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South Africa: Northern Cape

Overview

The Northern Cape is South Africa’s largest province, covering 361,830km2 (139,702mi2), which is around a third of the country’s area (making it slightly bigger than Germany), yet is has the smallest population – a mere 2.1 per cent of the total. It offers sanctuary from the fast pace and stresses of modern life, being known for its silence, solitude, stunning landscapes and wildlife.

The Northern Cape is home to the Orange River, South Africa’s largest waterway and one of the province’s major geographical features, assets and attractions; in fact, it has been called the province’s lifeblood. The river marks South Africa’s border with Namibia to the north and the region around the river is the greenest and most fertile in a province that’s dominated by hot, arid land; the river also boasts the world’s sixth highest waterfall.

The Northern Cape also boasts fine examples of ancient San rock art, attractive national parks, including Augrabies Falls, Richtersveld and Vaalbos, and, for the environmentally-unfriendly, extensive terrain suitable for 4x4 safaris (in the interior of the province). A ground-breaking development (in 1999) was the establishment of the Kgalagadi (‘land of thirst’) Transfrontier Park, which joins South Africa’s Kalahari Gemsbok National Park with Botswana’s Gemsbok National Park to make South Africa’s first cross-border reserve. It covers around 38,000km2 (14,672mi2) – nearly twice the size of the world-famous Kruger National Park – and is home to a wide variety of wildlife.

Namaqualand is a 48,000km2 (18,750mi2) area in the west of the province, its terrain consisting of a scrubby, thorn-bush interior and windy Atlantic coastal sand dunes. The display of flowers in the region, particularly in August and September, is one of South Africa’s great natural wonders.

The north of the province contains part of the Kalahari desert, which is oblivious to international boundaries and also stretches across parts of Botswana and Namibia. Its name derives from the native word kgalagadi (‘place without water’), which sums up its bleached, arid landscapes. It’s a starkly beautiful semi-desert region of orange and red sand dunes, dry riverbeds and saltpans.

Kimberley

Kimberley is the provincial capital (population 170,000), a small, plain city in the far east of the province, near the border with the Free State. The city grew on account of local diamond reserves and was at one time the diamond capital of the world, boasting the first electric street lighting in the southern hemisphere and the second in the world (behind New York). Diamonds are still produced in the region but in much smaller quantities than formerly. A visit to the 500-metre-wide, 240-metre-deep ‘Big Hole’ (now a water-filled excavation), where tens of thousands of workers used to dig for diamonds, is a reminder of the previous scale of the industry.

Other Towns

Other important towns in the province include Upington, which is a centre for the sheep-farming and dried-fruit industries and is surrounded by the most northerly of South Africa’s wine-producing regions; Springbok, which is in the middle of Namaqualand flower country; De Aar, the hub of South Africa’s railway network; Sutherland, which has the distinction of being the coldest town in the country; and the sheep-farming towns of Carnarvon, Colesberg, Kenhardt and Prieska.

Population

Despite being South Africa’s largest province, the Northern Cape has the smallest population – a mere 850,000, which is just 2.1 per cent of the country’s total.

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