Back roads, big open spaces, and a night sky that’s just breathtaking—these are some of the iconic images that make up the Northern Cape
written by Marbee Shing-Go
an exclusive partnership with the Northern Cape Department of Economic Development and Tourism special thanks to Drinie Samson, Johann Van Schalkwyk, Victor Marumo, and Kuberin Packirisamy of Northern Cape Tourism Office, and Ellen Vega of South African Embassy in Manila
An evening game drive at Tswalu Kalahari almost always guarantees a beautiful canopy of stars / photo by Aristotle Go
Everyone dreams of visiting Africa.
Images of its larger-than-life landscape and animals roaming in the wild have made its way into many a bucket list—and for good reason. Widely regarded as the cradle of civilization, Africa is, to many, the place where human life originated, the land of our ancestors. And so to make a journey to the continent would be in some ways like journeying back home.
One never forgets the gorgeous South African sunrise / photo by Aristotle Go
Yes, everyone dreams of visiting Africa, and South Africa, in particular, has enjoyed a healthy tourist population over the years. But while most tourists head to Cape Town or Johannesburg, a trip to the Northern Cape is really the journey that everyone is looking for.
Billed as South Africa’s largest province but with the smallest human population, the Northern Cape is miles and miles of open spaces and home to the great Kalahari Desert. Here you will find a considerable number of public and private nature and wildlife reserves, considered among the best in the country for game viewing and nature conservation. It is here as well where you can come across the San (or Bushmen), South Africa’s indigenous people of hunters and gatherers whose territories span Botswana, Namibia, and parts of southern Angola.
So while cities like Cape Town capture the bulk of visitors these days, it’s a trip to the Northern Cape that captivates, providing an experience that enthralls all the senses and engages the traveler in an adventure that takes the best South Africa has to offer—exotic wildlife, astonishing landscape, good food, warm people—and places it in full display. Life-changing is a pronouncement used all too often by too many people who travel but on a trip to the Northern Cape, you’ll find that there may probably be no better sentiment to count as truth.
On letting go of control
In Africa, particularly on game drives, patience is key. The patient passenger can journey for miles and not see anything until suddenly a family of leopards runs past them. It’s a somewhat scary—but also exhilarating—thing to realize that in this land, man may make plans but Mother Nature is always in charge.
On the landscape
“I never knew of a morning in Africa when I woke up that I was not happy,” Ernest Hemingway once wrote. Faced with such a stunning scene set against an endless horizon that stretches away into the unknown, it’s easy to share in Hemingway’s sentiment.
On the colors of africa
Red, brown, and golden with patches of green and a big blue sky—the Northern Cape is stunning. Here the land is stark and vibrant, with everything coming clearly into focus. After Africa, you’ll never look at a sunrise the same way again.
