Hartbeespoort, informally also known as "Harties", is a small resort town in the North West Province of South Africa, situated on slopes of the Magaliesberg mountain and the banks of the Hartbeespoort Dam. The name of the town means "gateway of the hartbees" in Afrikaans. Schoemansville, named after General Hendrik Schoeman, a Boer General in the Anglo-Boer War, who owned the farm that the Hartbeespoort Dam was built on, is the oldest neighbourhood of Hartbeespoort.
Hartbeespoort is the collective name of a few smaller towns situated around the Hartbeespoort Dam, including the towns of Meerhof, Ifafi, Melodie, Schoemansville and Kosmos.
The town consists of holiday homes and permanent residences around the dam as it is popular with visitors from nearby Gauteng Province. It is home to the Om Die Dam ultra marathon of 50 km, which takes place annually in the first half of the year.
Some of the main tourist attractions in or around the town are:
The Hartbeespoort Dam wall and tunnel
The Hartbeespoort Dam Snake Park
The Hartbeespoort Dam Aquarium
Hartbeespoort Aerial Cableway
Transvaal Yacht Club
Oberon Leisure Resort
Welwitchia Country Market
The Elephant Sanctuary Hartbeespoort Dam