geographically, it is a 290-km-long valley, only 40–60 km wide, formed by two parallel cape fold mountain ranges, the swartberg to the north, and the continuous langeberg-outeniqua range to the south. the northern strip of the valley, within 10–20 km from the foot of the swartberg mountains is least karoo-like, in that it is a well-watered area both from the rain and the many streams that cascade down the mountain, or through narrow defiles in the swartberg from the great karoo. the main towns of the region are situated along this northern strip of the little karoo: montagu, barrydale, ladismith, calitzdorp, oudtshoorn, and de rust, as well as such well-known mission stations such as zoar, amalienstein, and dysselsdorp.