Northern Cape Business 2024-25

Tourism Country Hotels

Tourism Country Hotels is expanding via a franchise model. Wide-open spaces take on a new meaning in the Kalahari. Country Hotels, building on a remarkable expansion project which has effectively covered the Northern Cape province over a 13-year period since the first hotel was acquired, is expanding to other parts of South Africa and Southern Africa. A franchise model of owner-operated properties is being adopted to expand the brand, which currently has 16 properties, all but one of which are in the Northern Cape. Clanwilliam Hotel in the Western Cape, the first hotel that entrepreneur André Thirion acquired, is the geographic exception while the Orange River Rafting Lodge is different in a different way. Every other Country Hotels property is aimed at the corporate market while the lodge is a leisure resort. Anyone wondering about the trajectory of the Northern Cape economy should factor in the business decision taken by Thirion to open three properties (a hotel, a lodge and an inn) in both Kuruman and Pofadder. Thirion reports that it is not just the mining and renewable energy sectors that are driving bookings, but rather the economy of the province in general. Springbok, near the copper towns of Nababeep and Okiep, has the architecturally interesting Springbok Inn and a few miles down the N7 highway is Namastat Lodge, which offers four self-catering cabins and 25 campsites. Country Hotels also has a presence in Upington, Calvinia, Kathu, Postmasburg and Kakamas where the hotel is surrounded by vineyards. The group’s restaurant group, Badgers Grill, forms part of the franchise package. While the Country Hotels Group is catering to the corporate market and ensuring that the basics are well covered in a clean and hospitable environment, the Northern Cape is also home to a wide variety of holiday offerings, ranging from self-catering to some of the country’s most luxurious resorts. SECTOR INSIGHT Tswalu Kalahari Reserve is a 114 000ha conservation area. Stretching over 114 000 hectares, Tswalu Kalahari Reserve is the largest privately protected conservation area in South Africa and is a formally designated nature reserve. The views across the plains from the Korannaberg Mountain range are as soothing as they are remarkable. !Xaus Lodge offers accommodation within 70km of Twee Rivieren in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park (KTP). Seclusion is ensured after driving over 91 sand dunes to get to the 24-bed lodge. The lodge is owned by local communities, with support from the Transfrontier Parks Destinations organisation, and the chalets are designed like their own traditional dwelling places. Plans are in place for two new wilderness camps and for the refurbishment of the existing lodge. NORTHERN CAPE BUSINESS 2024/25 60 PHOTO: Don Heyneke/Tswalu Kalahari Reserve

OVERVIEW Perfect Hideaways lists nine Karoo properties while the Tutwa Desert Lodge offers accommodation in the Greater Augrabies area between the Green Kalahari and the Orange River. Hotels The Flamingo Casino in Kimberley is run by Sun International and offers gaming tables, slot machines and conference facilities. The Protea Hotel by Marriott Kimberley has 117 rooms and three suites and is located next to the Big Hole. Also near the capital city’s biggest attraction is the historic Kimberley Club Boutique Hotel. Tsogo Sun has two properties in Kimberley: a 135-room Garden Court and a 64- room budget hotel, SUN1. The riverside town of Upington has a large number of guesthouses and bed-and-breakfast establishments, together with a 90-room Protea Hotel by Marriott. Starry skies The Northern Cape has long been known as the best location for astronomy. The town of Sutherland is the site of several huge optical telescopes that attract scientists and tourists every year. Even though the massive radio astronomy project under construction around Carnarvon, the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), does not need dark skies, the huge number of dishes spread across the countryside will probably start attracting its own quota of tourists. Rather than darkness, the SKA needs minimal radio interference and actually operates in daytime. The best kind of star-gazing can be enjoyed without any telescopes at all in the Northern Cape, so spectacular are the nightly displays in the wide-open outdoors. There are six national parks in the province, each with distinct geographical and biological features. The Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park (with Botswana) encompasses 3.7-million hectares, making it one of the biggest conservation areas in the world. Khomani Cultural Landscape within the park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, as is the Richtersveld Cultural and Botanical Landscape, part of the Richtersveld Transfrontier Park. The other four national parks are the flower-infused Namaqua National Park, the Augrabies Falls National Park (where the water thunders), the ONLINE RESOURCES Northern Cape Tourism: www.experiencenortherncape.com Richtersveld Conservancy: www.richtersveld-conservancy.org South African National Parks: www.sanparks.org Kuruman Lodge is one of three Country Hotels properties in the town. silent Tankwa Karoo National Park and Mokala National Park near Kimberley, “where endangered species roam”. Most of the province lies in the Nama-Karoo Biome and the annual display of spring flowers is spectacular. The Kalahari in the north-east is home to many of the province’s biggest mines, but also to great numbers of raptors, vultures and owls. The Diamond Fields region contains the spectacular Big Hole, the Mokala National Park and portions of the famed South African War or Battlefields Route. The Magersfontein War Memorial is an iconic attraction. The Karoo region encompasses the south-eastern portion of the province. While most of the region is dry, the Vanderkloof Dam is a major tourism asset. The Namakwa region is famous for its flowers, but it also hosts the South African Astronomical Observatory and several historic mission settlements. Springbok and Calvinia are the two major towns in this huge district, which is also the only Northern Cape region with a coastline and soon to be the home of a new harbour. ■ PHOTO: Country Hotels NORTHERN CAPE BUSINESS 2024/25