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Northern Cape

Why Go? The Upper Karoo ...... 436 With just a million people inhabiting its 373,000 sq km, the Kimberley ...... 436 Northern Cape is South Africa’s last great frontier. The scat- Mokala National tered towns are hundreds of kilometres apart, connected by Park ...... 442 empty roads across the wildernesses of Namakwa, the Kala- The Kalahari ...... 443 hari and Upper Karoo. In these sublime, surreal expanses, Witsand Nature reality disappears faster than a meerkat into its burrow. Un- Reserve ...... 444 der the remorseless sun, vehicles share park roads with lions, Upington ...... 445 dune boards swish down roaring sands, and Kimberley’s pubs serve as they have done since the 19th-century diamond rush. Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park ...... 447 It’s a raw, elemental land, where gnarly camel-thorn, quiver and Halfmens trees break the boundless horizons. Yet Namakwa ...... 454 some of nature’s greatest tricks here are the instances of re- Springbok & juvenating beauty. The Senqu (Orange) River waters the dry Around ...... 454 region, creating the Green Kalahari with its vineyards and Port Nolloth ...... 456 epic Augrabies Falls. Following the rains, red Kalahari sands shimmer with grasses, and Namakwa’s spring bloom carpets Places to Eat rocky hills and plains with wildfl owers. » Tauren Steak Ranch (p456 ) » Halfway House Hotel When to Go (p 440 ) Kimberley » Occidental Grill Bar (p440 ) °C/°F Te m p Rainfall inches/mm » Transkaroo Country Lodge 40/104 12/300

(p 442 ) 30/86 10/250 8/200 20/68 6/150 Best Places to 10/50 Stay 4/100 0/32 2/50 » Kimberley Club (p 439 ) -10/14 0 » Le Must River Residence J FDNOSAJJMAM (p 445 ) » Bitterpan Wilderness Jan–Mar Harvest May–Jul Winter is Aug–Sep Nama- Camp (p 449 ) at the Senqu cooler, night skies kwa’s barren (Orange) River are brighter and expanses explode » Hantam Huis (p 459 ) wineries, with dry conditions with colour during » Bedrock Lodge (p 456 ) vineyard tours bring animals to the spring wild- and events. waterholes. flower bloom. » Edgerton House (p 439 ) R357

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Highlights Cape Cape 1 Northern Northern NORTHERN CAPE 434