NORTHEN CAPE

Home to the ancient San people, the Northern Cape is about wide-open spaces, an utterly beautiful coastline and a number of unique national parks offering the tourist a very different experience of the South African landscape. This province boasts a colourful history and a variety of cultural tourist attractions and is particularly well known for its incredible annual floral display that takes place in Namaqualand.

Overview
The Northern Cape lies to the south of the mighty Orange River and comprises mostly desert and semi-desert. The landscape is characterised by vast arid plains with outcroppings of haphazard rock piles. The cold Atlantic Ocean forms the western boundary. This region covers the largest area of all the provinces yet has the smallest population. The last remaining true San (Bushman) people live in the Kalahari area of the Northern Cape. The whole area, especially along the Orange and Vaal rivers, is rich in San rock engravings. The province is also rich in fossils.

The first people of the Northern Cape were the San, who were gradually pushed out of the area by the arrival of Europeans, and other African tribes. The Dutch came to the area to mine for copper under the famous Cape governor Simon van der Stel. Mining has always defined the history in this part of the world and, when diamonds were discovered in Kimberley, unprecedented growth took place in the province under the leadership of men such as Barney Barnato and Cecil John Rhodes. In 1899, the Northern province was the scene of the Anglo-Boer War, where Kimberley was one of the first towns to be besieged by the Boers.

Climate
Apart from a narrow strip of winter-rainfall area along the coast, the Northern Cape is a semi-arid region with little rainfall in summer. The weather conditions are extreme cold and frosty in winter, and extremely high temperatures in summer. Sutherland, in the Hantam Karoo, is one of the coldest towns in southern Africa with an average winter minimum is -6º Celsius. In winter, snow often blankets its surrounding mountains.
The Northern Cape’s sheer size, clear skies, flamboyant sunsets, brilliant starry nights and incredible silence is powerfully intoxicating. This is the kind of place you want to take in slowly.
• Kimberley, with its Big Hole, is the largest man-made excavation in the world. The Kimberley Tram service dates from the beginning of the century and still transports passengers from the City Hall to the Mine Museum. Underground mine tours are a big attraction.
• The Orange River Wine Cellars Co-op in Upington offers wine-tasting and cellar tours. The South African Dried Fruit Co-operative is the second largest in the world.
• Moffatt's Mission in Kuruman is a tranquil place, featuring the house of missionary Robert Moffatt, the father-in-law of explorer David Livingstone.
• Namaqualand, the land of the Nama and San people, puts on a spectacular show in spring when a floral splendour covers vast tracts of desert.
• A cultural centre at Wildebeestkuil outside Kimberley features !Xun and Khwe artwork for sale and a tour of rock engravings by these indigenous people.
• The 100m high, 9km long, 2km wide white sand dune at the Witsand Nature Reserve near Postmasburg.