If the Northern Cape is wild - and it is - then the Kalahari is really wild. The only developments here are huge manganese and iron mines, and the mission town of Kuruman with its fabulous freshwater spring. Other than these and a few settlements with names like Black Rock, or Hotazel, it`s miles and miles sand, grass and thorn trees.

When word spread 150 years ago that diamonds had been discovered at Kimberley, thousands of prospectors, armed with nothing more than picks, shovels and hope, descended on a featureless, flat-topped hill and created the largest hand-dug excavation in the world.It`s still a major attraction in a town that retains its historical significance from its mining past and siege during the Second Boer War.

Notable personalities such as Cecil Rhodes made their fortune here and The Sol Plaatje Municipality is named after the first Secretary-General of the African National Congress and writer, Solomon `Sol` Tshekisho Plaatje.

Kimberley boasts many traces of the past in its architectural heritage, historic sites, museums, heritage sites, and many monuments.

Further afield, the only developments in the wild Kalahari are huge manganese and iron minesaroundthe mission town of Kuruman,with its renownedfreshwater spring. Other than these and a few settlements with names like Black Rock or Hotazel, it`s kilometres, kilometres and kilometres ofsand, grass and thorn trees.

Where the Orange River winds through it, long oases known Green Kalahari allowwine and table grapes to grow under irrigation, the KgalagadiTransfrontier Park shelters innumerable animals, plants and birds, and the Augrabies Falls thunder into aspectacular gorge.