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The well-watered Northern Free State region, with its rustic & rural atmosphere, is the perfect place for your weekend leisure or stopovers en route.
Fezile Dabi District constitutes a strategic agricultural region, producing inter alia a considerable share of South Africa's grain crop. The 300 km² Vaal Dam between the Free State & Gauteng is not only the main source of water to South Africa's industrial heartland, it is also the inland water mecca of South Africa, offering boundless opportunities for all types of water sports.
The proximity of this tourism region makes it accessible for residents from the Gauteng area (only about one hour's drive by motor car from the O.R.Tambo International Airport) as well as for visitors traveling through the region to any other destination in South Africa.
Vast water surfaces & outdoor orientated conservancies, in this area, offer weekend getaways of a special kind & provide excellent leisure opportunities from hiking in the Vredefort Dome area to wine tasting at recently established up-market retail wine cellars.
Activities include boating, water skiing, river rafting, fly-fishing, hiking, mountain biking, horse riding & game viewing. Hunting opportunities are available within a well-structured hunting industry, which has orderly game farm management as a main objective.
A rich cultural-historical inheritance is reflected in impressive sandstone buildings throughout the region.
These buildings & typical Free State homesteads tell the tales of elegance & grandeur from days gone by. Various sandstone buildings in the Kroonstad, Frankfort & Heilbron region were also declared national monuments.
The battlefield at Vegkop (in Heilbron) & various others in the Koppies & Kroonstad regions - where important battles were fought & events during the Boer Wars took place, are some examples. The visitor will find the Northern Free State as home to enchanting and sophisticated settings.
Deneysville is known as the Gateway to the Vaal Dam, while with Frankfort on the banks of the Wilge River, Parys and Villiers alongside the Vaal and the city of Kroonstad straddling the glorious Vals River, there are indeed holiday and weekend destinations aplenty.
If golf is your game, be sure not to miss out on a round at Parys' Golf Island located in the midst of the Vaal River. Although the Northern Free State became known as an industrial region with the establishment of Sasol (during the 50’s) in Sasolburg, it is still, an attractive, tranquil & rustic region.
Except for a favorable frost-free climate, the region is also rich in plant-, wild- & bird life. During the summer months the sunflowers & the pastel colors of vast cosmos fields surround mealie, wheat & grain lands – a feast for the eye & food for a weary soul!
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