Duivels Kantoor
The place that gave the mountain its first name.
Before Kaapsehoop was a village, the mountain answered to another name — Duivels Kantoor, “The Devil’s Office” — one of the oldest surviving place-names on the escarpment.
Before Kaapsehoop became a village, the mountain was already known by another name: Duivels Kantoor — “The Devil’s Office.” Long before formal streets, surveyed stands and public buildings appeared on the escarpment, prospectors, travellers and settlers used it to describe a distinctive part of the mountain. Today it remains one of the oldest surviving place-names associated with the village.
A landmark in the mist
Duivels Kantoor refers to a dramatic area of rock formations on the escarpment. Weathered over countless centuries, the rocks form natural chambers, walls and sheltered spaces that stand apart from the surrounding landscape. Mist drifts frequently through the formations, and visibility can change within minutes — an atmosphere both striking and, to early visitors, unsettling.
The origin of the name
How the name arose has never been conclusively proven. Some suggest it was influenced by European naming traditions brought to southern Africa by settlers and prospectors; others by the eerie, shifting character of the place itself. No single explanation has been settled. Instead the name survives through a collection of stories, memories and interpretations — part of Kaapsehoop’s cultural heritage.
The Devil’s Office — a name for a place of mist, rock and isolation on the high escarpment.Duivels Kantoor
From Duivels Kantoor to Kaapsche Hoop
By the mid-1880s, as government, businesses and families settled the growing camp, the name Kaapsche Hoop — “Cape Hope” — gradually replaced Duivels Kantoor; by 1886 it was the village’s official name. Read the full place-name story →
A name that endures
The older name did not vanish. Duivels Kantoor survives as a place-name for the rock formations on the escarpment — a reminder of the mountain the diggers first knew, before it became a place of hope.
Sources: the project’s place-name and community-tradition record. The precise origin of “Duivels Kantoor” remains an open question, honestly noted. Detailed citations are held in the project research file.