visual art. It was founded partly as a response to the position of Afrikaans after 1994, and that context has never left it: the festival has repeatedly been the venue for arguments about who the language belongs to, given that a majority of first-language Afrikaans speakers are coloured South Africans rather than white, and programming has shifted over the years in response. Musically it covers everything from boeremusiek to rock. For a visitor without Afrikaans, music and physical theatre are accessible while drama largely is not, and that limits how much of the programme is usable.

What you actually see

• The Afrikaans programme - several hundred productions, the largest festival in the language.
• The 1995 founding - a festival born from questions about the language's post-1994 position.
• The ownership argument - a long-running debate about whose language it is, visible in programming.
• The town takeover - school halls and churches converted to venues for a week.

When to go

Late March or April, on the published dates. Three to four days.

Honest expectations

Most drama is in Afrikaans without translation, which rules out much of the programme for other speakers. Accommodation in Oudtshoorn books out and prices rise. Autumn days are hot. The festival's politics are live rather than historical.

Nearby

The Cango Caves are north; the Swartberg Pass climbs beyond them.