Travelling in Northern Cape
5 Places to see in Sutherland
Sutherland may be famous as one of the coldest places in South Africa, but it is also home to some spectacular historical sites as well as a Planetary Observatory.
Dutch Reformed Church:
The N G Church was designed by Charles Freeman who also designed the Dutch Reformed church of Graaff Reinet and the Standard Bank in Cape Town . During the Anglo Boer War, the church was invaded for 8 months by the British troops. Filled to capacity, it can seat 1200 people.
Tuinplaas Church:
When the farmers move their sheep from the cold Roggeveld area down to the Karoo , they have a communal once a year at the Tuinplaas Church 55 km out on the Matjiesfontein route.
Louw Museum:
The two very famous Afrikaans poets and writers N P van Wyk Louw and W E G Louw were born in this very same house. Together they achieved 6 Hertzog prices for literacy. Several other interesting displays are also to be seen at the Louw Museum.
Road to the Stars:
Plinths for the nine planets of the solar system were built to scale in the main road or Planetarium Highway, representing the size of the sun in comparison to the size of the planets and also the distance between the planets. Craftsman of the local community dressed the stonework.
English Cemetary:
The most interesting grave in the English Cemetery is that of a soldier drowned in a flash flood. He was given a communal burial and after the war the British government sent a military cross and a second grave was made. The soldier was thus buried twice. The Jewish Cemetery is also worth visiting.
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Augrabies Falls National Park
Place of Great Noise - an amazing sight!
Few sights are as awesome or deafening as water thundering down the 56 meter high Augrabies Waterfall when the Orange River is in full flood. The Khoi people called it "Aukoerebis" or "Aukurabis" - place of Great Noise, as this powerful flow of water is unleashed from the rocky surroundings of the 18 km abyss of the Orange River Gorge.
Especially in late summer, when the river carries a lot of water, the roaring waters fully justify that name. New waterfalls then form at the sidewalls, and the air is filled with dense, spraying fog. The gorge at the Augrabies Falls is 240 m deep and 18 km long. It is a most impressive example of granite erosion. When the whole landmass of the area lifted about 500 million years ago, the Orange River slowly started to dig its bed into the ground.
Picturesque names such as Moon Rock, Ararat and Echo Corner are descriptive of this rocky region. Klipspringer and kokerboom (quiver trees) stand in stark silhouette against the African sky, silent sentinels in a strangely unique environment where only those that are able to adapt ultimately survive. The 28 000 hectares on both the northern and southern sides of the Orange River provide sanctuary to a diversity of species, from the very smallest succulents, birds, including Black Stork and Pygmy Falcon, and reptiles to springbok, gemsbok and the endangered black rhino.
Augrabies Falls National Park lies 120 km west of Upington and 40 km northwest of Kakamas on a tarred access route. This is the ultimate place to visit to experience true peace but not quiet!
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Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park
37 991 square kilometres of peace and quite, not easily to be found somewhere else, is what the Kgalagadi Park on the South African side offers you.
Experience a true thunder storm: in the Kalahari you can feel a thunder storm approaching even before you see the clouds packing together on the horizon. Something in the air makes your skin tingle. As from nowhere, clouds pack together and lighting flashes in the distance… The air begins to rumble, closer and louder… Then the first fat drop plops onto the sand. The sky bursts open and lights up as thunder strikes. As quickly as it happened, its over and the sun shines through a caleidescope of puple, pink and orange.
Two weeks later the dunes are decorated with sheets of all colours imaginable. Have you ever dreamt of staying in the middle of the Kalahari amongst wild animals without fences? Then stay over in one of the wilderness camps: Bitterpan, Grootkolk, the Kalahari tented camp, Kielie Krankie, Urikaruus or Gharagab.
The camps are constructed of wood, canvas and reed, each with its own braai, a kitchen with a freezer, a bathroom and a bedroom with linen. Solar panels provide light and gas sees to warm water.
Get up early to make the most of the Kalahari lions (a game ranger attends to your safety), brown hyenas and springbok. Visit one of the six unfenced picnic sites and listen to the barking geckos while eating.
Experience some of the Park’s history at Auchterlonie – a stone and reed house, one of the oldest in the area. Look closely, the Kalahari lives – in the branches, in the shallows of waterholes and in the red sand around your feet.
