featuring the Northern Cape, Upington and it's
surrounding
area.
Upington
By uniting Christian Schröder's 1871 mission station,
Olyfenhoutsdrift and the
Upington police station, the town
of Upington, named after the first Attorney
General of the Cape, Sir Thomas Upington, was formed. Bound by the Orange River
and the Kalahari Desert, Upington is the principal town, the commercial,
educational and social centre of the Kalahari, owing its prosperity to
agriculture and its irrigated lands along the Orange River.
Weatherwise,
Upington has mild to hot days all year around. Clear skies, minimal rainfall
with very low humidity, which makes those hot days more bearable.
The Date Palm Avenue, the attractive entrance to die Eiland Holiday Resort at
the
banks of the Orange River
in Upington, was declared a National Monument in 1982. Officials of the
Department of Lands planted the palms in 1935. The avenue of more than 200 date
palms planted 9m apart, is 1041 m long, making it one of the longest and densest
palm avenues in the Southern Hemisphere.
Augrabies Falls National Park
120
kilometre from Upington is the Augrabies Falls National Park. This is where the
mighty Orange River is at its most impressive as it thunders its way through a
ravine and into a pool walled by sheer granite. The falls derived its name from
the Khoi word meaning "place of great noise" as the falls plummet 56 m
into the ravine.Various game like giraffe and the klipspringer can be seen in the Park. The park
is also sanctuary for Africa's scarcest specie of black rhino.
Witsand Nature Reserve.
From Upington to Olifantshoek on the N !4 is Witsand Nature
Reserve. 5 km from Olifantshoek is the Witsand turn-off. From there to Witsand
is 75 km.
Dunes, twenty to sixty metres high, stretch over an area 9 km long and 4 km
wide, cover a vast quantity of sub surface water, which through continual
leaching has washed the red iron oxide coating from the quartzite grains
resulting in the loss of their red colour. This produces the white sand which
stands in sharp contrast to the green vegetation and the typically red Kalahari
Sand.
The Witsand Nature Reserve is also home to the roaring dunes of the Kalahari. On
the southern side of the dunes the roaring sands can be experienced. The dry
air, uniform sand grains and lack of iron oxide coatings may carry the key to
this phenomenon. Merely moving your fingers through the sand will cause a muted
sound and walking on the dune slope will produce a groan.
Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park
(Kalahari Gemsbok Park)
268 k from Upington, the
Kalahari Gemsbok Park is situated in the far northern region of the Northern
Cape and was proclaimed in 1931 to protect migratory game, especially the
Gemsbok that can also be found on farms in the greater Kalahari. The park
comprises of red sand and sparse vegetation with the dry riverbeds of the Nossob
and Auob river. The park provides sanctuary for antelope, gemsbok, springbok,
eland, blue wildebeest, red hartebeest, lion, leopard, cheetah and smaller game.
The park has three overnight camps. Twee Rivieren the main camp, Nossob and Mata
Mata. In 1999 the presidents of South Africa and Botswana signed a treaty to link
the Kalahari Gemsbok Park to the Gemsbok Park in Botswana. The park has been
renamed the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park. This area has become southern
Africa's first formal transfrontier conservation area.
Interesting links to visit :
Upington
Northern Cape Tourism
The Green
Kalahari
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