Flying to Upington
The Upington Airport is a modern airport, located in Upington in the Northern Cape Province. The airport is used for the training of pilots for the Boeing 747 an Boeing 707 and has one of the world’s largest runways of 4900m long. The only airline that offers domestic flights to and from Upington, at this stage, is South African Airlink with flights to and from Cape Town and Johannesburg.
The Upington Airport is one of South Africa’s most popular airports for air tourists who fly light aircrafts, because the weather is very stable in this area.
Tourism around Upington:
Upington is the gateway to the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, Augrabies National Park, the flowers of Namaqualand and the Richtersveld.
The Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park
The Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park comprises an area of over 3,6 million hectares – one of very few conservation areas of this magnitude left in the world. The park is home to the Gemsbok, Meerkat, Black-maned Kalahari Lions, Sociable Weavers and many different species of birds of prey like the Pygmy falcon.
Flowers of Namaqualand
Namaqualand is wellknown for its annual mass display of wild flowers and a diversity of succulent plants. Numerous small plants make up an impressive field of colour. The region is host to 5000 higher plant species, about half of the world's 10000 succulent species. The region is dominated by succulents with only a little grass and very few tall shrubs or trees.
Augrabies Falls National Park
The Augrabies Falls is the greatest of South African waterfalls.The Augrabies Falls National Park is home to this spectacular waterfall and 28 000 hectares of sanctuary on the northern and southern side of the Orange River. The sanctuary has a diversity of species, from the very smallest succulents, birds and reptiles to springbok, gemsbok and the endangered black rhino.
Richtersveld National Park
Within the unique mountain desert wilderness lies the Richtersveld National Park. It consists of 160 000 hectares of land with a remarkable range of small reptiles, birds and mammals. It is home to grey rheebok, Duiker, steenbok, klipspringer, kudu, Hartman’s mountain zebra, baboon, velvet monkey, caracal and leopard. Birdlife is prolific and 650 plant species (with the world's largest diversity of succulents) can be seen in and around the park.
The town of Upington
Upington is a town in the Northern Cape Province on the banks of the Orange River. Its landscape is arid but with fertile soil because of the rich flood plains of the Orange River. That is why Upington is known for its export-quality grapes, raisins and wines.
Upington's Climate
Upington has a very stable climate with summer maximum temperatures of about 40 degrees C and winter maximum averages of about 30 degrees C.
Roads to Upington
The N14, from Springbok to Johannesburg and Pretoria is a national road through Upington. The N7 is the national road that connects Cape Town with Namibia and the N10 also passes through Upington on its way to Port Elizabeth from Namibia.