The breathtakingly beautiful North West Province of South Africa is bordered to the north by Botswana, to the south by the Northern Cape and the Free State provinces, and to the northeast and east by Gauteng and the Limpopo Province.
A large portion of the province is made up of grassland and level areas with sporadic trees. The Vaal River runs along the province’s southern border, and the northeastern Magaliesberg mountain range stretches roughly 80 miles from Pretoria to Rustenburg.
Mahikeng, the traditional capital of the Barolong people, is one of the province’s important historical sites. During the Boer War (1899–1902), Afrikaners besieged a British garrison there.
There are also a number of national parks, where the Big Five can be found. These include the Madikwe Game Reserve and the Pilanesberg Game Reserve, which are both situated in the crater of an extinct volcano.