Things to Do in Northern Cape

Home to cricket team Griqualand West, De Beers Diamond Oval was formerly the De Beers Country Club and Kimberley Country Club. The 11 000-seater stadium hosted three matches during the 2003 ICC Cricket World Cup.

Hot Air Ballooning at Augrabies offers a thrilling new adventure along the lower Orange River Valley, taking in the extensive vineyards and their lifeblood, the magnificent Orange River. Soar above the rugged landscape on a “long fetch” or an “extended recovery” and take what the winds have to offer. Whatever the destination, the result is fantastic. The launch site is at Augrabies, 10 km from the Augrabies Falls.

The Colesberg-Kemper Museum developed from a collection of curiosities and has grown into a fascinating store house of local history and contemporary information. This user-friendly museum is not a place where artefacts are just measured, catalogued and put away. Items are there to be looked at, talked about and stories told. It is a place where the elderly come to share their memories, newcomers and tourists seek information and children begin to appreciate and enjoy the past.The building itself is a typical example of early Karoo architecture. Built as the Colesberg Bank in 1861, it became one of the first branches of `The Standard Bank of South Africa' to be established in this country in 1863. In 1940 it housed the Municipal Offices when the present Standard Bank was built. In 1975 the old building was made available to the Historical Society and the Colesberg-Kemper Museum came into being. The old bank hall is now the busy Colesberg Information Office and the remaining rooms house the museum collection.The artefacts displayed are humble items that have little intrinsic value, but are just as important as a rare specimen to a natural history museum or a valuable painting to an art gallery. The significance is that the items depict the everyday lives of our great grandparents, our grandparents, our parents and even our own youth, successfully filling the gap that exists between local history and text-book history.There is something for everyone in the museum - ranging from fossils deposited 250 million years ago, when South Africa's first terrestrial reptiles roamed the Karoo, a contemporary Karoo Nomad photographic exhibition assembled by Professor Michael de Jongh and his colleague Riana Steyn from the Department of Anthropology UNISA, to personal stories from Colesberg's share in the struggle during the 1980’ and early 90’s.The old kitchen decorated with kitchen utensil from days gone by houses the Lilian Ngoyi ‘Karretjie’ Coffee Shop with a display of a restored Cape Cart, a 19th century horse-drawn hearse and farm implements on its door step. This is complimented with the Amachule Akwantu Arts and Craft Centre. Some of the most interesting objects and documents in the museum collection date are from the Anglo-Boer War period, when fierce battles raged around the town and many lives were lost, as the names inscribed on the graves and memorials in the Military Cemetery of the town testify.

Padlopers, birds, butterflies and blomme Just 17km northwest of Kamieskroon is the Skilpad section of Namaqua National Park. Twitchers and butterfly afficionados love it and it's worth spending a few days here - even in ‘bad years’ the sandy plains are plastered with vivid orange.The dirt road that circles Skilpad takes you an overwhelming five kilometres through magnificent blooms. Halfway through is the “Roof of Africa” viewpoint, an area of huge granite domes affording panoramic views of the reserve and Kamiesberg mountains.Skilpad is situated on a ridge of hills that capture most of the rain blowing from the west coast. Because of this the flowers are consistently spectacular, even when other areas are not. Outside of springtime much of this area is used as grazing land for sheep, clearing the bushes that would suppress the growth of the annual daisies and break the continuity of colour.Adventurous and energetic? Try a new 4x4 trail, the Caracal Eco Route, which opened during July 2009 at the Namaqua National Park. The 153 km trail stretches from Skilpad in the Northeast to Groen Rivier in the south. The route enables visitors to enjoy previously inaccessible spectacular areas of the Namaqua. You can also do the 50 km 4x4 eco route or get on your bike for the 6km mountain bike trail. Bikes can be hired in the park.Skilpad? Namaqua National Park is home to the world's smallest tortoise, the Namaqua Speckled Padloper!Hot tips for flower gazersGet up close and personal - explore on foot and go down on your hands and knees! Closer inspection reveals a multitude of little floral treasures that hide among the daisies. Happy flower gazers have pollen dusted noses and grubby knees. Take a magnifying glass along.Plan to drive with the sun behind you - generally from north to south and westward in the morning, eastward after noon.On a sunny day the flowers are fully open for five hours between 11h00 and 16h00.Two days is ample for a region if you have good weather but don’t rush it.Get a multi-day weather forecast at www.weathersa.co.za

When the mighty Orange River is in full flood the sound of water thundering down the 56-metre high Augrabies Waterfall is deafening. It’s an awesome experience at any time of year. Called Aukoerebis(place of great noise) by the Khoi San people, the powerful flow of water gushing out from the vast granite abyss of the Orange River Gorge. Besides the falls, great sites to visit are Moon Rock, Ararat and Echo Corner. Home to a diversity of species, the Augrabies National Park and its spectacular granite gorge offers great birding, some small game, reptiles, springbok, gemsbok and giraffe and a fun hiking trail.

