GETTING TO KNOW THE NORTHERN CAPE

Home to the ancient San people, the Northern Cape is about wide-open spaces

An utterly beautiful coastline and a number of unique national parks offering the tourist a very different experience of the South African landscape. This province boasts a colorful history and a variety of cultural tourist attractions and is particularly well known for its incredible annual floral display that takes place in Namaqualand.

Overview

The Northern Cape lies to the south of the mighty Orange River and comprises mostly desert and semi-desert. The landscape is characterized by vast arid plains with outcroppings of haphazard rock piles. The cold Atlantic Ocean forms the western boundary. This region covers the largest area of all the provinces in South Africa yet has the smallest population. The last remaining true San (Bushman) people live in the Kalahari area of the Northern Cape. The whole area, especially along the Orange and Vaal rivers, is rich in San rock engravings. The province is also rich in fossils.

The first people of the Northern Cape were the San, who were gradually pushed out of the area by the arrival of Europeans, and other African tribes.  The Dutch came to the area to mine for copper under the famous Cape governor Simon van der Stel.  Mining has always defined the history in this part of the world and, when diamonds were discovered in Kimberley, unprecedented growth took place in the province under the leadership of men such as Barney Barnato and Cecil John Rhodes.  In 1899, the Northern province was the scene of the Anglo-Boer War, where Kimberley was one of the first towns to be besieged by the Boers.

Climate

Apart from a narrow strip of winter-rainfall area along the coast, the Northern Cape is a semi-arid region with little rainfall in summer. The weather conditions are extremely cold and frosty in winter, and extremely high temperatures in summer. Sutherland, in the Hantam Karoo, is one of the coldest towns in southern Africa with an average winter minimum is -6º Celsius.  In winter, snow often blankets its surrounding mountains.

Major attractions in the area:

Richtersveld National Park, Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, Augrabies Falls National Park

Flowers Everywhere:  During August and September, the area of Namaqualand is transformed into a brilliant carpet of wildflowers.

Rock Art

Diamond Digging Country:  Kimberley boasts an excellent museum called the Kimberley Mine Museum, The Big Hole at Kimberley, Trains, and Trams.

Moffat Mission Station:  Missionaries, Robert Moffat and his wife Mary arrived in the Kuruman area in 1820.

Not too far from Kuruman, lies the Wonderwerk Cave.

The Kalahari Desert

Small-town delights

The Northern Province is littered with small towns that are fast growing in popularity with the arty set. Places such as Nieuwoudtville, Calvinia, Poffadder, and Springbok are definitely worth a

visit, especially for their warm-hearted local hospitality.

Orange River Adventures

Pella Mission is truly in the middle of nowhere. Approximately 150km from Springbok, Pella boasts a striking yellow cathedral that was built by French missionaries in the late 1880’s.

Information courtesy of South African Tourism (www.southafrica.net)

 

Drought in the Northern Cape

Attempts to overcome the effects of drought in the Northern Cape

Can history about local inventions ever be forgotten and lost? In our daily lives where parts of our country are suffering from major droughts, there were already early attempts to overcome the effects of drought in the Northern Cape.

Revd. Peter Wright and his colleague and friend Revd. Isaac Hughes were both practical and enterprising men who had been sent to this country from Lancashire as artisan missionaries in the early 1820’s and had subsequently been ordained.

In the surviving letters and reports of these good men illustrate that in order to teach their people Christianity, they considered that an essential duty was to aid them in the path of civilization by improving living conditions, ensuring so far as was possible that their fields produced good crops and that cattle, sheep, and goats could find good grazing.

Lacking proper tools, equipment, and material, the missionaries undertook an experiment as far back as 1832. When they constructed a pump of 6 inches bore, the barrel cast of lead, and, as they had no boring tools, their pipes were made from logs of wood sawn down the middle, hollowed out and bound together again with iron hoops.  Although not entirely successful as the pipes were not thoroughly watered tight, sufficient water was lifted from the Orange River to irrigate a small area of arable land.

Between 1833 and 1835 Mr. Wright had to travel twice to Cape Town and back, a wagon journey of more than three months each way.  He made purchases of iron pipes, tools, and pumps for transportation by wagon to Griquatown.

Andries Waterboer whose full co-operation the missionaries enjoyed, was keenly interested in a scheme devised by Wright and Hughes.  In February 1836 he and Hughes undertook a survey of the Vaal and Orange rivers in their vicinity to locate a suitable site.

Read’s Drift some 30 miles south of Griquatown on the Orange River was selected and on March 15th work on the project “to lead water out for agricultural purposes” was commenced.  Read’s Drift is across the Orange River on the “Old Mission Road to the North” almost due south of Griquatown.  Named after the Revd. James Read (Snr.) of the London Missionary Society, one of the first missionaries at Kuruman.  Afterward at Kat River.

