The Northern Cape consists of wide-open spaces, big African skies and a number of unique national parks. Home to the ancient San people; the Northern Cape offers the tourist a very different experience of the South African landscape. Once the hub of the gold rush days, this province boasts a colourful history as well as a number of cultural tourist attractions. This part of the world is also well known for its incredible annual floral display that takes place in Namaqualand once a year.

Major Attractions:

• Richtersveld National Park
Created in 1991, the Richtersveld National Park is situated in northwestern Namaqualand. Here, the landscape is rough and unforgiving. Some of the more rugged landscapes have been given names such as Skeleton Gorge, Devil’s Tooth and Helskloof (hell’s gorge). This area is home to the fascinating Nama people – who are mainly sheep or goat-herders and live a simple life in these harsh surroundings. The Richtersveld is popular with 4x4 enthusiasts and nature lovers.

• Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park

The Kalahari Gemsbok National Park, together with the Gemsbok National Park in Botswana, is Africa's first transfrontier game park, known as the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park. It is one of the largest nature conservation areas in southern Africa, and one of the largest remaining protected natural ecosystems in the world.

The Park provides unfenced access to a variety of game between South Africa and Botswana, and has a surface area of more than two million hectare (ha).

• Augrabies Falls National Park
One of the lesser-known game parks in the country, it is here, on the Orange River, that Africa’s second largest waterfall (next to the Victoria Falls) thunders down into a granite gorge in a spectacular display. Adventure activities are par for the course at this attraction, including rafting, hiking and cycling as well as canoe trails.

• Flowers, Flowers Everywhere
During August and September, the area of Namaqualand is transformed into a brilliant carpet of wild flowers. The area is world-famous for its transformed landscape and floral beauty – and photographic safaris to the area are very popular with both local and international tourists. Nowadays, it can be said that the Namaqualand experiences something of a `gold rush’ during peak season.

• The Big Hole at Kimberley
The famous five-hundred-metre wide cavity that sits at a depth of around 240m was dug manually by pick and shovel, and is known to be the largest man-made excavation sight in the world. This hole remains the major attraction for visitors to this part of the world.

• Diamond Digging Country
Kimberley boasts an excellent museum called the Kimberley Mine Museum. Part of the museum includes the viewing decks into the Big Hole, as well as a number of historic buildings. The old shops, bars, restaurants, churches and banks appear almost exactly as they were during the diamond digging days. Known as a `living museum’, a visit here is like stepping back in time to the days when Barney Barnato and Cecil John Rhodes were kings; and diamonds were there for the picking.