8 Best Sights in The Northern Cape, South Africa

At the Wildebeest Kuil Rock Art Tourism Centre, the half-mile-long San Rock Art Trail takes you on a short walk back through time. Billed as "helping to protect the future of the past," this memorable rock art experience includes engravings made by ancestors of the Khoisan, dating between 1,000 and 2,000 years ago. (Ancestors of the Khoisan are believed to be some of the earliest humans to walk the face of the earth.) Listening to an audio player, you take a boardwalk to the best of more than 400 images––eland, elephant, rhino, wildebeest, hartebeest, ostrich, and dancing human figures—on a low ridge of ancient andesite rock. The center also offers a 20-minute introductory film and display on the subject and a crafts shop run by the !Xun and Khwe San (refugees from the Angolan and Namibian wars), whose land surrounds the site.

Today you can visit the open-air Canteen Kopje Archaeological Site to view both archaeological and geological treasures, ranging from Stone Age artifacts more than a million years old to rock axes, found in a recent excavation, that date from the late 1800s. Walk the 1-km (½-mile) trail to take in the exhibits. Students of history—and South Africa in particular—will really appreciate this off-the-beaten-path stuff.

This is odd and quite unexpected establishment is an interesting find. If you've grown frustrated driving past land you know contains quartz crystals quietly whiling away eternity, stop at George Swanson Enterprises to dig up some treasures without a permit. Swanson's yard is full of raw rock crystals, water sapphires, turquoise, and blue lace agate along with the entire gamut of semiprecious minerals found in Namaqualand (and Namibia, where Swanson apparently found his first 'treasures'). Even if you don't find a piece of rock that speaks to you, Swanson, who "turns rock into bread," will regale you with anecdotes from his "famous past with American presidents' wives," including his ecology award for the discovery of blue lace agate, which had remained hidden for more than 50 million years until he found it in the 1960s. Swanson's is primarily a working yard, and watching the splitting of the rock is fascinating. Having the option to buy something is a bonus.

Where this evocative, barren national monument now stands, the Boers resoundingly defeated British forces marching to relieve besieged Kimberley in December 1899. An excellent museum screens an 11-minute multimedia display that does such a good job of recalling the battle in pictures and sound that it will give you goose bumps. You can also visit several monuments dotted around the battlefield. A pleasant tearoom and the on-site Bagpipe Lodge (bagpipes not included) offer a place to refuel and recline. This was the site of a major battle in the South African War, and is must for anyone with a sense of military, or South African history.

In 1803 the London Missionary Society established a mission here, and Mary Moffat, wife of explorer David Livingstone, was born here. The old mission house is now home to the Mary Moffat Museum, which has interesting displays and literature on the history of the Griquas, the missionaries, and the area. The phone number may not work, but it's definitely open.

In the leafy suburb of Belgravia, Rudd House is the rambling home of Cecil John Rhodes's first business partner, the early diamond magnate Charles Dunnell Rudd. The house has been restored in the art-deco style of the 1920s, when the Bungalow, as the house was then known, was in its heyday. Look for the croquet ground made out of kimberlite, and the massive snooker table surrounded by a multitude of animal heads from Rudd's trips north to Matabeleland. Like Dunluce, Rudd House can be seen only on a tour operated by the McGregor Museum (see).

Activist, author, and journalist Sol Plaatje (1876–1932) lived most of his multitalented life in this house. In addition to being the first general secretary of the African National Congress, he was the first black South African to publish a novel in English, an influential early black newspaper editor, and an energetic campaigner for human rights. His house is now a small reference library, publishing house, and museum with displays on his life and extracts from his diary. The reference library contains the works of previously exiled South Africans (in English) and a collection of Tsetswana literature; books are also for sale.

This 12,000-plus-acre private reserve is about 14 km (9 miles) from Upington, and it's a good fallback if you don't have time to make it all the way to Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park. You'll get to see some wildlife, especially the iconic oryx (or gemsbok, as it is called in South Africa), eland, mountain zebra, and decent herds of springbok. Apart from such typical Kalahari game species, other predators to be seen are the jackal and caracal; resident bird species include the kori bustard, ostrich, and Namaqua sandgrouse. Whether you are a day visitor or staying over in one of the chalets (or in an RV), you should make a point of climbing to the top of the Spitskop at dawn or dusk, where you're likely to see a beautiful Kahalari sunrise or sunset. The cooler hours are also advised because day temperatures in summer in this desert reserve can hit 40°C–45°C (104°F–113°F).