Griquatown

If you are driving from Kimberley to Upington, make a stop in Griquatown. The town, locally known as Griekwastad, was the center of a 19th-century state called Griqualand West, which had its own flag, coinage, and even language. The Griquas, a social group that came into being in the late 18th century, were at first a mixture of indigenous Khoisan and black peoples, runaway slaves, freebooters (pirates), adventurers, and criminals escaping the Cape Colony to the south. Some people still identify themselves as Griquas today.