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About
Sutherland
Gateway to the universe
....... that is what they call Sutherland. Land of snow and stars.
The coldest place in the Republic. The place where you find the
largest telescope in the Southern Hemisphere....... a telescope
so powerful that one could see a candle flame on the moon. When
you take the tar road from Cape Town , you turn off at Matjiesfontein,
the famous English Karoo town with its splendid museum, then another
110 km and you reach Sutherland ..... not only famous for its Observatory
but also for its pure , fresh air …... fresher than anywhere
else in the world!
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about the town itself.. |
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"Stars
to Midnight" Package
All
the Dates for 2010 -
13 February
10 April
12 June
14 August
9 October
11 December
Program Available follow the link...
COSTS - R100 pp or R50 per school kids
Booking
is essential!
We
now have available our new package "Stars to midnight"
from 17h00 to 00h00. We do an indoor presentation on a big screen
to explain all the constallations, sizes in th e Universe, show
a short DVD about Sutherland and then go out to point the Southern
Cross, Taurus the Bull, Orion etc with a very powerful laser before
one does the actual observing through the telescopes. Served along
with fresh made Karoo Curry & Rice, soup, hotdogs, braaivleis
plus beverages.
Ordinary
"StarGazing" Every Night
Dates not available have been advertised follow the link...
Booking
is essential!
It is essential that you book for the Ordinary Star Gazing in advance.
General Information
Short lectures on basic Astronomy, how to handle a telescope,
photography etc will be given.
For any further info, the camping site at Sterland, please feel
free to contact us at any of the following:
SUTHERLAND, SOUTH AFRICA NO. 35
One of UK's Largest Travel Magazines - Wanderlust
Article - 100 Greatest Travel Secrets
No. 35 - Sutherland, South Africa
Country Life Magazine
View the article here... |
Things
To Do In & Around Sutherland
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Kambrokind
Guest House |
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Louw
Museum:
'Nog
eenmaal wil ek in die skemeraand
Weer op ons dorp en by ons dorpsdam staan,
Weer met my rek op in die donker skiet,
En luister, en al word ek seer en dof,
Hoe die klein klippe ver weg in die riet
Uit donker in die donker water plof.'
N P Van Wyk Louw
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In
the main road of town, you will find the old style Bed and Breakfast
of Rita and Jurg Wagener called Kambrokind.
Kambro is a very tough Karoo veld food something like a potato.
It can be eaten and also makes a very nice jam ...... if you
know how to do it!
The establishment is graded FOUR STARS by the Tourism Grading
Council. Every room is en-suite. |
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to enlarge
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to enlarge
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Future
Development Around Sutherland
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The
municipal board is busy with a fund raising campaign to be able
to built a science centre at the Observatory.
The main purpose is to accommodate school and student groups to
learn more about astronomy. At least five schools per term will
be able to visit such a centre. This is only one of the spin offs
of the SALT (Southern
African Largest Telescope) development.
Equally
important is the Activity Centre which is to be erected in the
town. It will accomodate a visitors' center, municipal offices,
library,
indoor sports facilities and SMME`s (small, medium enterprises)
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Science
Centre |
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Activity
Centre |
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Sutherland
Observatory |
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The
largest telescope in the Southern Hemisphere - SALT (Southern
African Largest Telescope)
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The
Elephants foot.
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Rye
Grass
( Roggras Afrikaans)
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Daubenia
Aurea
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Sterboom
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Is
only found in very difficult to reach places. Also an endangered
plant. Grows
very slowly The larger plants are all over 100 years old! It
has no main
root system , only under the edge of the foot. It only grows
in winter
against the sunny side of a mountain slope at an angle. It contains
90%
cortisone. Male and female plants can be recognized.
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Botanical
name Secale Africanum Stapf and this is where the area got its
name from. In the early years, it was frequently seen but nowadays
is very scarce. It is the only wild Rye grass in Africa.
It grows under sheltered plants and rocks, can reach a height
of 1,2 metres
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This
is a very scarce flower which comes in a red colour and
by exception, a yellow colour. It can only be seen on certain
farms in the
Sutherland area. flowers in September.
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This
unique endangered veld plant is called Star Cliffortia(Cliffortia
Arborea) and confined to the mountains around Sutherland on a
southern
Peak high up in the mountains. It can grow between 3 to 5 metres
high and in
very sheltered areas, it can reach a hight of up to 10 meters!
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The
Great Paleo surface at Fraserburg
History
of the site
The
paleo surface was originally discovered by Mr Nic van Cass,
owner of Gansfontein in 1968. In 1968, Mr Van Gass showed the
site to Mr C de Beer of the Geological Survey who was doing
regional mapping in the area. The surface was subsequently described
in scientific publications by De Beer (1986) and Smith (1986).
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