Namaqua National Park without the flowers and crowds

Blessed be the road trippers in these times of Covid for they are the practitioners of social  distancing. Since I’ve always loved getting into a vehicle or hopping onto a motorbike and travelling long distances, preferably on my own, you could call me a champion of anti-social distancing.

It isn’t so much that I don’t like people as I don’t like the noise and clutter they bring when they congregate in numbers. I’m not just talking about their mess but also the disharmony they bring, especially to nature.

Think about it: how many times have you sat in a game-viewing vehicle, bewitched by an animal or bird, and wished your fellow passengers would just shut up? My worst was spending a night in Addo’s tiny Spekboom tented camp listening to my only two-legged neighbours for miles around having a drunken marital spat well into the wee hours.  I love silence. I can sit and listen to it for hours because there is no such thing as absolute quiet in the bush.

Namaqua National Park. Picture: Jim Freeman

I recently spend three days and two nights in the Namaqua National Park off the N7 Cape-Namibia highway near Kamieskroon (495km from Cape Town, 1 230km from Johannesburg) in the Northern Cape. It was a mid-week visit during school term, the park is a long way from “civilisation” and there are only four chalets in the Skilpad section of the park, so I had the place pretty much to myself.

If you know Skilpad and the Namaqua National Park (NNP), it’s probably because you went there in the spring-flower season during August and September; you and about a million others. Talking of SUVs…

Namaqua National Park. Picture: Jim Freeman

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I travelled to the NNP from Hondeklip Bay in a big-tanked diesel Toyota Fortuner, initially taking the road to Garies before turning off (after a voluntary two hour detour via the Grootvlei Pass lookout) to the park’s westernmost entrance at Soebatsfontein.

Barend Erasmus, in his 1995 book Op pad in Suid-Afrika, attributes the origin of the name Soebatsfontein to Hendrik Stievert  who was captured by San (“bushmen”) at a nearby spring in 1798. The nomads were embroiled in one of their periodic squabbles with Dutch stock farmers.

Apparently, Stievert’s cattle herder heard him pleading in vain for his life. (Soebat is the Afrikaans word for pleading, while fontein translates to “spring”.) The park, according to the official SANParks literature, “was originally established to protect the diverse succulent and other flora of the region”.

Namaqua National Park. Picture: Jim Freeman

“In 1998, WWF-SA [World Wide Fund for Nature – SA] purchased a section of the farm Skilpad and started managing it as a wildflower reserve. A decade later, SANParks took over the management of the Skilpad Wildflower Reserve and surrounding farms (that had been purchased) and the Namaqua National Park was formally declared on 29 June, 2002.

“In 2008, four years after work began on a proposed corridor to the coast, the Groen-Spoeg River section was incorporated.”

The 1 300km² reserve is split into northern (“Skilpad”) and southern (“Groen-Spoeg”) sections by the Hondeklip Bay-Garies road. Topography ranges from coastal plain to escarpment, providing the NNP with astonishing bio-diversity in fauna and flora.

The Namaqualand is home to the richest bulb flora of any arid region in the world and a third of its 3 500 plant species are unique to the area. SANParks points out that the reserve is a “work in progress” and prospective visitors should not expect the amenities of, for instance, the Kruger and Addo Elephant National Parks. There is neither shop  nor restaurant in the park outside of flower season, so visitors must take everything they’ll need.

There is also no petrol station so ensure you refuel at the last possible opportunity. If you’re going in at Groenrivier, fill up at Garies … ditto Kamieskroon if you’re headed to Skilpad. SANParks recommends visitors pack “extra spare wheels, tools, spares, enough food and water, and extra containers for fuel and water”. I would add a portable air compressor to the list.

Namaqua National Park. Picture: Jim Freeman

The only built accommodation is in Skilpad and comprises the four chalets and a six-sleeper cottage at Luiperdskloof. The cottage is quite basic (gas heating and stove, paraffin lighting) and can only be reached by 4×4 vehicle.

The electrified chalets, on the other hand, are modern and well equipped … down to air conditioners in the lounge and bedroom, microwave oven and a flat screen TV with limited Multichoice bouquet. There are both inside and outside braai areas.

The chalets are situated on a high ridge and their spacious enclosed verandahs offer endless views of rolling hills. It’s a magnificent spot for sundowners, especially in winter when the air is dust-free. Most of the Skilpad section is  accessible to sedan vehicles.

Namaqua National Park. Picture: Jim Freeman

On the other hand, SANParks staff will generally not allow you into the Groen-Spoeg section unless you are in a 4×4 with high ground clearance.

They will also give you a map indicating the presence of soft sand and advise you to deflate your tyres. It is good advice; the sand is  very soft and deep. If camping is your thing, this pristine 50km stretch of the West Coast is incredible to explore.

Hiking and mountain biking are popular localised activities but you’ll only experience the NNP to the full if you undertake the 188km Caracal 4×4 Eco Route, rated “easy” apart from the aforementioned sandy stretches.

The trail traverses the entire park including the Spoeg River cave and the Bitter River active dune system in the southern section, and Wildeperdehoek Pass and Koeroebees in the north.

Koeroebees is the site of the only two perennial springs in the area and, consequently, of great importance to the early pastoralists and settlers. At one stage, six families clustered around the springs but all that remains of the small settlement are the ruins of their clay houses, populated more often than not by gemsbok enjoying what little shade their walls offer.

Namaqua National Park. Picture: Jim Freeman