Travel Guide Upington

821 km from Cape Town and 875 km from Johannesburg, a long way from anywhere, Upington cools off by the slow, heavy Orange River. Why do we irresistibly think of Egypt? Perhaps because the Orange, like the Nile, brings water, life and fruit by the ton. Perhaps also because of the omnipresent palm trees in the golden light, and then dates and cotton. Of course, people will tell you that Upington is boring. But some people can't get enough of the lunar landscape in which the town seems to be set, the standing vines on the edge of the desert, the hot, dry climate and the frosty mornings. Thanks to the irrigation work carried out by the first missionaries, agriculture developed on a large scale. Through an intricate system of canals, water from the river, driven by wheels, reaches the most remote crops; thus a pretty green ribbon winds from Augrabies to Upington.Upington is associated with an almost "legendary" character buried in the cemetery, the so-called Robin Hood of South Africa, George Saint-Leger Gordon Lennox, aka "Scotty Smith". Part soldier, part mercenary, he took part in the colonial wars in India and the 1870 war, then fought in Spain before landing in South Africa.