The City of Kimberley is situated in the Northern Cape Province the largest Province in South Africa which occupies roughly a third of the countries landmass, and at 362000 square kilometres the province is nearly the size of the American State of Montana and slightly larger than Germany. the Province is sparsely populated creating large distances between towns. The Karoo basin dominates the province that consists of sedimentary rocks and Dolerite.
The south eastern corner of the province is high lying at between 1250m – 1900m the Namaqualand region occupies the west of the province which has gathered worldwide fame for its spring flowers. The central areas are generally flat with interspersed salt pans. Kimberlite intrusions punctuate the Karoo rocks, giving the province its most precious natural resource, Diamonds.
The north is primarily Kalahari Desert, characterised by parallel red sand dunes and acacia tree dry savannas. The Province also borders four of the countries nine provinces including Namibia and Botswana.
With the Orange River or Gariep River as the major river system in the province spilling in to the Atlantic Ocean Northern Capes shoreline that has attracted a lot of alluvial mining along the river and into the ocean itself.
Visit the Sol Plaatjie Municipality Website: http://www.solplaatje.org.za/explore_overview.php