Destination: South Africa

LONELY PLANET'S OFFICIAL ITINERARY INFORMATION

Itinerary: The Wild Northwest

FOUR TO SIX WEEKS / CAPE TOWN TO CAPE TOWN

After travelling about 2500km through South Africa's vast, open northwest, settling back into an urban lifestyle won't be easy. Consider a 4WD for Kgalagadi, Richtersveld and Augrabies Falls parks, and allow six weeks to include more hiking or rafting.

South Africa’s northwestern reaches, with their all-pervasive sense of space, make an excellent alternative to the coast. Starting in Cape Town, head northwards via Citrusdal, Clanwilliam, Vanrhynsdorp and the Hantam Karoo town of Calvinia, enjoying the fine views en route.

Continue to Namaqualand to catch the spring flowers before exploring the rugged and remote Richtersveld National Park, with its mountainous desert landscapes, ravines and gorges. Plan on four days here to take advantage of the hiking. From Richtersveld, make your way via Upington to Augrabies Falls National Park, which merits three days for hiking, rafting and canoeing. Upington itself is worth a stop, as is Witsand Nature Reserve, where the wind sings over the dunes. Continue northwards for at least four days in Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park.

Make your way back to ‘civilisation’ via Kuruman – an unassuming but feisty frontier town – and the diamond capital of Kimberley with its Anglo-Boer battlefields and atmospheric pubs. From here, the route turns south along the N12 and the N1 through the Karoo, with possible stops including Karoo National Park and Matjiesfontein, before entering the Winelands around Franschhoek and finishing in Cape Town. An alternative route from Kimberley: continue eastwards to Bloemfontein, with its rich history and surprisingly good nightlife, and on to Johannesburg.