Sutherland, Northern Cape
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Sutherland is a town in the Northern Cape province of South Africa.
It is known for having some of the clearest and darkest night skies in the world, primarily due to its remote and arid location as well as its altitude of 1 458 metres above sea level. For this reason, Sutherland hosts the telescopes of the South African Astronomical Observatory, which includes the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT), the largest single optical telescope in the southern hemisphere.
Sutherland is also known as being one of the coldest towns (although Buffelsfontein holds the official honour) in South Africa, with winter snow a common occurrence. The coldest temperature ever recorded was -16ºC on 12 July 2003. Temperatures in winter are generally between -5ºC and 10ºC with summers between 15ºC and 30ºC.
The town has recently gained in popularity, with many Capetonians (Cape Town residents) buying property in the town and many more visiting on weekends and vacations.
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