Places to See in Sutherland - Northern Cape South Africa

Sutherland may be famous as one of the coldestseven telescopes of the Observatory, one being
places in South Africa, but it is also home to"SALT" (Southern African Large Telescope) which
some spectacular historical sites as well as ahas the largest single optical telescope in the
Planetary Observatory.southern hemisphere. With this telescope one is
Dutch Reformed Church:able to see a candle flame on the moon. It has a
The N G Church was designed by Charlesmirror diameter of 11 metres.
Freeman who also designed the Dutch ReformedOuberg Pass has a lovely lookout post on the
church of Graaff Reinet and the Standard Bank inescarpment of the Roggeveld mountains 45 km
Cape Town . During the Anglo Boer War, theout of town in a westerly direction. One is able to
church was invaded for 8 months by the Britishsee the Ceres Karoo mountains about 200 km
troops. Filled to capacity, it can seat 1200 people.away.
Tuinplaas Church:Fransplaas Sheep Cheese (quite a name!) is the
When the farmers move their sheep from theonly sheep cheese farm in the country about 50
cold Roggeveld area down to the Karoo , theykm out of town in the Calvinia direction. Sheep
have a communal once a year at the Tuinplaascheese is definately an acquired taste - be bold
Church 55 km out on the Matjiesfontein route.and do as the Aussies do!
Louw Museum:The Koornlandskloof Tulips flower at the end of
The two very famous Afrikaans poets andSeptember, an interesting site filled with colour
writers N P van Wyk Louw and W E G Louwand worth visiting. Hiking and biking trails are also
were born in this very same house. Togetheravailable with ample clean, cheap lodging.
they achieved 6 Hertzog prices for literacy.Skurweberg, Verlatenkloof and Banksgate 4
Several other interesting displays are also to be× 4 Farms have exciting off-road routes as
seen at the Louw Museum.well as hiking and biking trails with ample lodging
Road to the Stars:and beautiful scenery. Sterboom, Rye grass,
Plinths for the nine planets of the solar systemElephants feet and veld flowers are only some of
were built to scale in the main road or Planetariumthe endangered species of flora to be found in
Highway, representing the size of the sun inthis area.
comparison to the size of the planets and also theSalpeterkop, the last active volcano south of the
distance between the planets. Craftsman of theequator is to be found close to the observatory.
local community dressed the stonework.It was active 66 million years ago. Seismologically
English Cemetary:the Japanese found that Sutherland and the
The most interesting grave in the Englishsurrounding area are now the quietest in the
Cemetery is that of a soldier drowned in a flashworld!
flood. He was given a communal burial and afterOn the farm Ezeljaht, 20 km out of town, one
the war the British government sent a militarycan enjoy a scenic two day hike, called the
cross and a second grave was made. The soldierSilhouette Hiking trail.
was thus buried twice. The Jewish Cemetery isComing from Matjiesfontein, one has to drive the
also worth visiting.winding 15 km Verlatenkloof Pass climbing nearly a
Sutherland and the surrounding areas offer a lot1000 metres. It was designed by Thomas Bain,
of unusual places, scenes and events to entertainthe son of the famous Bain who built the
and amaze any traveller.Bainskloof pass near Wellington.
18 km out of town, one can enjoy the site of the