3 Best Sights in The Northern Cape, South Africa

Conveniently adjacent the Red Ox Steakhouse, the Kalahari-Oranje Museum comprises simple whitewashed buildings that were erected by missionary Christiaan Schröder in the 1870s. It has displays on agriculture and local history and collections of minerals and artifacts used by the area's San. Just outside the complex is the Donkey Monument, a bronze sculpture by Hennie Potgieter that is a testimony to the role played by the animal in developing the Lower Orange River Valley.

This graceful Kimberley landmark, built at Rhodes's instigation, was first used as a sanatorium, then an upscale hotel, and later as a girls' convent school. Rhodes (now a much-maligned figure who occupies a shady realm within the South African colonial discourse) himself stayed here during the siege, and you can see rooms he once occupied.

Today the building houses a museum that focuses on Northern Cape history (prehistoric to early 20th century) within a global context. It contains quite a good display on the Anglo-Boer War and the even more impressive Hall of Ancestors—an extensive exhibition on the history of humanity that includes prehistoric human skulls dating back some 3 million years. The natural history of the area can be seen in the EnviroZone, and a chapel once stood on what is today the Hall of Religion. Note, though, that much of this museum is in need of a refresh, and some of its displays are akin to high-school projects.

Displays here tell the history of Namaqualand, the town of Springbok, and the people who've lived here. Items range from some 17th-century pieces to an old fridge and washing machine made of kokerboom (wood from the distinctive "half-man" tree). The museum is housed in an old synagogue. The earliest Jewish traders had a significant impact on the growth of business not only in the area, but in the country as a whole, and, up until the early 1970s, Springbok had a small Jewish community.