Western and Northern Cape

The Western and Northern Cape of South Africa account for nearly half of the entire country, to the north and east of Cape Town.

Extending to the north as far as the border with Botswana, the landscapes eventually begin to take on the earthy reds of the Kalahari Desert.

The Western Cape can comfortably be explored using Cape Town as your starting point. The Northern Cape requires either a scheduled domestic flight, or why not board a luxury light aircraft and arrive in style.

The Western Cape mirrors the weather patterns of Cape Town. Warm and dry between October and May and more unsettled between June and September. Conversely the Northern Cape’s continental climate sees drier, more comfortable temperatures between May and September. The summer months of November to March can be exceptionally hot but this is the time when the desert bursts into life with the seasonal rains.

In August the Namaqualand region, between Cape Town and the Namibian border, undergoes a spectacular transformation. Seasonal rains see a seemingly barren expanse of emptiness brought to life in an apparently endless patchwork of colourful wildflowers.