The self-guided Dassie Interpretive Trail starts at the Augrabies National Park Rest Camp and follows the gorge to Arrow Point, an amazing viewpoint over the lower gorge and Twin Falls. From here, the circular route leads to the impressive geological features of Potholes, Swartrante and Moon Rock before reaching the starting point. The trail is roughly 5 km requires a certain level of fitness as it involves scrambling over slippery rocks. Ensue that you wear appropriate footwear and carry water and sunscreen. Birds and animals frequently seen include African darter, Cape clawless otter, water monitor, giant kingfisher; dassie, klipspringer, springbok and other antelope.

A few years ago the little dorp of Richmond was established as the first Book Town in the country and on the continent. Today there are a dozen bookshops in the village. The bookshops specialize in Africana with a focus on early travellers, explorers, hunters and missionaries, South African fauna and flora, fiction, bibliographies, history, the Anglo Boer war and Rhodesia. These bookish attractions are established in six Karoo-style houses, six converted stables and other outbuildings – housing used books ranging from art to warfare, aviation to natural history, biographies and children’s literature. Shops are open seven days a week, from 07:00 to 19:00 during peak season and from 09:00 to 17:00 during the rest of the year.

The riot of colour in Goegap Nature Reserve is a magnet for artists, photographers and anyone seeking some nature therapy. Kaleidoscopic fields of vivid purple mesembryanthemum, yellow Namaqua daisies and orange gazanias all turn their happy faces towards the sun.Lying about 70 km north of Kamieskroon and 15 km southeast of Springbok, Goegap Nature Reserve is a fantastic place to kick off your flower trip. Bearing in mind that the best route to travel for a flower trip is north to south so that you see the flowers facing the sun.“Goegap” derives its name from the Nama word for waterhole and there are plenty supporting the bird and animal residents. The Hester Malan Wild Flower Garden has a wide and interesting selection of Namaqualand succulents. There’s a 17 km drive that sedans can negotiate and an 80km 4x4 route. The landscape of granite boulders and sandy plains makes for stunning scenic driving on the narrow untarred roads. You could also hop onto the three hour guided truck tours during the flower season.Funky feathers? Look out for the Namaqualand Sandgrouse which has an amazing ability – it can store water in its breast feathers and fly as far as 40 km to quench the thirst of its nestlings. Twitchers will be kept busy with spotting all 94 recorded bird species! Home to 45 mammalian species, you will have a chance of spotting gemsbok, springbok, Hartman's Zebra, bat eared foxes and aardwolf amongst the incredible number of floral species.Saddle up and ride on the wild side in this magnificent landscape. Contact Namaqua Horse Trails Tel: +27 27 718 3583. On the milder side of keeping your carbon footprint down why not get on your bike and cycle the 17 km sedan route?

The biggest reason why anyone would visit the little Karoo dorpie of Sutherland lies 18 km outside the village in the direction of Fraserburg. On this arid hilltop you'll find the largest telescope in the Southern Hemisphere – SALT (Southern African Largest Telescope). With zero light pollution and cloudless night skies, these enormous telescopes probe the stars, planets and galaxies. Guided tours take place Monday to Friday at 10:30 and 14:30, and Saturday at 11:30 and 14:30. Bookings are essential – 023 5712 436.

Can you hear the stars sing or feel the earth spin? If you need to get your mojo back with a quiet escape in wide open spaces then pack your karretjie and head to the Tankwa Karoo National Park for a weekend. Just a four-hour drive from Cape Town brings you to this unique national park situated within the Succulent Karoo Biome.Here you can spot rare and fascinating plants, numerous endemic birds and creatures big and small from the magnificent oryx to energetic suricate families. The sweeping landscapes are inspiring and varied, from the sharp crags of Roggeveld Escarpment to the gentle moonscapes of the Tankwa Desert. And at night the jostling crystalline Karoo stars will sing a new song to you.Tankwa Karoo National Park is situated between the Northern Cape and Western Cape with the Roggeveld Escarpment in the East, Cederberg in the West, and Klein Roggeveld Mountains in the South. The park is still in a developmental phase and is the perfect place for star gazers, twitchers hoping for a chance sighting of a rare endemic bird or perhaps nothing more than a silence that reaches deep into the soul…