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20-459: Calvinia enjoys 80% starlight and is renowned for its kaleidoscope of spring wildflowers coinciding with the Namaqualand wildflower spectacle. An asteroid ( 1245 Calvinia ) is named after the town. The earliest known people living in the area were Khoisan people. The first Europeans in the area were farmers who took their livestock to the area in the 1750s. On 19 January 1847, at a meeting on

40-624: Is 22°C, with peaks above 40°C. The average winter temperature is 10°C but can fall to -8°C. On the surrounding mountains, snow falls regularly. This was where Abraham Esau garnered the support of the "Coloured" community to fight for the British against the Boers during the Boer War. Afrikaans is the main language spoken in Calvinia. The principal religion of the population is Christianity . The Calvinia Museum

60-506: Is a popular region for international and local tourists. The Namakwa coastline and the banks of the Orange River are popular for their hiking trails and off-roading routes. The beginning of the flower season varies from year to year, but usually occurs between August and October. The natural landscape is continually monitored with the first sign of spring and flower season being the arrival of Namakwa daisies. When purple vygies bloom, spring

80-460: Is coming to an end. The Namaqua National Park is situated west of the N7 , one of South Africa's national roads. This conservation area is a great biodiversity hotspot , with the highest concentration of succulent plants of any of the world's arid regions. More than a thousand of its estimated 3500 floral species cannot be found anywhere else in the world. The Ai-Ais/Richtersveld Transfrontier Park , on

100-663: Is divided by the lower course of the Orange River into two portions – Little Namaqualand to the south and Great Namaqualand to the north. Little Namaqualand is within the Namakwa District Municipality , forming part of Northern Cape Province , South Africa. It is geographically the largest district in the country, spanning over 26,836 km . A typical municipality is Kamiesberg Local Municipality . The semidesert Succulent Karoo region experiences hot summers, sparse rainfall, and cold winters. Great Namaqualand, in

120-467: Is housed in the former art deco styled Jewish synagogue built in 1920. The museum portrays the lives of the early European settlers. It displays a cedarwood horsemill and mounted Cape fat-tailed, Merino and Dorper sheep. Unusual specimens such as a 4-legged ostrich and genetically anomalous sheep can also be viewed. The Akkerendam Nature Reserve is located three kilometers north of Calvinia. The reserve offers unique flowers and two hiking trails cross

140-550: Is located at Aggeneys , 110 kilometres (70 mi) further inland. The region is known for its cultural history, which was preserved by the Nama and Khoisan tribes. The Nama people are a group of Khoikhoi people. Around 50% of the Nama population and 80% of the neighboring Herero population were brutally killed by the German Empire between 1904 and 1907 in a racial extermination during

160-455: Is made available for the exclusive use of writers. The town has four public schools: All four public schools also have boarding houses for both boys and girls. Namaqualand Namaqualand ( Khoikhoi : "Nama-kwa" meaning Nama Khoi people 's land) is an arid region of Namibia and South Africa , extending along the west coast over 1,000 km (600 mi) and covering a total area of 440,000 km (170,000 sq mi). It

180-449: Is quite rich in alluvial diamonds deposited along the coast by the Orange River. Oranjemund is another mining town along this coast, situated in Namibia, but very much on the border. As the name suggests, it is at the mouth of the Orange River, which forms the border between South Africa and Namibia. The town of Alexander Bay is located 5 km (3.1 mi) away opposite the river on

200-659: The Herero and Namaqua genocide . Nama people traditionally speak the Khoekhoe language . Succulent Karoo The Succulent Karoo is an ecoregion defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature to include regions of desert in South Africa and Namibia , and a biodiversity hotspot . The geographic area chosen by the WWF for what they call 'Succulent Karoo' does not correspond to

220-615: The Karas Region of Namibia , is sparsely populated by the Namaqua , a Khoikhoi people who have traditionally inhabited the Namaqualand region. The area’s landscape ranges from an unexploited coastal strip in the west to semidesert areas in the north-east. Famed for its proximity to the Atlantic Ocean, its wild flowers during spring, its wealth of minerals, and cultural history, Namaqualand

