Text and pictures: Chris Marais. Article from the March 2012 issue of Country Life Magazine.
It’s late summer in the Northern Cape and there’s not a spring daisy in sight. But that doesn’t mean that this great province doesn’t have other enchantments.
1. Kimberley – Diamond City
Kimberley is the kind of city you acquire a taste for once you’ve delved deep into its history as a rough ‘n tumble diamond mine.
When you hear the legends of Barney Barnato, the ‘kopje wallopers’, Cecil John Rhodes and the Big Hole, and you visit the Kimberley Mine Museum, you’ll feel the historic afterglow of the Diamond City.
Ride the old tram, let your guide tell you about the siege of the city during the Anglo-Boer War and visit the site of the Battle of Magersfontein outside the city. Now that the mines are closed, Kimberley is concentrating on its tourism assets – including a very popular Ghost Trail – and has become a wonderful destination for family trips.
Kimberley Tourism 053 832 7298,
2. Kgalagadi Transfontier National Park
Try an off-the-cuff booking at this remote park north of Upington and you’ll see how difficult it is to get a chalet at short notice. That’s because the Kgalagadi Transfrontier National Park has a large and faithful following of visitors who book years ahead for their time in its red sand dunes.
Whether they love it for the majestic gemsbok standing proud on the hillsides, large sweeps of springbok crossing the plains, squadrons of Pygmy Falcons chasing down Sociable Weavers or those marvellous black-maned Kalahari lions walking into the wind, this is one of the most special national parks in South Africa.
SAN Parks 012 428 9111,
3. Upington and The River Villages
What other town in South Africa pays homage to the humble donkey, or the hardy camel that carried policemen hundreds of kilometres deep into the Kalahari in search of robbers and vagabonds like the infamous Scotty Smith?
Upington and the villages to the west of it – Keimoes, Kakamas and Kanon Eiland, all part of the Quiver Tree Route – owe their existence to the mighty Orange (aka Gariep), South Africa’s Mother River. And the table grape, soetwyn and specialist cognac industries that have flourished in this region open their doors to visitors most days of the week. Upington is also Adventure Central for overlanders, where you change tyres, fuel up and buy last provisions before heading into the Green Kalahari area.
4. Pella, Pofadder & Augrabies Falls
Every few years when the Orange River is in flood in this part of the Northern Cape, visitors flock to the Augrabies Falls National Park to see the huge sprays of water. But the best time to visit Augrabies is when the raging waters have subsided and you can view the falls at their most majestic. Further west down the N14, near Pofadder there’s the Pella Mission, a desert oasis with a vibrant community and a very interesting cathedral that looks like part of a Mexican set in an old cowboy movie.
Augrabies Falls 012 428 9111, Pofadder Hotel 054 933 0063, email, Culture Overnight Rooms, Pella 054 971 0040 Oase in die Wildernis Holiday Resort, Pella 054 971 0193
5. Springbok and Goegap
Springbok is the info centre for daisy tourism in spring, but it’s also a year-round base for travellers wanting to visit the succulent fields and quiver tree forests of places like the Goegap Nature Reserve, on the outskirts of this Namaqualand town. The Springbok Lodge & Restaurant will provide you with good food, decent accommodation and invaluable information on the area. Browse through their excellent book section. Remember to pop in at the old copper mining village of Okiep and learn about the time General Jannie Smuts laid siege to the British garrison stationed there.
Goegap Nature Reserve 027 718 9906
Springbok Lodge & Restaurant 027 712 1321
6. Ritchtersveld – The Park & The People
Welcome to one of the best-kept secrets of South Africa – the Richtersveld. Here it’s advisable to drive something reasonably hardy, take along lots of camera batteries and memory cards, preferably one of the excellent information books on the area and prepare to be amazed.
The otherworldly atmosphere of the Ai-Ais Richtersveld Transfrontier Park and the villages of Khuboes, Lekkersing and Eksteenfontein will charm you. Plan to spend at least a week (with an option to extend for another week) in the area, part of which has now been declared a World Heritage Site.
World Heritage Site (contact Gert Links)
072 186 8938, website
7. The Diamond Coast
This stretch of shore is a region of mists and mystic adventures, the land of diamond divers, copper transporters, crayfishers and tales of secret German U-Boat landings during WWII.
