| | | The hinterland of South Africa comprising the Free State and Northern Cape provinces is an area of enormous dimensions with a number of magnificent attractions. The mountains of the eastern Free State bordering Lesotho are textured in magnificent shades of russet and gold, due to their sandstone content. Quaint villages and guesthouses situated throughout this area provide accommodation for visitors. The Golden Gate National Park is a breathtaking area of sandstone mountains and rich golden grasses set against the deep blue of a cloudless African sky. | | |
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| | As one travels westward the mountains give way to the vast plains of the central Free State where fields of maize and wheat provide South Africa's breadbasket. Bloemfontein, the Free State provincial capital is set amongst this vast area overshadowed by Naval Hill - oddly named as it is many hundreds of kilometres from the sea. Moving further west the traveller encounters the city of Kimberley, and it's famous hole, a remnant of the richest diamond strike in history. The original settlement of Kimberley from the days of the diggings in the latter part of the nineteenth century is perfectly preserved in the environs of the Big Hole. | | | Sandstone hills in the Eastern Free State | | | | West and south of Kimberley lies the enormous open areas of the Great Karoo and the southern Kalahari desert. This is a place of solitude and peace, of vast distances and very few people. Small hamlets and villages dot this vast landscape, each with a unique character and style. The Orange River, which separates the Great Karoo to the south and the Kalahari to the north carves its way through this harsh landscape providing a vivid green ribbon of intensive agricultural activity and sustenance to the people of this harsh land. Tswalu Private Desert Reserve is an enormous Kalahari wildlife reserve ideal for experiencing the ecosystems and wildlife of the area. Below the regional centre of Upington the Orange River plunges into a narrow rocky chasm at Augrabies providing a spectacular vista of thundering water and twisted rocks in the midst of a harsh and unrelenting landscape. | | | Augrabies Falls on the Orange River | | | | North of Upington in a sliver of land between Namibia and Botswana is the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park, a vast area of Kalahari desert which has combined with the larger Gemsbok Park in Botswana. This reserve forms one of Africa’s first truly transfrontier wildlife reserves where visitors can move unhindered between the two countries within the reserve. This combined reserve preserves a huge slice of pristine Kalahari. The area is wild and remote and the lions of this area are reputed to be the largest in Africa. The area is host to an extraordinary variety of wild animals and birds and is well suited to those seeking the solace and peace of wild Africa. | | |
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