Upington

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Upington
Upington (South Africa)
Upington
Upington
Coordinates 28 ° 28 ′  S , 21 ° 14 ′  E Coordinates: 28 ° 28 ′  S , 21 ° 14 ′  E
Motto
"The People Govern"
Basic data
Country South Africa

province

North Cape
District ZF Mgcawu
ISO 3166-2 ZA-NC
local community Dawid Kruiper
height 805 m
surface 309 km²
Residents 57,220 (2011)
density 185.2  Ew. / km²
founding 1873
Website www.kharahais.gov.za (English)
Special features:
longest runway of a civil airport in the southern hemisphere
Aerial view of Upington
Aerial view of Upington

Upington is a town in the municipality of Dawid Kruiper , district ZF Mgcawu District Municipality , in the province of Northern Cape in South Africa . In 2011 it had 57,220 inhabitants. Upington is named after Thomas Upington , who was Prime Minister of the Cape Colony from 1884 to 1886 .

Upington developed from a mission station founded in 1873 .

climate

The average annual rainfall is only 188 mm. The average minimum temperature is 17.8 ° C in summer and 3.2 ° C in winter; the maximums are 34.6 ° C in summer and 20.6 ° C in winter.

Upington
Climate diagram
J F. M. A. M. J J A. S. O N D.
 
 
24
 
36
20th
 
 
36
 
34
20th
 
 
35
 
32
18th
 
 
26th
 
28
13
 
 
10
 
24
8th
 
 
4th
 
21st
5
 
 
2
 
21st
4th
 
 
4th
 
23
6th
 
 
4th
 
27
9
 
 
9
 
30th
13
 
 
17th
 
33
16
 
 
17th
 
35
19th
Temperature in ° C ,  precipitation in mm
Source: wetter.com ; wetterkontor.de
Average monthly temperatures and rainfall for Upington
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Max. Temperature ( ° C ) 35.5 34.4 32.1 27.8 24.0 20.5 20.8 22.9 26.8 29.6 32.7 34.7 O 28.5
Min. Temperature (° C) 19.8 19.5 17.8 13.3 8.3 4.8 4.1 5.6 9.4 12.9 16.3 18.6 O 12.5
Precipitation ( mm ) 24 36 35 26th 10 4th 2 4th 4th 9 17th 17th Σ 188
Hours of sunshine ( h / d ) 11.4 10.6 9.6 9.5 9.4 9.0 9.4 9.9 10.0 10.6 11.5 11.8 O 10.2
Rainy days ( d ) 2.9 3.5 4.1 2.6 1.6 0.8 0.5 0.5 0.6 1.7 2.0 1.9 Σ 22.7
Humidity ( % ) 33 39 44 49 49 50 45 39 35 33 31 30th O 39.7
T
e
m
p
e
r
a
t
u
r
35.5
19.8
34.4
19.5
32.1
17.8
27.8
13.3
24.0
8.3
20.5
4.8
20.8
4.1
22.9
5.6
26.8
9.4
29.6
12.9
32.7
16.3
34.7
18.6
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
N
i
e
d
e
r
s
c
h
l
a
g 		24
36
35
26th
10
4th
2
4th
4th
9
17th
17th
  Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

economy

Agriculture

Upington is on the edge of the Kalahari Desert, but thanks to the supply of water from the Orange River, wheat , vegetables and grapes can be grown.

tourism

Popular destinations are the Augrabies Falls, 120 km to the west, and the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, 260 km to the north .

Upington is considered the gateway to the Kalahari, as tourists can buy provisions here again. Although temperatures of over 40 degrees are often reached in Upington in summer, the city offers a contrast to the dry Kalahari through extensive green areas.

Worth seeing in Upington is the old mission station located on the Orange River, which today houses the Kalahari Orange Museum .

traffic

Airport

Upington Airport ( IATA code UTN), which opened in 1968 under the name of Pierre van Ryneveld Airport , served between 1976 and 1996 as a refueling stop for South African Airways planes on the routes to and from Europe, as the airline is otherwise almost on the African continent had no overflight or landing rights.

One of the runways of the airport is a civilian airport on the 4900 meters, the longest runway southern hemisphere and could therefore even as a possible landing strip for the space shuttle serve.

Road traffic

The two highways N10 and N14 cross in Upington .

education and Science

The Vaal University of Technology has maintained a campus area in Upington which has been in existence since 1995 to improve university education in the northern rural areas of the Northern Cape Province . Degrees in agriculture, tourism and marketing management, retail and accounting, and human resources are offered.

The Council for Geoscience , the geoscientific authority in South Africa, maintains an office here.

Town twinning

sons and daughters of the town

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ 2011 census , accessed November 18, 2013
  2. ↑ a b Information at greenkalahari.co.za ( memento of July 24, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) (English), accessed on October 8, 2012
  3. ↑ Upington Airport at AFRICA POTTER . Archived from the original on February 14, 2006. Retrieved March 5, 2011.
  4. ^ Upington Airport . Retrieved December 1, 2015.
  5. ^ Vaal University of Technology: Upington Campus . on www.vut.ac.za (English)
  6. ^ Council for Geoscience: Council for Geoscience - Upington Office . on www.geoscience.org.za (English)
  7. ^ Keetmanshoop and Upington municipalities sign MoU. Namibia Press Agency, September 7, 2018.