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Khalahari Bushmen
The indigenous people of southern Africa.
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Northern Cape
is South Africa’s largest province, with its unique landscape and a feast of natural and cultural attractions to offer its visitor. The province may seem unassuming and average, but don’t be fooled by its seemingly perpetual sunny skies, vast open spaces and flat semi-desert planes. There is more than meets the eye: it is a province that has safeguarded diamonds in its underbelly for centuries, it is a province that dramatically transforms its landscape once a year when its puts on a colour-intense display of wild spring flowers, and it is a province where, within a short drive, the semi-desert landscape can melt into either a stark, striking coastline or a lush belt of blossoming vineyards and trees. Indeed, the Northern Province has many surprises up its sleeve to reward visitors willing to explore its rich and diverse terrain. Best of all, compared to other more popular provinces, Northern Cape won’t leave a dent in your pocket; Northern Cape accommodation remains varied, modest and reasonably priced.
With the Northern Cape’s unique landscape comes a variety of unparalleled national parks, reserves and landmarks for one to discover. Top attractions include the Richtersveld Cultural and Botanical Landscape and the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park. The Richtersveld Cultural and Botanical Landscape is South Africa’s eighth World Heritage Site, containing a 3.7 million hectare ecosystem, while the Kgalagadi Wildlife Park is Africa’s first declared trans-border conservation area, which shares a border with Botswana.
Reserves of interest include the Boskop Dam Reserve, the Witsand Nature Reserve, the Tswalu Kalahari Reserve and the Akkerdam Nature Reserve. The Mokala National Park as well as the Augrabies Falls National Park – a park with the world’s sixth largest waterfall – are must-sees. If you’re in the province from August to November, make your way through the flower route from Goegap Nature Reserve to Skilpad Wild Flower Reserve for a taste of this biodiversity hotspot’s rich succulent flora collection. Be sure not to leave the province without visiting The Eye of Kuruman in the Kalahari region – it’s the largest natural fountain in the Southern Hemisphere gushing from dolomite rock!
For those more interested in the Northern Cape’s cultural heritage, head off to the McGregor Museum, the Colesberg-Kemper Museum, the Kimberley Mine Museum, and the Diggers' Memorial. They showcase the diverse history of the province, from the nomadic Khoi-Khoi people that solely inhabited the province to the Dutch Reformed missionaries to the flux of Europeans who came to the province during the diamond rush in 1871. Sites of interest include the Big Hole in Kimberley and the Wonderwerk Cave near Kuruman where San rock art and fossils can be seen. The Belgravia Historic Walk takes visitors down memory lane with its historic sites and Victorian architecture, while the Anglo-Boer War Battlefields Route marks the battle between the British and the Boers in 1899.
Another site not to miss out visiting is the South African Astronomical Observatory in Sutherland: it houses the largest telescope in the Southern Hemisphere! Opt for a night tour so that you can have the opportunity to gaze at the stars and other interesting objects in the sky.
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