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Northern Cape Introduction

NORTHERN CAPE PROVINCE

The Northern Cape Province is one of South Africa’s nine provinces and the true arid dry province. This vast region of diverse and panoramic arid landscapes holds a population of less than 800 000 people, of which about one third or 250 000 reside in the political capital Kimberley; which in itself is situated almost in the geographic centre of South Africa.
There exists a strong sense of identity and belonging among the many people of the Northern Cape who are repeatedly referred to as among the most sincere and hospitable of South Africa’s diverse population. The various ethnic groups include among others the San / Bushman, Nama (Khoi), Coloured communities, Tswana, Afrikaners, etc.

The Northern Cape is home to several uniquely distinct arid regions, each with its own unique fauna and flora, but flowing subtly into one another. These is the Great Karoo with great open plains with interspersed hills and mountains, the Bushmanland with its great open barren plains, The Kalahari Desert which is a sand desert better referred to as dune savannah, the mountainous country of the Namaqualand off the West Coast with its annual splendour of wildflowers and lastly the only true desert in South Africa being the raw beauty of the Richtersveld Mountain Desert.

The provincial economy is primarily based upon diverse mining (diamonds, manganese, iron ore, etc.) and diverse agriculture (grapes, cattle, sheep, game, etc.). In terms of transport, a well established road network of tar and gravel roads which are well maintained as well as railways and airports (Kimberley and Upington) and airfields (Springbok, Kuruman, Calvinia, etc.) permits and facilitates efficient travel and movement across almost 360 000 square kilometres of South Africa’s arid western regions.

The province is also home to an amazingly rich diversity of tourism assets of which I would rate highest being the Kagalagadi Transfrontier Park, Augrabies Falls, Richtersveld National Park, Namaqualand Wildflowers, Orange River river rafting and canoeing, hunting and fly-fishing, the Kimberley Big Hole Development, etc. But our greatest asset is surely our vastness, diversity and people which make the Northern Cape the most undiscovered part of South Africa.