Mr. Wright transferred himself to Philippolis where his presence was badly needed owing to the inefficiency of the resident missionary, Gottlieb Schreiner. After two years of most admirable work, Revd. Peter Wright died in the 1843 typhus epidemic.

The flourishing town of Douglas has to-day grown up around what was the mission.  Revd. Isaac Hughes, after laboring for 45 years among the Griquas, died in June 1870 and appropriately, lies buried on the farm ‘Backhouse’ at Douglas.

Notes:

The Reverend is an honorific style most often placed before the names of Christian clergy and ministers.

Inch: A unit of linear measure equal to one-twelfth of a foot (2.54 cm). 1 inch = 2,54 cm

A mile is an English unit length of linear measure equal to 5,280 feet or 1,760 yards

Fascinating Reptiles

Ever since the time when Adam bit into the infamous apple, reptiles have caused a shiver down people’s spine and our inborn reaction is to scream and run, or on occasion, worse for the reptile, pick up a blunt object and beat it into oblivion.

Reptiles, however, play a vital role in the environment and if one takes the time to study them, they are generally shy but fascinating creatures.

Southern Africa has an incredible diversity of reptile fauna with a minimum of 517 species that have so far been described. These include 151 snakes, 338 lizards, 27 tortoises and one crocodile. Many more species are still awaiting description in the scientific literature. Sadly, many of these reptiles have largely been ignored in conservation management plans and require special attention in the future.

The Puff Adder is one of the most widespread snakes in South Africa and can attain an adult length of just under one meter. It is a slow-moving snake that relies on its camouflage to avoid detection and ambush prey.

The Puff Adder is responsible for more cases of serious snakebites in South Africa than any other. The venom is cytotoxic, causing extreme pain. Handlers use plastic tubing and a snake stick to carefully capture and handle Puff Adders.

The male Southern Tree Agama is brightly colored to both attract females and warn other males of their dominance status. They form family groups that are centered around clusters of trees. They avoid danger by moving rapidly around the tree trunk and fleeing into the upper branches.

Southern Tree Agamas are unusual in that they feed almost entirely on ants and termites.

The Leopard Tortoise is the largest species to be found in southern Africa and may weigh as much as 12kgs. Their home ranges may exceed 80 hectares.

During the breeding season between September and April, male Angulate Tortoises use their enlarged gular shields in intensive battle with other males and try and use the gular shields as levers to overturn and ram their rivals.

The Robertson’s Dwarf Chameleon is one of 15 currently described species of Dwarf Chameleon and adults are small ranging between 4,5 and 10cm in length. Dwarf Chameleons are heliothermic using the sun’s rays to raise their body temperature and climb into exposed positions in the mornings to bask.

Chameleons eyes can scan almost 180 degrees and can be moved in different directions simultaneously. Their vision is more acute than that of humans.

Got to love natures wonders!

A Karoo road trip

A Karoo road trip is one of the best ways to travel the vast expanse that is the Karoo.

“Its particular rare mix of rugged mountains, vast open spaces, idiosyncratic little towns, star-studded skies devoid of light pollution, sheep farms, and back of beyond windmills make it road trip country like nowhere else in the world.”

There are many ways to do a Karoo road trip:

Route 62, the world’s longest wine route that winds through the Klein Karoo. The upper Karoo sparsely populated plains southwest of Kimberley.

No matter what Karoo road trip you choose, here are a series of great places to stop.

Kimberley, the surprisingly interesting town and site of South Africa’s Big Hole, Kimberley might have begun as a diamond rush town but today its wide streets are lined with Victorian mansions, museums, galleries, gardens, battlefields and ghost routes aplenty.

Victoria West, its name might hale from the Victorian era. The only thing Victorian about the town today is its charming architecture. It survived both the effects of a disastrous flood in 1871 and the deluge of wagons en route between Cape Town and the diamond rush town of Hopetown, during the late 1880s. Today it’s a typical Karoo dorpie with plenty of accommodation and good antique shops.

This area of little rainfall, blue and cloudless skies, and extreme temperatures may have acted as a barrier to the interior from Cape Town for early settlers.  Today it has come out of isolation to become a major tourist attraction – its immense spaces, incredible mountains, idiosyncratic towns and promise of escape the reason for its popularity.

‘ Roads were made for journeys, not destinations’

The story of a Karoo farm in Africa

When the rhythm of the day transforms from sunset to dusk over the expansive plains of the mesmerizing Karoo and the omnipresent birdsong of sunshine slowly fades, you’ll soon know it’s not the end of the day that matters, but the promise of a new dawn that awaits.

Nestled in the plains of the Karoo you’ll discover paradise, your piece of heaven on earth. An African farm that lets you dream your days away and before you know it, a sunset of promise will remind you that another daybreak will bring more adventures, more excitement, more life-worth-living.

