The largest of South Africa's provinces but one of the least populated. Northern Cape borders both Namibia and Botswana and has stunning landscapes and wilderness areas.
The capital of this province is Kimberley, located to the east ner Free State and evolved as a mining town, still famous today for it's diamonds which were first discovered here in 1869. The Mine Museum is well worth a visit. The open air museum includes original and reconstructed building and De Beers Hall has a collection of diamonds. 'The Big Hole' next to it is the largest manually dug hole in the world at 180m. Fortunes were made in this area by not just De Beers but also Cecil Rhodes and Ernest Oppenheimer.
The famous Orange River flows in the Northern Cape from Namibia and with it's tributary the Vaal River, forms the longest and largest river in South Africa. Much of the Northern Cape is dry and arid especially bordering the Karoo and Kalahari regions. South of the Orange River is the Namaqualand area, famous for it's spring flowers and part of the Cape Flower Kingdom.
The coast of the Northern Cape is a bleak place with Atlantic breakers falling on a desert like shoreline. Climate here is warm year round with very hot summer temperatures though cold at night in winter, especially in the desert areas.
San tribes people originated in the drier regions including the Kalahari and Batswana settled in the far west. Large numbers of whites moved into the region with the development of the mining towns.
