‘Upington and the Northern Cape is not a tourist destination, it’s a traveller destination,’ comments Niel Stemmet, owner of the multiple award-winning Le Must Restaurant in Upington – one of the Northern Cape’s largest commercial centres. ‘What attracts me to this province is the elements. You’re part of the rain and the heat and the desert here. It teaches you a lot about life.’
It teaches you about life in the semi-desert of the Kalahari along the Namaqua Route, bordering the Gariep River. It teaches you about life in an old frontier town called Upington, a place that swelters in over 40 degree temperatures in the South African summer.
Wild West
On initial impression, it’s a rather unremarkable town, but like an onion its layers must be peeled away to find its intriguing essence, for Upington is steeped in history and it tells a fascinating Wild West tale of colonial land struggles and triumphs over the elements.
The last shopping stopover before entering the surreal, solitary beauty of the Kalahari wilderness, it started out as a mission station, established by a Reverend Christiaan Schroder.
It was in response to an appeal by Klaas Lucas, the Chief of the local Koranna (Koi-Koi people), who wanted his people to learn to read and write that the reverend was dispatched here by the Cape Colony government.
The church was erected in 1875 and is today the Kalahari Oranje Museum, complete with all its period furnishings.
Olyvenhoutsdrif
At the time, Upington was called Olyvenhoutsdrif, so named by early European explorers due to the abundance of olivewood trees in the area.
Reverend Schroder turned out to be more than a man of the cloth. As the number of European settlers to the area increased, he recognised the need for irrigation systems that could feed off the Gariep River.
With the aid of teams of donkeys, he supervised the digging of several canals to irrigate the lands.
Directly because of this irrigation system, Olyvenyhoutsdrif developed into a vibrant agricultural centre with handsome vineyards and farms producing sultanas, raisins, watermelons, cotton and lucerne.
Scotty Smith
Olyvenhoutsdrif was renamed Upington in 1898 after the Cape Colony’s Attorney General of the time, Sir Thomas Upington. He had come to inspect the area during the war of 1879 between the Cape Colony forces and the Koranna. Clearly all was not well between the settlers and the indigenous people, despite the original good intentions.
Like all Wild West towns Upington had its share of skirmishes and its share of fortune-seeking scoundrels. One of these was a man who went by the name of George St Leger Gordon Lenox, alias ‘Scotty Smith’. A Scottish-born adventurer, he bought and sold illegal diamonds, he stole horses and masterminded highway robberies.
His gravestone, in the local cemetery bearing the prophetic inscription: ‘Never will his memory fade’, is one of the town’s tourist attractions.
Date Palm Avenue
Another historic attraction is the spectacular Date Palm Avenue. Two rows of more than 200 date palm trees escort visitors for over 1 000 metres to the entrance of Die Eiland Holiday Resort on the banks of the Orange River.
The palms were planted in 1935 by the old Department of Lands. One of the longest, densest palm avenues in the southern hemisphere, they were declared a national monument in 1982.
Oranje River Wine Cellars
If the palms get you thinking about palm wine rather visit the Oranje River Wine Cellars – the biggest wine co-operative in South Africa and the second biggest in the world. Wine tasting and tours are open to the public, but need to be booked during harvesting season.
A large percentage of the grapes from this region are exported to Europe for use as table fruit.
Upington is also home to the South African Dried Fruit Co-operative, the second largest of its kind in the world and also worth a stopover for a morning tour and a purchase of freshly packed dried fruit.
Staying Over
Accommodation-wise there is plenty of choice; the same goes for dining. Make a point of having a meal at Le Must Restaurant, regularly voted the best restaurant in the Northern Cape.
Le Must also offers a choice of fine accommodation options, including a five-star boutique guesthouse.
Upington – the traveller’s destination – is packed with things to do; including 4x4 adventures to the Spitskop Nature Reserve, which is stocked with gemsbok, springbok, ostrich, eland, hartebeest and mountain zebra.
If you’re in Upington on a weekend, book a sunset cruise on ‘Sakkie se Arkie’, a floating bar on the river, which accommodates up to 20 people. It’s the perfect ending to a stay in this historic Wild West town.
© Images courtesy and copyright of Upington.com
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