page_title: Geography of South Africa
section_title: Namaqualand
hierarchical_section_title: Geography of South Africa / Regional divisions / Namaqualand
caption_attribution_description: English: Namaqualand daisies in spring
context_page_description: South Africa occupies the southern tip of Africa, its coastline stretching more than 2,850 kilometres from the desert border with Namibia on the Atlantic coast southwards around the tip of Africa and then northeast to the border with Mozambique on the Indian Ocean. The low-lying coastal zone is narrow for much of that distance, soon giving way to a mountainous escarpment that separates the coast from the high inland plateau. In some places, notably the province of KwaZulu-Natal in the east, a greater distance separates the coast from the escarpment. Although most of the country is classified as semi-arid, it has considerable variation in climate as well as topography. The total land area is 1,220,813 km². It has the 23rd largest Exclusive Economic Zone of 1,535,538 km².
  The South African central plateau contains only two major rivers: the Limpopo, and the Orange which runs with a variable flow across the central landscape from east to west, emptying into the Atlantic Ocean at the Namibian border.
  The eastern and southern coastal regions are drained by numerous shorter rivers. There are very few coastal rivers along the arid west coast north of 31°30′S.
context_section_description: This is the arid region along the north-western coastline (northwards from approximately the 31°S line of latitude) of South Africa, partly above and partly below the Great Escarpment. The region extends into Namibia, north of the Orange River, where it is known as "Great Namaqualand", or "Namaland". The South African portion of Namaqualand is known as "Little Namaqualand", and falls within the Northern Cape Province. The region is sparsely populated, mainly by Afrikaans speaking people of Nama, and Khoikhoi descent. The original Nama and Khoikhoi languages are spoken in only a few remote areas. The main economic activities are mining, and fishing along the coast.
  Some of the more prominent towns in this area are Springbok, being the capital of this region, as well as Kleinzee and Koiingnaas, both private mining towns owned by De Beers Diamond Mines.  This area is 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 on the opposite side of the river mouth (i.e. in South Africa) 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 the South African west coast, especially in Port Nolloth, which is also a major resort town for people living in the interior of South Africa (e.g. Gauteng), and Hondeklipbaai, (or Dogstonebay), so called because of a large boulder outside the town which, when viewed correctly, looks vaguely like a dog sitting down.
  The copper bangles worn by the Khoikhoi aroused the interests of the Dutch officials of the Dutch settlement established by Jan van Riebeeck in the Cape in 1652. Several expeditions were consequently mounted to find the source of this copper. A mineshaft was dug in the "Copper Mountains" in northern Namaqualand in 1685, which still can be seen near the disused Carolusberg mine a few kilometers east of Springbok. However commercial mining was only started in 1859, and over the next 140 years vast quantities of ore have been extracted from 23 mines in the area. Springbok and its surrounding towns (Nababeep and Okiep) were the center of this mining activity. But, in the early 2000s the last mine was closed. However, about 115 km further inland, in Bushmanland (see above), a large new mine is extracting  copper, lead, zinc, and silver from the "Black Mountain" (originally "Swartberg") deposits at Aggeneys since 1977. High grade granite is mined in several places (e.g. near Kamieskroon, and Concordia) in this granite-rich landscape.
  Namaqualand is popular with both local and international tourists during early springtime (August - September), when for a short period this normally arid area becomes covered with a kaleidoscope of colour during the flowering season. This is known throughout South Africa as the Namaqualand daisy season, when orange and white daisies, as well as hundreds of other flowering species, spring up from a previously barren landscape. A part of Little Namaqualand, known as the Richtersveld, is a national park and a World Heritage Site, while the often-visited Namaqua National Park and the Goegap Nature Reserve are located short distances from Kamieskroon and Springbok, respectively.
caption: Spring flowers in Namaqualand
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