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Emerald Oasis of the Northern Cape
Upington is the chief city in the Northern Region of South Africa. This dry and hot area is characterised by desolate deserts and harsh landscapes. However, do not let that deter you! Upington boasts a marvellous oasis: the fertile and lush Orange River valley which runs through it, provides a green ribbon through the harsh landscapes bringing life-giving water from the distant highlands of Lesotho.
Upington was founded in 1884 and was named after Sir Thomas Upington, the Attorney-General of the Cape. It originated as a mission station established in 1875. The mission station now houses the Kalahari Orange Museum, home of the famous donkey statue, which recognizes the enormous contribution that this animal made to the development of the region during the revolutionary days of the 19th Century. Die Eiland holiday resort is on an island in the middle of the Orange River, with a Date Palm entrance avenue of 1 041 metres of Palms, which makes it one of the longest and densest palm avenues in the southern hemisphere. Upington is also strategically situated for visits to the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park and the Augrabies Falls National Park. The Khoi people called it ‘Aukoerebis’, the place of the Great Noise, referring to the Orange River thundering its way downwards for 60 metres in a spectacular waterfall.
This pricipal Town of the Green Kalahari is 820km north of Cape Town and 875km west of Johannesburg.
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.
Originally known as Kharahais, bound by the Orange River and the Kalahari desert, Upington is the principal town and commercial, educational and social centre of the Green Kalahari, owing its prosperity to agriculture and its irrigated lands along the Orange River.
Upington enjoys a summer rainfall and a hot climate. An ideal winter holiday resort, its facilities are excellent and the countryside contrasts semidesert reds with the emerald and olive greens of fertile vineyards. Linked by air and road to most parts of the country, the town is accessible, offers excellent accommodation and has a well-developed commercial infrastructure.
On the Kalahari-Namaqua-Namibia (Nama-kwari) route to and from Johannesburg and Cape Town, it is a convenient stopover for those travelling to the Augrabies Falls National Park, the Fish River Canyon and the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park. Show more
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Northern Cape Tourism Authority -
15 Dalham Road, Belgravia, Kimberley -
Tel:+27 (0) 53 832-2657 -
Fax:+27(0) 53 831-2937 -
Web: www.northerncape.org.za -
Tourism Kimberley
P O Box 1976, Kimberley 8300, Diamantveld Visitor Centre, 121...
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