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240-463: The church be named after John Calvin . On 30 October 1851 the town was officially named Calvinia. It became a municipality in 1904. Calvinia is located at 31°28′30″S 19°46′22″E  /  31.47500°S 19.77278°E  / -31.47500; 19.77278 (-31.47500, 19.77278). The town is 301 kilometers (470 kilometers by tar road) north of Cape Town and lies at an altitude of 970 meters. The average summer temperature

260-609: The Hantam mountains. The indigenous and rare sterboom (literally translated "star tree") ( Cliffortia arborea ) can be seen here. The Hantam Meat Festival , an agricultural show and great barbecue ( Afrikaans "braai"), takes place every year in late August. The Boekhuis (translated "Book House") was built in 1860 by Jacobus Nel van der Merwe in Cape Dutch style with a concave-convex gable. This historical T-shaped house in Water Street

280-604: The South African side and is linked to Oranjemund by the Ernest Oppenheimer Bridge. Other links crossing the river further upstream are a reintroduced pontoon at Sendelingsdrift in the Richtersveld National Park, and road bridges at Vioolsdrif (the main border crossing between the two countries) and at the remote border crossing of Onseepkans . A vibrant fishing industry is found along this stretch of

300-481: The South African west coast, especially in Port Nolloth , the major resort town of Namaqualand, and Hondeklipbaai , or Dogstonebay, called such because of a large boulder outside the town, which when viewed correctly, looks vaguely like a dog sitting down. Since the 19th century, copper has been mined at Springbok and its surrounding towns such as Okiep, while a large mine extracting copper, lead, zinc, and silver

320-573: The actual Karoo . The Succulent Karoo stretches along the coastal strip of southwestern Namibia and South Africa's Northern Cape Province , where the cold Benguela Current offshore creates frequent fogs. The ecoregion extends inland into the uplands of South Africa's Western Cape Province . It is bounded on the south by the Mediterranean climate fynbos , on the east by the Nama Karoo , which has more extreme temperatures and variable rainfall, and on

340-687: The border of Namibia and South Africa, was known as the Richtersveld National Park in South Africa and the Ai-Ais Hot Springs Game Park in Namibia before the two parks were formally combined in August 2003. What was once the Richtersveld National Park nurtures about 30% of South Africa’s succulent species. Some of the more prominent towns in this area are Springbok , being the largest in the region, and Kleinzee and Koiingnaas , both private mining towns owned by De Beers Diamond Mines . This area

360-605: The ecoregion’s 50 scorpion species, 22 are endemic. Monkey beetles , largely endemic to southern Africa, are concentrated in the Succulent Karoo and are important pollinators of the flora. So, too, are the Hymenoptera and masarine wasps , and colletid , fideliid , and melittid bees. Approximately 15 amphibians are found in this ecoregion, including three endemics; among the region’s 115 reptile species, 48 are endemic and 15 are strict endemics. The Sperrgebiet region

380-551: The farm Tygerhoek, a new Dutch Reformed Church congregation was founded for the Hantam region. In 1848 the congregation bought 1,200 hectares of the farm Hoogekraal (Ramskop) from Abraham van Wyk. The name Hantam is derived from the Khoisan word !Han‡ami, which refers to a plant with edible roots ( Pelargonium bifolium, in Afrikaans "uintjies"). !Han‡ami means "where the red bulbs grow". The first reverend, N.J. Hofmeyr, proposed that

400-487: The north by the Namib Desert . The Succulent Karoo is notable for the world's richest flora of succulent plants , and harbours about one-third of the world’s approximately 10,000 succulent species. 40% of its succulent plants are endemic. The region is extraordinarily rich in geophytes , harbouring approximately 630 species. The ecoregion is a centre of diversity and endemism for reptiles and many invertebrates . Of

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