Pofadder is a very small town in the Northern Cape

Northern Cape

The Northern Cape is the largest and most sparsely populated province of South Africa. It was created in 1994 when the Cape Province was split up. Its capital is Kimberley. It includes the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park, part of an international park shared with Botswana...

 province of South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

. The surrounding districts are arid, sparsely populated, rugged and picturesque. There is little in the way of cropping and local farmers run sheep or goats for a living.

Some claim that Pofadder was named after Klaas Pofadder, a koranna (Koi-Koi) Captain of the area. Others maintain that this is an exercise in latter-day political correctness and that no record exists to prove that the village was not named after the venomous snake that is common enough in the district.

The settlement is situated on the N14 national road from Upington to Springbok

Springbok, Northern Cape

Springbok is the largest town in the Namaqualand area in the Northern Cape province of South Africa. it had a population of 10,294. Springbok is located on the N7 national road which connects the Cape with Namibia, and at the western end of the N14, which connects it with Upington and Pretoria...

 and lies 60 km from the Onseepkans

Onseepkans

Onseepkans is a small settlement on the banks of the Orange River in Northern Cape Province, South Africa. It is at the border post with Namibia for traffic between Pofadder in South Africa and Keetmanshoop in Namibia...

 border post on the Namibia

Namibia

Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia , is a country in southern Africa whose western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and east. It gained independence from South Africa on 21 March...

n border.

Like Kalamazoo and Timbuktu

Timbuktu

Timbuktu , formerly also spelled Timbuctoo, is a town in the West African nation of Mali situated north of the River Niger on the southern edge of the Sahara Desert. The town is the capital of the Timbuktu Region, one of the eight administrative regions of Mali...

, Pofadder

Pofadder

Pofadder is a very small town in the Northern Cape province of South Africa. The surrounding districts are arid, sparsely populated, rugged and picturesque. There is little in the way of cropping and local farmers run sheep or goats for a living.Some claim that Pofadder was named after Klaas...

 is used to represent somewhere very remote, far away and out of the main-stream of the world. This usage is most common in South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

, while Timbuktu

Timbuktu

Timbuktu , formerly also spelled Timbuctoo, is a town in the West African nation of Mali situated north of the River Niger on the southern edge of the Sahara Desert. The town is the capital of the Timbuktu Region, one of the eight administrative regions of Mali...

 is used in most of the Commonwealth

Commonwealth

Commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has sometimes been synonymous with "republic."More recently it has been used for fraternal associations of some sovereign nations...

 for this purpose and Kalamazoo in the USA.