This is where you’ll find our small village of happiness. This is where we work hard to re-establish game that has always called this place home. Animals roam free here and when it rains, everyone is nose-in-the-air to savor the earthy aroma of hard rains on dusty plains. It’s a feeling you’ll treasure for life.

On some days a harsh wind will literally take your breath away while an abundance of unexpectedly colorful flowers of the veld will leave you breathless and warm with inner joy, even on the coldest morning.

When nature opens its doors just for you and the world stops revolving for a while, the sounds of the Karoo will put dancing shoes on your feet and you’ll almost be afraid to blink… as if you’ll miss the beat. The constant scream of cicadas will remind you not to play for too long in the unforgiving sun. Then suddenly Shepard’s tree will beckon like a magnet and entice you for a nap in the coolness of its shade.

Overcome with thirst while tracking the lonesome plains, a desolate windmill will offer crystal clear water from deep in the earth’s bosom. You’ll replenish with water from the same well at which you’ll find the biggest buffalo and smallest bee.

This is where you’ll walk, sing and dance the day away and rest with wonderous dreams and awake with the biggest smile.

We invite you to walk the plains of Karreekloof, leave deep footprints, enjoy a night sky of bewilderment, dream big, wake up for a new dawn of delight, savor the purest water, lose yourself in the shade of big trees and let the cicadas remind you… you are in the Karoo. It’s here you’ll discover the rhythm of your soul.

 

 

Northern Cape

The Northern Cape is South Africa’s largest province and a must-see destination.

Exploring a land of ancient deserts, deep canyons, winding rivers and unique flora, the Northern Cape promises an unsurpassed experience.

The Northern Cape is all about wide open spaces, a magnificent coastline and a number of unequaled National Parks offering the tourist a very different experience of the South African experience.  Northern Cape’s sheer size, clear skies, elaborate sunsets, dazzling starry nights and incredible silence is mesmerizing.

The ideal habitat for some of the country’s most beautiful and exciting predators and prey. Experience the solitude of the landscapes, the heat of the sun on your shoulders as you explore the game reserves and parks of this fascinating part of South Africa.

The Northern Cape has always been a family-friendly destination and the region has a distinct and rugged natural beauty.

The natural beauty of the Northern Cape, is enhanced by its enigmatic wildlife. From the “Small Five” to the Big Five, watching wild animals at close range is something truly unforgettable.

Just thinking of the Karoo and its endless wilderness plateau, unique flat-topped koppies, warm hospitality, wide open spaces and mysteries.

Each region will capture the imaginations of those who dare to explore its rugged mountains, endless flatlands and undulating dunes. There’s an outdoor adventure activity or experience for everyone.

Attempts to overcome the effects of drought

Can history about local inventions ever be forgotten and lost? In our daily lives where parts of our country are suffering from major droughts, there were already early attempts to overcome the effects of drought in the Northern Cape.

Revd. Peter Wright and his colleague and friend Revd. Isaac Hughes were both practical and enterprising men who had been sent to this country from Lancashire as artisan missionaries in the early 1820’s and had subsequently been ordained.

In the surviving letters and reports of these good men illustrate that in order to teach their people Christianity, they considered that an essential duty was to aid them in the path of civilization by improving living conditions, ensuring so far as was possible that their fields produced good crops and that cattle, sheep, and goats could find good grazing.

Lacking proper tools, equipment, and material, the missionaries undertook an experiment as far back as 1832. When they constructed a pump of 6 inches bore, the barrel cast of lead, and, as they had no boring tools, their pipes were made from logs of wood sawn down the middle, hollowed out and bound together again with iron hoops.  Although not entirely successful as the pipes were not thoroughly watered tight, sufficient water was lifted from the Orange River to irrigate a small area of arable land.

Between 1833 and 1835 Mr. Wright had to travel twice to Cape Town and back, a wagon journey of more than three months each way.  He made purchases of iron pipes, tools, and pumps for transportation by wagon to Griquatown.

Andries Waterboer whose full co-operation the missionaries enjoyed, was keenly interested in a scheme devised by Wright and Hughes.  In February 1836 he and Hughes undertook a survey of the Vaal and Orange rivers in their vicinity to locate a suitable site.

Read’s Drift some 30 miles south of Griquatown on the Orange River was selected and on March 15th work on the project “to lead water out for agricultural purposes” was commenced.  Read’s Drift is across the Orange River on the “Old Mission Road to the North” almost due south of Griquatown.  Named after the Revd. James Read (Snr.) of the London Missionary Society, one of the first missionaries at Kuruman.  Afterwards at Kat River.

Mr. Wright transferred himself to Philippolis where his presence was badly needed owing to the inefficiency of the resident missionary, Gottlieb Schreiner. After two years of most admirable work, Revd. Peter Wright died in the 1843 typhus epidemic.