Begin at Port Nolloth and the nearby McDougall’s Bay, book a tour of the Kleinzee coastline with its old wrecks on the beach, its stretches of white dunes and succulents growing in strange places, and visit the tiny seaport of Hondeklip Bay to the south.
South Africa’s Diamond Coast, where fortunes are still being made and legends are still being forged, has become a great destination for travellers on the hunt for unusual experiences.
Bedrock Lodge, Port Nolloth 027 851 8865/7176
Kleinzee Tours 027 807 2999
Die Honnehok Self-Catering Chalets,
Hondeklip Bay 027 692 3041
8. Niewoudtville and Loeriesfontein
Out of daisy season, Nieuwoudtville is a succulent centre and a wonderful village to spend a weekend in. While you’re in the area, either staying at a local B&B or on a farm, go north and visit Loeriesfontein, where more than 25 massed windpumps stand together at the Fred Turner Museum. En route you will pass a quiver tree forest where, at the bookends of the day, the trees glow golden in the soft sunlight.
Nieuwoudtville 027 218 1336
9. Sutherland Stars and Fraserburg Footprints
If you can manage to get up to the hill outside Sutherland village where they keep the giant astronomical telescopes, you will feel an atmosphere that exists nowhere else in this country. Somehow it doesn’t take much imagination up there to feel you can reach out and touch the heavens.
And when you come across the giant Bradysaurus footprint made more than 251 million years ago in a riverbed on a farm outside the nearby town of Fraserburg, you’ll be equally amazed.
Both towns have good accommodation options and the locals welcome visitors.
Karoo Hoogland Tourism 023 571 1265,
Sutherland (also Karoo Hoogland Route),
Jolene du Plessis, 072 015 9978,
10. Carnarvon, Van Wyksvlei & The Karoo Array
Carnarvon is known for its historic corbelled houses, its annual fly-in, its unusual number of in-town windpumps still whirring away, and the old British blockhouse looming down from a nearby hill.
Nearby, less than 90km to the south, are the first seven dishes of the Karoo Array Telescope complex, also simply called ‘Meerkat’. One day there might be thousands of these dishes in the valley, keeping tabs on time and outer space.
To the north of Carnarvon lies Van Wyksvlei, which is simply great to drive to and back. You’ll pass typical Karoo landscape along the way and, at the end of the day, be able to say you visited one of the most far-flung little outposts in the Karoo.
Carnarvon Tourism 074 683 8510, email
11. Tankwa-Karoo – The Party & The Park
If you want to see creative (mostly young) South Africans in a peaceful space, more importantly if you want to be part of the best of SA right now, then come on down to the Afrika Burn festival in the Tankwa Karoo in April.
There’s nothing for sale here, you bring all you need to consume, and you need to prepare yourself for some of the most amazing floats you’ll ever see outside of the Rio Carnival or the New Orleans Mardi Gras.
And come ready to party too – all night long. Not far from this spot is theTankwa-Karoo National Park, where the drawcards are the utter quiet, open landscapes and very comfortable chalets.
Try combining the two experiences if you can.
Park Management 027 341 2389
12. Calvinia, Williston and Loxton
Come to Calvinia and play a round of golf in the desert dust, visit the world’s woolliest sheep at the local museum, find the baker who collects antique junk, and don’t be surprised if you see the local doctor tooling about in a golden Rolls-Royce. This is a town that also sports the world’s tallest postbox and is known for its eccentric residents.
And just when you thought you’d seen it all, try the Williston Mall down the road. It seems this part of the world is where creative people fly their flags – must be something in the water.
Loxton is a little saner, and the evenings are probably the most peaceful you’ll find anywhere in the Republic of South Africa. The three Karoo towns, strung out between the Hantam and the Highlands, are very popular with urban refugees.
Hantamhuis, Calvinia 027 341 1606
Karoo Hoogland Tourism Office 023 571 1265
Die Ark B&B, Williston 053 391 3659
Loxton Info 053 381 3102
General enquiries Northern Cape
Northern Cape Tourism
053 832 2657
053 832 2643
053 831 2789
| More info on the quaint town of Kimberley | More info on the Diamond Fields area |
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