About Clarens

Clarens is a small town situated at the foothills of the Maluti Mountains in the Free State and nicknamed the Jewel of the Eastern Free State. It was established in 1912, and it is named after the town of Clarens in Switzerland where Paul Kruger spent his last days, after being exiled.

A farm called Leliehoek was bought from Mr. Hermanus Steyn in 1910, and in 1911 Mr. Piet de Villiers sold his farm Naauwpoort, situated near the Titanic rock, to a company wanting to establish a village there. These two farms were divided into erven and sold for fifty pounds each. A committee was appointed in 1912 to conclude negotiations, and a decision was made to name the village Clarens in honour of President Paul Kruger’s influence in the area. This came about in the following way - During the Basotho war of 1865 - 1866, five burghers from the Transvaal were murdered in the Eastern Free State, and as a result, war was declared between the Transvaal and the Basotho leader, Moshoeshoe. Paul Kruger, together with a commando of burghers, defeated the Basotho at the Battle of Naauwpoortnek. President Paul Kruger spent his last days as a voluntary exile in the attractive village of Clarens in Switzerland, and thus Clarens was named for this Swiss town. A monument was erected on the farm Ararat just outside Clarens, in honour of the five burghers murdered by the Basotho on the 29th of September 1865, during the siege of Naauwpoort. This monument was later moved to Clarens placed in the central town square, where it stands to this day.