The flourishing town of Douglas has to-day grown up around what was the mission.  Revd. Isaac Hughes, after laboring for 45 years among the Griquas, died in June 1870 and appropriately, lies buried on the farm ‘Backhouse’ at Douglas.

Notes:

  • The Reverend is an honorific style most often placed before the names of Christian clergy and ministers.
  • Inch: A unit of linear measure equal to one-twelfth of a foot (2.54 cm). 1 inch = 2,54 cm
  • A mile is an English unit length of linear measure equal to 5,280 feet or 1,760 yards

Historical History on your way to Karreekloof

Prieska – place of the lost she-goat

Prieska is situated on the south bank of the Orange River at the foot of the Doringberg and it was originally named Prieschap, a Khoisan word meaning “place of the lost she-goat”.

It is renowned for its semi-precious stones. The Schumann Rock Collection, including semiprecious stones and Khoisan stone implements, can be viewed at the municipal offices.

The area between Prieska and Vioolsdrif is often called the “Rock Garden Route” – where the rare halfmens and succulents of the Lithops family can be found – and the Ria Huysamen Aloe Garden outside town contains a large array of succulents.

Battle of Magersfontein

The Battle of Magersfontein, just outside Kimberley took place during the Anglo-Boer War on 11 December 1899. The Boers scored a decisive victory in what became known as Britain’s ‘Black Week’.

The Battle of Magersfontein was a triumph for the Boer forces, a disaster for the British army, and came close to wiping out Scotland’s proud Highland Brigade.

During the second South African War, the Boers had besieged Kimberley and its 50 000 inhabitants since November 1899. Supplies were scarce in the diamond-mining town and relief was imperative.

The British public and press were demanding action. British forces advanced north along the railway line in an attempt to relieve Kimberley, but a Boer force was in their way at Magersfontein.

https://www.places.co.za/html/prieska.html

http://www.britishbattles.com/great-boer-war/battle-of-magersfontein/http://www.thesolomon.co.za/magersfontein-battlefield-museum.html

The Northern Cape is South Africa’s largest province and a must-see destination

Exploring a land of ancient deserts, deep canyons, winding rivers and unique flora, the Northern Cape promises an unsurpassed experience.

The Northern Cape is all about wide open spaces, a magnificent coastline and a number of unequaled National Parks. Offering the tourist a very different experience of the South African experience.

Northern Cape’s sheer size, clear skies, elaborate sunsets, dazzling starry nights and incredible silence is mesmerizing.

The ideal habitat for some of the country’s most beautiful and exciting predators and prey. Experience the solitude of the landscapes, the heat of the sun on your shoulders as you explore the game reserves and parks of this fascinating part of South Africa.

The Northern Cape has always been a family-friendly destination and the region has a distinct and rugged natural beauty.

Northern Cape’s natural beauty is enhanced by its enigmatic wildlife. From the “Small Five” to the Big Five, watching wild animals at close range is something truly unforgettable. Just thinking of the Karoo and its endless wilderness plateau, unique flat-topped koppies, warm hospitality, wide open spaces and mysteries. Each region will capture the imaginations of those who dare to explore its rugged mountains, endless flatlands, and undulating dunes.

There’s an outdoor adventure activity or experience for everyone.

Ways to protect the environment

We all want to protect our planet, but we’re mostly too busy or too lazy to put up big change that would improve our lifestyle and save the environment.


These are 7 simple habits to implement in your everyday life which will make a difference. There is nothing new here but if you follow at least some of these tips, you can be proud of yourself participating in the protection of the environment.

  1. Use compact fluorescent light bulbs:
    It is true that these bulbs are more expensive, but they last much longer and they can save energy and in the long term your electricity bill would be reduced.
  2. Donate:
    You have tons of clothes or things you want to get rid of. If they are still usable, give them to someone who needs them. You may also choose to give them to associations. These associations may sell them and collect a little money. Not only will you protect the environment, but you will also contribute to a good cause.
  3. Turn off your devices: 
    When you do not use a housing device, turn it off. For example, if you don’t watch TV, turn it off. Turn off the light when you leave a room (even if you intend to return.) It’s an easy habit to take up which will help you save a lot of money.
  4. Walk or cycle: 
    Driving is one of the biggest causes of pollution. If you want to use your car, ask yourself the following question: do I really need my car? Walk or use your bike if the journey is a short one.
  5. Detergent:
    Follow the recommended dose of detergent to wash your clothes or dishes.
  6. leaky faucets:
    Watch leaky faucets, which can cause a significant increase in the water bill. An average of 120 liters of water can be wasted due to a dripping faucet.
  7. Rainwater:
    Think of recovering rainwater. This water can be used for different purposes.

http://greenliving.lovetoknow.com/Ways_to_Protect_the_Environment