As well as the awesome botanical diversity and dramatic scenery, visitors to the Richtersveld are likely to see lots of birds and some small game. There are only three ways of seeing this austerely beautiful landscape. There is a four-by-four trail, which can be done either independently or escorted, a hiking trail only for the very fit and - the easiest of the lot - fantastically relaxing escorted multi-day canoeing and rafting trips on the Orange River. The Augrabies National Park, which is centred on the thundering Augrabies Falls and its spectacular granite gorge, has great birding, some small game and a fun hiking trail. Close by is the settlement of Riemvasmaak, which the original inhabitants regained in South Africa's first land restitution agreement. There is a four-by-four trail, warmsprings and some pretty self-catering cottages, all run by the Riemvasmaak community. A part of the Kgalagadi Transfrontier National Park has also been the subject of a land restitution agreement and was returned to a band of San (or Bushmen) but with less success than Riemvasmaak. Nevertheless, it is an awesome game viewing destination straddling the border between the Northern Cape and Botswana.

The coast is sparsely populated - a few fishing villages here and there and some offshore diamond miners who dredge the ocean floor for the elusive gems that form the basis of the Northern Cape's economy. It was in Kimberley that the South African diamond industry first started. And the glittering baubles hidden under the austere surface of this somewhat Spartan and minimalist landscape are reflected in the mega bright stars sparkling in the crystal clear night air unpolluted by urban lightsources. The small town of Sutherland is the site of the Southern African Large Telescope, otherwise known as SALT. In spring the sere browns and ochres of the desert are transformed into an iridescent carpet of multi-coloured flowers as far as the eye can see. It's probably all the more spectacular for the contrast with its usually subdued palette. The main flower-viewing areas are around the towns of Nieuwoudtville, Garies, Kamieskroon and Springbok.

There are numerous cultural attractions. Many of the mission stations that were built in the Northern Cape over the centuries are practically unchanged. David Moffat's Kuruman Mission, where David Livingstone met his wife, the then Mary Moffat, still stands close to the town of the same name and the enormous freshwater spring, the Eye of Kuruman. There are museums aplenty, fabulous rock art sites and some lovely old buildings. So, yes. Although the Northern Cape is a huge expanse of semi-desert, there is so much to do and see. The many small towns each have their own attractions. Much as Kimberley only exists because of diamond mining, the relatively new town of Kathu exists only because of iron mining. You can tour the huge open cast mine where everything is significantly larger than life.

Even the trains that transport the ore are over two kilometres long. The small, and rather isolated, Karoo town of Victoria West has become a mecca for movie buffs with its art deco Apollo Theatre running regular film festivals. The unusual town of Orania, which is owned by the Afrikaner community that has settled there and tried to form an independent 'republic' within South Africa, is an indication of the level of tolerance that exists in South Africa. The small town of Jan Kempdorp is renowned as an excellent winch-launched paragliding venue with enormous thermals and the town Hotazel gives an indication of what the Kalahari can be like in summer.

The most notable thing about Kimberley is a huge hole in the ground, but it’s not just any hole – it’s what’s left over after the removal of about three tons of diamonds. Measuring over a kilometre deep, with a surface area of 17ha, it’s the world’s largest hand-dug hole – a monument to the lengths (and depths) humans will go in search of wealth. The wild, vibrant and – no doubt – rather sleazy shanty town that arose around the diggings in the 1870s has been transformed, tarted up and reconstructed into a rather cutesy open air museum; complete with a bar, various merchants, homes and clubs.

Mining at the Big Hole, as it is rather prosaically known, ceased in 1914, but there are still a few active mines in the area, and you could do a contemporary mine tour to contrast with the Disneyesque Kimberley Mine Museum.

An interesting (and admittedly pretty useless) piece of information is that the volcanic rock in which diamonds are found is called Kimberlite.

What’s interesting about Kimberley, historically, is that it’s the place where South Africa’s industrial revolution got under way. It was money from the easily worked Kimberley diamond fields that funded the rather more expensive gold mines of the Witwatersrand (Johannesburg) and so laid the basis of the wealth of modern South Africa. So it’s not surprising that Kimberley is a fascinating cultural destination. A gentle historical walk in the city centre takes in a number of lovely old Victorian houses, a myriad art galleries, statues, monuments and a number of museums.

There are also interesting battle sites dating back to the South African (Anglo-Boer) war and some beautiful rock art sites that exhibit the more unusual form of rock engraving, as opposed to painting.

Kimberley is situated on the N12, which branches off the N1 in the Karoo, offering an alternative route to Johannesburg from Cape Town, and it’s a good place to stop over for a day or two. There is a small airport.

Upington is situated on the banks of the Orange River in the Northern Cape. Surrounded by bright green irrigated vineyards, this area is known as the Green Kalahari. (The rest of the Kalahari, while not actually a true desert, is classified as thirstland, and is most definitely not green.)

Upington is a pleasant town with some lovely guest houses, hotels and restaurants. The Kalahari Oranje Museum Complex offers an insight into the history of the rather hardy folk who’ve made this town their home over the last couple of hundred years. The museum sells beautifully packaged dried fruit from the enormous South African Dried Fruit Co-operative just outside the town. Upington is the centre of the Orange River wine region and you could do a tasting in town at a co-op of five different cellars.

Still on a fruity note, an island in the Orange River boasts one of the longest and most dense date palm avenues in the southern hemisphere – it’s over a kilometre long.

For such a small town it has a relatively large collection of animal statues. A donkey outside the museum pays tribute to the contribution of this humble beast in the development of the region, and a camel outside the police station commemorates the recalcitrant beasts on which the police patrolled the vast Kalahari in the past.

You could enjoy a gentle sundowner cruise on the river or, for something much more exciting, head to the Augrabies Falls National Parkwhere you could do some white water rafting and view the magnificent waterfall and canyon at its heart.

There is also a gentler canoeing trip, a quite taxing hike, and a fun day trip consisting of a short paddle, a walk and a mountain bike ride. The Augrabies Park also has some small game, as does the Spitskop Nature Reserve, which is conveniently situated about 13km north of the town.

Upington is the biggest town in its immediate area and the second biggest in the Northern Cape, after Kimberley. There is a small airport with a limited number of scheduled flights.