The great floods of 1967, 1974, 1988 and 2011 are legends along the desert highway in the Northern Cape. On the outskirts of Kakamas, Die Pienk Padstal has a plaque, which shows the high-water mark when the mighty Orange River burst its banks in early 2011. A wall of lost car number-plates reminds travellers of road conditions–while a photograph of a man pushing his car in the heat warns drivers not to run out of fuel on the frontier.

Kakamas is full of surprises. The Kalahari is one of the last places on earth you’d expect to find a sushi bar and a wine cellar. But here we are doing trendy sushi fashion sandwiches over local Orange River wines in downtown Kakamas. Sushi chef Gerrie de Beer moved up here from Cape Town to open the first sushi bar in the Northern Cape. Putting a lekker local spin on sushi, he does biltong roses, springkbok makimono and a Kakamas special with wasabi hotter than the Kalahari at high noon.

The only sushi chef this side of Pofadder says it all started when the owner of the Kalahari Gateway Hotel bought a disused sushi bar in Cape Town. He wanted his own conveyor belt sushi bar—and the chef along with the deal. Hey presto, the Northern Cape now has its newest tourist attraction after the Augrabies Falls, river rafting, desert safaris and the Orange river wine route. The chef says chopsticks were a novelty for local farmers and wives who now know the difference between wasabi and avo dip. You can also try Hotazhel livers peri peri.

For more information go to www.northerncape.org.za.

Graham Howe is a freelance travel writer based in Cape Town who specializes in gourmet tourism. He is wine and food editor of Habitat—and a contributor to Business Day's Homefront, Eat Out, www.iol.co.za and www.wine.co.za.