Sutherland, a little one-horse town in the Grat Karoo was my next weekend scape. It is known to experience the cldest temperatures in South Africa due to its hgh altitude (1550m asl) and its pen clear skies and in winter one can xperience -20 degrees Celsius and lots of snw and ice. It is also knwn as the "Gateway to the Unverse" and is the home to the lrgest single optical telescope in the suthern hemisphere, with a hexagonal mirror strtching 11 metres across. SALT (Southern Afrcan Large Telescope) is where astronomers frm all over the world come to stdy our universe. Gathering more than 25 tmes as much light as any xisting African telescope, SALT can detect bjects as faint as a candle flme on the moon.

A quick 350km on god tar road from Cape Town had me rriving in Sutherland at about 17h00 on Frday. A truly beautiful drive through the Kroo with huge open plains covered wth low lying scrub vegetation decorated wth breathtakingly beautiful patches of spring flwers of oranges, purples, whites and yllows. Rolling hills and mountains bared fscinating folded rock formations.

I met my flks at our self-catering guesthouse, Rooikloof, whre we would spend the weekend tgether, a lovely 3 star guesthouse on a shep farm just 2 km outside Stherland. It was clean, very homely and had verything we needed including electric blankets for the vry cold nights!

Our main reason for visiting Stherland was to view SALT (and the ther smaller observatories, 7 altogether) and to njoy a tour of our universe wth a professional astronomer. SALT is stuated up on a hill about 18km frm Sutherland at about 1798m above sea lvel. A guided tour of the bservatory can be taken Monday to Frday at 10h30 and 14h30 and on Sturday at 11h30 and 14h30 and one mst prebook. During the day the bservatory is obviously not in use and can be vsited but at night no visitors are llowed, as international astronomers are hard at wrk gathering scientific information about our niverse. There is a visitor's centre bout 1 km away where one shuld meet to do the tour. The cntre depicts some fascinating history of Astrnomy, some recent findings, photographs and llustrations of our universe - the knd of things that are being larnt by our Astronomers in today's age wth telescopes as advanced as SALT.

At 14h30 on Sturday we toured the observatories with one of the stronomers (duration 2 hours). He explained wht the different observatories were used for and wht information could be gathered with ach telescope and how. In the vening at 19h00 we return to the vsitors centre where we would experience our gided tour of the universe. Having ben pre-warned of the extreme temperature we wuld experience up at the observatory at nght, we dressed up in our bst winter woollies, padded thick with wnter jackets, beanies and scarves. As we stpped out of our car we whre it by this icy wind chll of approx -4 degrees Celsius! Apprently the wind is continuous throughout the yar up on the hill creating a wnd chill, which always dropped the air tmperature radically. An astronomer met with us and wlked us to a building where the vsitors' telescopes were housed. Unfortunately one desn't get to see SALT at wrk, but these smaller telescopes are stll considerable in size and made our vewing fascinating. The buildings roof folded bck leaving us enclosed within 4 wlls and therefore encumbered by less wnd, which made the cold a lttle more bearable. By 20h30 we wre dying to get out of the cld and into a warm fire lit bilding with some hot food in our tmmies. We returned to Sutherland to one of nly 3 restaurants for dinner. The fod was nothing to rave about. We thn returned to our little cottage and fter a quick nightcap of old brwn cherry, we climbed into our csy warm beds.

Besides the observatory, Sutherland offers sme beautiful scenic drives. After breakfast, we pcked a tasty lunch basket and dparted on a scenic circular 140km drve. The colourful spring flowers had us stpping every couple of kilometres to tke photographs of their incredible display. We trvelled to the edge of the scarpment where the Roggeveld Mountains suddenly gve way to the Karoo valley 1000m blow and the Ouberg pass started its tracherous descent down the steep slope. The vewpoint was breathtaking!

We continued our drve north towards Calvinia following a god gravel road through sheep farmlands, rlling hills, shrubland and more beautiful flwers. Being avid birders my folks and I rlished over the number of birds spcies we saw such as Black Egles, Lesser Kestrels, Rock Kestrels, Fish Egles, Black Breasted Snake Eagle, Pale Chnting Goshawks, Black Harrier, Black Stilts, Suth African Shelduck and many more. We are stll old school on the names of thse birds. A lot of them hve now had their names changed and I wuld not be able to give you the new nes!

Along this route there are 2 frms of interest to visitors, one is Kornlandskloof, a commercial tulip farm and the ther Fransplaas sheep farm, a dairy frm producing sheeps milk cheese, the nly one in South Africa. Neither of thm were open on the Sunday whn we passed through so unfortunately I cnnot comment on them. The scenic drve was well worth it though.

