This pricipal Town of the Green Kalahari is 820km north of Cape Town and 875km west of Johannesburg.  By uniting Christian Schröder’s 1871 mission station, Olyfenhoutsdrift and the Upington police station, the town of Upington, named after the first Attorney General of the Cape, Sir Thomas Upington, was formed.  Originally known as Kharahais, bound by the Orange River and the Kalahari desert, Upington is the principal town and commercial, educational and social centre of the Green Kalahari, owing its prosperity to agriculture and its irrigated lands along the Orange River.

Upington is the main town of the Green Kalahari region in the Northern Cape.  Approximately 820 km north of Cape Town and 875 km west of Johannesburg, Upington is ideal as a stopover for those travelling to the Augrabies Falls National Park, the Fish River Canyon and the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park.  Upington enjoys a summer rainfall and a hot climate. An ideal winter holiday resort, its facilities are excellent and the countryside contrasts semidesert reds with the emerald and olive greens of fertile vineyards. Linked by air and road to most parts of the country, the town is accessible, offers excellent accommodation and has a well-developed commercial infrastructure. Read more about the town here.