South Africa must be the only place in the world where one finds the luxury of a western world totally integrated with the splendor of nature.
With the contrasting landscape ranging from a tropical paradise in Kwazulu Natal in the east to the vast desert of the Northern Cape Kalahari in the west, it is indeed a land of splendor.
South Africa is fondly known as the Rainbow Nation because of the diversity of its people, cultures and natural scenery. The South African nation comprises people of San (or Bushman), Nguni, Sotho-Tswana, Tsonga, Venda, Indian, Afrikaner and mixed origin, as well as immigrant communities from all corners of the world. Officially the population consists of more than 42 million people.
South Africa's peaceful transition to a democracy in 1994 is regarded as a miracle in world history. The country's third democratic election successfully took place on 14 April 2004 and on 27 April 2004 Mr. Thabo Mbeki was inaugurated for his second term as State President, succeeding President Nelson Mandela. Although the democracy is now firmly established, South Africa is still a country in transition. A weak economy and unacceptable crime rate are some of the issues which President Mbeki undertook to eradicate.
South Africa is divided into 9 provinces and the Northern Cape Province is the largest of all the provinces in South Africa, but has the lowest population with less than a million inhabitants. The population in the Northern Cape is a mixture representing all cultural groups and the Northern Cape is the traditional home of the Khoi-San people with the rich cultures of The San (Bushman), the Nama, the Koranna, the Cape Khoi, the Khwe, the !Xun, the Attaqua Khoi-San and the Griqua. The first people of the Northern Cape were the San. The San lived freely in the area until the arrival of the Europeans and other African tribes. The last remaining true San (Bushman) people live in a desert area known as the Kalahari.
The Northern Cape is fast developing into a tourist mecca because of its vast open spaces, contrasting landscape and friendly people.
The whole area along the Orange and Vaal rivers is rich in San rock engravings. The province is also rich in fossils.
The Northern Cape is well known for its wide-open spaces, a very beautiful coastline and a number of national parks that is truely unique and is offering the tourist a very different and lasting experience of the South African landscape. The Northern Cape Province has a very colourful history dating back to many years before the arrival of Jan Van Riebeek in the Cape. The Northern Cape Province has a colourful history and offers a variety of cultural tourist attractions, especially the well-known annual breathtaking floral display of the Namaqualand.
The Northern Cape is mostly desert and semi-desert with the mighty Orange River bisecting it, creating the rich fertile valley of the lower Orange region known as the Green Kalahari. Most of the landscape is a vast arid plain with outcroppings of haphazard rock piles, known as “koppies”. The cold Atlantic Ocean forms the western boundary and the Northern Cape is one of only 4 coastal provinces. The Northern Cape is the largest of all the provinces, but has the smallest population. Mining has always defined the history in this part of the world and diamonds, copper and asbestos were some of the raw material exported from this area. The discovery of diamonds in Kimberley resulted in an unprecedented growth in the province under the leadership of men such as Barney Barnato and Cecil John Rhodes. In 1899, the Northern Cape Province was the scene of the Anglo-Boer War, where Kimberley was one of the first towns to be besieged by the Boers.
The Northern Cape largely is a semi-arid region with little rainfall in summer, apart from a narrow strip of winter-rainfall area along the coast, in the areas of the Namaqualand. The weather conditions are extreme cold and frosty in winter and extremely hot in summer, with temperatures often reaching the low forties.
Sutherland, in the Hantam area near Calvinia, is one of the coldest towns in Southern Africa with an average winter minimum is -6º Celsius. In winter, snow often covers its surrounding mountains. The clear fresh air in the area has resulted in the successful building of the largest telescope in the southern hemisphere in Sutherland.