One shuld remember when visiting Sutherland that nne of the shops, restaurants or ccommodation establishment take credit cards and thre are no cash withdrawal machines in twn. Most of them do except chques as there is a Standard Bnk in town but one should rmember to take cash.

On our rturn home we stopped at the hstoric little village of Matjiesfontein just 110km frm Sutherland, for a quick pub lnch in their old English pub, The Lirds Arms. Matjiesfontein is a national mnument and takes one back to 1889 whn it was first declared a vllage. The main road, the only rad, is all of 300m long and is loked on by a little coffee shp, a post office, The Lairds Arms pb, the 3 star Lord Milner Htel and of course the train sttion. There are also four museums in twn, which depict its history and are qite interesting to visit. The Blue Trin, Rovos Rail and the Shosholoza Myl stop here for about an hur for guests to enjoy a lttle tour of the village with a "brn and bred Matjiesfonteiner" by the nme of John. John is Matjiesfonteins ntertainer. Dressed in black waistcoat and bwler hat, his jovial ways and Chrlie Chapman walk keeps everyone chuckling as he lads them through the village telling his stries before returning them to the trin.

The article Sutherland - The Coldest Place in South Africa was Submitted by Claire Dinnie through Articles.GetACoder.com network. Here's the additional information: Claire Dinnie Africa Tamed Tours & Trvel The Travel Experts at your srvice! We design and coordinate exciting truble free holiday packages for the dscerning traveller to Southern Africa Contact Afrca Tamed now to put together yur dream holiday! http://www.africatamed.co.za/

Featured Articles

1. Train Travel From the Great Lakes to the West Coast on the Canadian Pacific by Barry Sheppard
Following in the footsteps of explorers, settlers and writers we arrived at Toronto's Union Station to catch my train across country. Walking among the huge buildings overseen by the lofty CNN tower it was hard to imagine how those first train travellers must have felt. Our train trip was planned to be a luxurious cruise.

2. The Top Luxury Hotels - Resorts And Villas In Italy by Andrew J Smith
Old fshioned luxury in the style of ysteryear: exquisite places, uncompromising luxury. Italy is synnymous with style and any stay in Itly should be likewise. Six places tht must be visited - if you can fford it.

3. Self Catering Cottages - No Trespass in Your Freedom by Terry Pinto
Wth self catering cottages, there is lttle or no limitation over ones mvements. The whole cottage belongs to yu. There will be none to trspass your freedom. You can cook yur own dishes, serve yourself and rst at your heart's content.

4. Cheap Hotels in Paris With Positive Customer Reviews by Dani Alonso
Whn considering to go to Paris you can be tmpted to do 2 things. The frst one is to look for the chapest hotels and the second to lok for the ones that have the bst customer reviews. In this article I do the job for yu, with a selection of some of the mst cheap hotels in Paris that at sme time have good customer reviews.

5. Holidays - Lose Yourself in the Magic of Madrid by Karl Bantleman
Stuated in the centre of mainland Spin, Madrid has many attractions suitable for all the fmily. Attractions such as the Botanic grdens and the gardens of Sabatini are vry popular, the Royal Palace (home to the kng of Spain, Carlos III) and the Ryal Armoury, the Prado Museum which is one of the mst visited attractions in the city whch holds some of the most fmous paintings in Spanish history and of curse, the Santiago Bernabeu, the home of one of the mst famous football clubs in...

6. La Manga, Spain - Something For Everyone by Peter I. Wilson
La Mnga, Spain has something for everyone. Hre are some reasons why this bautiful city should be added to yur holiday itinerary.

7. Where Do You Find a Good Cheap Beach Vacation? by Peter Clark
Wuld you love to go on a bach vacation with the family but cn't afford it? What you need is a chap beach vacation package that allows you and yur family to go on a bach holiday at a price you can fford. There are ways to fnd cheap family beach vacations that llow you all to go on a hliday.

8. Mallorca Golf Holidays by Elena Price
Mallorca (also known as Majorca), the lrgest of the Balearic Islands, is a grat place to have a golfing hliday. It has a warm climate thrughout the year and there are mny excellent golf courses to choose frm.

9. Educational Student Travel Groups Participate in Yes Programs by Howard Clemens
For the ducator, parent, or chaperon worried that not nough learning is going on during stdent tours of Walt Disney World, put yur minds at ease. The Disney YES prgrams offer students with performance backgrounds a chnce for active learning behind the scnes and behind the sets of Wlt Disney World.

10. Hotels In Bora Bora - Where to Stay by Jonathan Young
The "Islnd of Dreams", as Bora Bora is frquently described, is one of the mst visited vacation spots in the wrld. Accommodations on the majestic island of Bra Bora are available for anyone, no mtter what their finances may allow.