NCTA Travel Guide 2012 - Northern Cape Tourism

attractive accommodation establishments. In a sheep-farming
area spreading over half-a-million hectares, greater Colesberg
breeds many of the country’s top Merinos. It is also renowned
for producing high quality racehorses.
To see and do:
• Take a slow walk through the town and enjoy the many
original buildings, still in pristine condition, and fine examples
of early Karoo architecture. The Information Office organises
a three-hour walking tour that offers a grasp of local history
and a visit to many of the original reed-ceilinged, yellowwood
beamed homes.
• Visit the Anglican Church a beautifully decorated church
built in 1854, designed by Sophia Gray (wife of Bishop Gray).
• There is also the Colesberg Kemper Museum in Murray Street,
dating to 1861. It includes the Kemper Collection, Anglo-Boer
War photographs and artefacts, a 19th century toy collection,
a Karoo Nomad photographic exhibition and allows visitors to
relive Erasmus Jacobs’ find of Eureka, the first recorded diamond
found in Hopetown, South Africa.
• For the outdoor enthusiasts there are several hiking and
mountain biking trails in the area.
• Anglo-Boer War Enthusiasts can visit the Grenadier Guard
Rock, Memorial Hill and the military cemetery where more than
400 men from 20 regiments are buried. Weekend tours include
a visit to Norvalspont prisoner-of-war camp and cemetery. Tel
051 753 0678.
• Visit the Doornkloof Nature Reserve; located on the southeastern
banks of the Vanderkloof Dam, the 9388 hectare
reserve features kudu, brown hyena, mountain reedbuck,
steenbok, grey duiker, bat-eared fox, aardvark and aardwolf. It
also features a 10km stretch of the Seekoei River, one of the
most important tributaries of the Orange River. There is a hiking
trail, an overnight hut and horse trails are available.
De Aar
De Aar is the third largest town in the Northern Cape and is
centrally located on the main railway line between Johannesburg,
Cape Town, Port Elizabeth and Namibia. The junction was the
second most important railway junction in South Africa, with
110km of railway lines, including 29 rail-tracks. The name De
Aar refers to the underground water supply in arteries, which
supplies all of De Aar’s water from 68 boreholes.
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To see and do:
• For bird lovers De Aar is the southern home of the Lesser Kestrel
during summer, having flown in from Europe and Central
Asia. Numbers can peak at more than 10 000 birds in December
and January.
• For paragliding enthusiast the well-established paragliding
school not only offers a thrilling bird’s eye view of the Karoo
landscape, but hosts regular events attracting local and
international paragliders in search of world long-distance
records, for which the local conditions are ideally suited. More
than half of the world’s long-distance records have been set in
De Aar.
• Visit the house of Olive Schreiner, famed author and
feminist who wrote Women and Labour. The house now serves
as a restaurant.
Douglas
The town was founded in 1838 as a mission station on the farm
Backhouse by the Reverend Isaac Hughes. In 1867, a group of
Alabama settlers from Grahamstown signed an agreement
giving them the right to establish a town. It was named after
General Sir Percy Douglas, Lieutenant Governor of the Cape
Colony. Near the confluence of the Orange River and its main
tributary the Vaal River, Douglas is a thriving, fast-growing
town surrounded by a wealth of agricultural and stock farming
ventures.
To see and do:
• Visit the Douglas Wine Cellars – The cellar was established
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