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If you're seeking wide-open spaces and a sense of solitude on your South African adventure, there’s no better place than the Northern Cape – the country’s largest and least densely populated province. Home to the indigenous San people, the Northern Cape showcases stunning landscapes renowned for their striking red sand dunes and unique desert scenery found nowhere else in the country.
Winding its way through the heart of this striking region, the Red Dune Route allows visitors to experience the best of what this environment has to offer, while exploring its culture and rich heritage through the people who live here.
You won’t find big franchise hotels or flashy cocktail bars here. Instead, you’ll experience so much more through the community of friendly locals, who provide an authentic taste of the Northern Cape.
You’ll have the opportunity to stay at a family-owned guesthouse, experience regional customs and folklore, savour traditional home-made cuisine, and experience the down-to-earth hospitality of the people. It’s a real-life case study of how tourism elevates and sustains communities, creating sustainable employment opportunities all while conserving the environment for generations to come.
Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park is a conservation triumph
As much about peace and tranquillity as it is about adventure and discovery, the Red Dune Route includes incredible wildlife viewing opportunities in the legendary Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park.
The park, which stretches across South Africa and Botswana, is a transfrontier conservation success story. Visitors can move freely across the border within the boundaries of the park, maximising their wildlife viewing.
Adventurous activities such as guided 4x4 eco-trails and quad biking enable you to spot herds of gemsbok, springbok, eland, and blue wildebeest. If you're lucky, you might also see the park’s famous black-maned desert lions. There’s also sandboarding and serene sunset hikes that showcase the dunes' vibrant hues.
!Ae!Hai Kalahari Heritage Park
Honouring the rich cultural heritage of this region, the !Ae!Hai Kalahari Heritage Park was created when a historic land settlement agreement with the South African government saw land restored to the Khomani San and Mier communities in 2002.
!Xaus Lodge is the sole tourism facility within the park, offering visitors a unique opportunity to experience the wonders of the region, while supporting the local indigenous people. !Ae!Hai was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2017 and awarded International Dark Sky Sanctuary status in 2019. If you love gazing up at the night sky and seeing more stars than you can count, this is the place for you.
Kalahari Trails Nature Reserve and Meerkat Sanctuary
Made famous by Timon in Disney’s The Lion King, meerkats are furry little creatures that are often seen in their characteristic ‘sentinel pose’ as they stand on their hindlegs to get a better view of their surroundings. The 3 500-ha KKalahari Trails Nature Reserve and Meerkat Sanctuary, 35km outside the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, has been awarded sanctuary status by Northern Cape Nature Conservation for its conservation work. The sanctuary rescues and rehabilitates orphaned and abandoned pet meerkats to release them into the wild. It provides a protected habitat for these creatures, allowing visitors to observe them in their natural environment. The meerkats are ‘taught’ how to be wild and have formed their own family group. They roam freely about the reserve, breeding and living a natural life.
Through various educational programmes and responsible tourism practices, Kalahari Trails Nature Reserve raises awareness about meerkat behaviour, their ecology and the threats they face. By fostering a deeper understanding of these animals, the sanctuary inspires guests to become advocates for their conservation and contribute to the long-term preservation of meerkats in the Kalahari.
A Kalahari culinary experience at Aunt Koera’s Farm Kitchen
For an authentic flavour of the Kalahari, visit Aunt Koera’s Farm Kitchen where local community member ‘Aunt Koera’ prepares traditional South African meals in an outdoor firepit. One of her signature dishes is a delicious lamb ‘potjie’ (stew) with potato and onion and home-made roasted bread (roosterbrood) that will have you asking for her secret recipe.
Each of the family-owned and community-run tourism businesses along the Red Dune Route in the Kalahari offer travellers a chance to embrace the warmth of the South African spirit. But besides that, they strive to uphold responsible tourism practices and foster economic growth, while strengthening local bonds that benefit everyone involved.
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