Upington is situated on the banks of the Orange River in the Northern Cape. Surrounded by bright gre...

1. Upington Accommodation
Upington is situated on the banks of the Orange River in the Northern Cape. Surrounded by bright
green irrigated vineyards, this area is known as the Green Kalahari. (The rest of the Kalahari, while
not actually a true desert, is classified as thirstland, and is most definitely not green.)
Upington is a pleasant town with some lovely guest houses, hotels and restaurants. The Kalahari
Oranje Museum Complex offers an insight into the history of the rather hardy folk who've made this
town their home over the last couple of hundred years. The museum sells beautifully packaged dried
fruit from the enormous South African Dried Fruit Co-operative just outside the town. Upington is
the centre of the Orange River wine region and you could do a tasting in town at a co-op of five
different cellars.
Still on a fruity note, an island in the Orange River boasts one of the longest and most dense date
palm avenues in the southern hemisphere - it's over a kilometre long.
For such a small town it has a relatively
large collection of animal statues. A
donkey outside the museum pays tribute to
the contribution of this humble beast in the
development of the region, and a camel
outside the police station commemorates
the recalcitrant beasts on which the police
patrolled the vast Kalahari in the past.
You could enjoy a gentle sundowner cruise
on the river or, for something much more
exciting, head to the Augrabies Falls
National Parkwhere you could do some
white water rafting and view the
magnificent waterfall and canyon at its heart.

2. There is also a gentler canoeing trip, a quite taxing hike, and a fun day trip consisting of a short
paddle, a walk and a mountain bike ride. The Augrabies Park also has some small game, as does the
Spitskop Nature Reserve, which is conveniently situated about 13km north of the town.
Upington is the biggest town in its immediate area and the second biggest in the Northern Cape,
after Kimberley. There is a small airport with a limited number of scheduled flights.