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More things to do in Sutherland
Sutherland and the surrounding areas offer a lot of unusual places, scenes and events to entertain and amaze any traveller.
18 km out of town, one can enjoy the site of the seven telescopes of the Observatory, one being "SALT" (Southern African Large Telescope) which has the largest single optical telescope in the southern hemisphere. With this telescope one is able to see a candle flame on the moon. It has a mirror diameter of 11 metres.
Ouberg Pass has a lovely lookout post on the escarpment of the Roggeveld mountains 45 km out of town in a westerly direction. One is able to see the Ceres Karoo mountains about 200 km away.
Fransplaas Sheep Cheese (quite a name!) is the only sheep cheese farm in the country about 50 km out of town in the Calvinia direction. Sheep cheese is definately an acquired taste - be bold and do as the Aussies do!
The Koornlandskloof Tulips flower at the end of September, an interesting site filled with colour and worth visiting. Hiking and biking trails are also available with ample clean, cheap lodging.
Skurweberg, Verlatenkloof and Banksgate 4 × 4 Farms have exciting off-road routes as well as hiking and biking trails with ample lodging and beautiful scenery. Sterboom, Rye grass, Elephants feet and veld flowers are only some of the endangered species of flora to be found in this area.
Salpeterkop, the last active volcano south of the equator is to be found close to the observatory. It was active 66 million years ago. Seismologically the Japanese found that Sutherland and the surrounding area are now the quietest in the world!
On the farm Ezeljaht, 20 km out of town, one can enjoy a scenic two day hike, called the Silhouette Hiking trail. Coming from Matjiesfontein, one has to drive the winding 15 km Verlatenkloof Pass climbing nearly a 1000 metres. It was designed by Thomas Bain, the son of the famous Bain who built the Bainskloof pass near Wellington.
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South Africa's only true desert
Experience one of the driest but most picturesque regions in the Northern Cape - vist the Richtersveld.
With an annual rainfall of less than 70mm and temperatures up to 50°C, the Richtersveld is one of the most dry regions in South Africa, but also has the greatest variety of plants when compared to any other desert in the world. Life-sustaining moisture comes in the form of early morning fog – called ‘Ihuries’ or ‘Malmokkies’ by the local people.
At places, there are more than 350 species per square kilometre. From the 2 700 plant species counted here, 560 are indigenous only to the Richtersveld. The region includes Steinkopf, Port Nolloth, Alexander Bay, Eksteenfontein, Lekkersing and Koeboes, and is home to the Richtersveld National Park. One can reach the Richtersveld either from Vioolsdrif over the Aninauspas to Eksteenfontein, or from Cape Town on the N7 to Steinkopf and on to Port Nolloth on the R382.
The community of 5000 is a mix of ancestral Khoi and Nama people, Bosluisbasters – descendants from white and Koi unions from the Cape, missionaries, prospectors and adventure seekers. About 15km outside Koeboes is Wondergat, a sink hole which is, to the local people, surrounded by eeriness and myth. Said to be the home of a giant snake with a diamond on his forehead and sometimes also of a vengeful Nama ghost, the place is said to cause unexplainable and terrible illness. Wondergat is also a popular dive site for the techniucal diving community as it is one of the deepest inland dive sites in South Africa - divers such as Nuno Gomes use Wondergat to prepare for other deep dives.
Must do's in the Richtersveld includes doing a 4x4 route and driving the Springbok flats, whilst keeping on the lookout for Rock Hyrax, Ground Squirrel, Jackal Buzzard, Hartmann’s Mountain Zebra, “halfmens” or half-human (Pachypodium namaquanum), succulent amongst which the rust-red brown aloe (Aloe pearsonii) and the different species of quiver trees, be sure to keep a camera within reach.
Camp at Kokerboomkloof amidst a forest of Aloe dichotoma or for those in need of a bit more luxury, stay in a chalet on the banks of the Orange River at Sendelingsdrift, Tatasberg or Ganakourie Wilderness Camps.
The park is only accessible by means of a 4x4 vehicle, but vehicles with high clearances such as combi’s and LDV’s do travel in the park. Sedan vehicles are not permitted. There is no specific route that can be booked in advance.
Experience desolation and life combined in this unique environment.
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Click on the regional link below to get great advice on more Top South African Travel Destinations.
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