Tent Travels: Savouring a slice of the Karoo

IF you want to find out a why so many people have fallen in love with South Africa’s heartland, that vast, dry hinterland plateau we call the Karoo, then the Karoo National Park is an excellent place to start. This, one of our most dramatic national parks, is set in the Nuweveld Mountains and it has a little bit of everything that makes the Karoo unique. It offers big skies, champagne days, star-spangled nights and empty space – lots of empty space.  It is all about vast plains and plateaux, blue, flat-topped bossie-studded mountains and those signature conical koppies with their craggy rock crowns. Most special of all, though, is the profound silence, so lacking in our noisy, crowded world.

And this lovely game reserve also has the advantage of being one of the most accessible, visitor-friendly parks in southern Africa. The well-appointed main camp offers comfortable self-catering accommodation in beautifully situated and attractive Cape cottage-style chalets. There is also a classy restaurant, bird hides, pretty gardens and a swimming pool. The nearby camping and caravan area, a lovely, tree-filled green oasis, has excellent facilities, has won tourism awards and is a firm favourite among South Africa’s camping and caravanning fraternity. It is also one of the top birding spots in the park and an hour or two of armchair birding from your tent is always rewarding.

Near Beaufort West on the N1, Karoo National Park is conveniently situated for people travelling between Gauteng and Cape Town. In fact, many travellers overnight there. Which is a pity in some ways. A quick overnight stop doesn’t even give you enough time for a superficial exploration of this wondrous place. With about 150km of scenic game viewing roads to explore, plus 4X4 trails, guided walks, two lovely picnic sites, the Ou Schuur interpretive centre and the fascinating bossie and fossil trails, you really need at least a couple of days there to appreciate it all. We’ve visited it a few times but always find there is something new and interesting to discover.

On our most recent Filling in the Gaps road trip visit, we arrived at the Karoo National Park quite late in the afternoon, having dawdled our way there from Worcester and spending a couple of laid-back hours exploring Prince Albert. The camping site was just as lovely as we remembered it – I’m sure if all tent travellers voted for their favourite South African camping and caravan park, this one would be very close to the top of the list. We set up camp in a secluded, sheltered site where, in spite of the mist and drizzle rain and a mean little wind, we were quite warm and snug. All the same, after an early supper, we scuttled off to bed with our books, eventually falling asleep to the gentle patter of rain on our tent. It is such a lovely sound – but only if you have faith in the waterproof qualities of your tent.

Having gone to bed early we were wide awake before dawn. It was still a bit misty and cool but we decided to get up and set out early on our game drive as overcast mornings are good for spotting the smaller nocturnal creatures we usually miss in the day time. We got to the gate at 6am on the dot – only to discover that it only opened at 7am so we returned to camp and enjoyed watching the camp birds and the morning waking up. Well-fortified by coffee and rusks we set off again at 7am, glad to see the mist had cleared and the sun had broken through the clouds.

With the whole day stretching before us we decided to do the long loop comprising the majestic Klipspringer Pass, the Potlekkertjie loop and the scenic road linking them.

Game viewing in the park is most rewarding and we were soon seeing quite a few animals and interesting birds. Lions have recently been reintroduced (we didn’t see them) and there are plenty of interesting larger animals like black rhino, both the Cape mountain and plains zebra, black wildebeest, big herds of springbok, plenty of kudu, more elusive grey rhebok (which we did manage to spot), mountain reedbuck, eland, red hartebeest and, one of my favourite creatures, agile klipspringer. However, Karoo National park is renowned for the opportunities it offers of seeing the smaller, less commonly seen creatures like aardwolf, bat eared fox, caracal, antbear, tortoises and assorted lizards and snakes.

There is also a list of more than 200 bird species, including specials like the Karoo korhaan, that can be ticked off during a visit to the park. The avian stars, though, are the Verreaux or black eagles, and you’d be unlucky not to see at least one pair soaring above the mountains during a visit to a park. The Klipspringer Pass, though, is more about scenery. This dramatic mountain route is quite spectacular and we took it slowly, enjoying the magnificent views. However, we were pretty hungry by the time we’d driven over the pass and were really looking forward to our breakfast stop at the pretty Doornhoek picnic site. We were almost there when we found a vehicle stopped in the middle of the road. Perhaps the occupants were watching something interesting like lion or rhino?

We slowed down and as we approached the vehicle, we noticed that the two back tyres were flat. Inside were a mother and daughter who were very, very pleased to see us. With two punctures, they had been stranded there all night, out of cellphone range and with only a packet of biscuits, a bottle of water and a small blanket to share. They were unharmed and amazingly upbeat after what must have been a long, cold, scary night so we turned around and travelled back over the Klipspringer pass to call for help. We were nearly back at the start of the pass when we eventually found a bit of cellphone signal and managed to phone reception.

The helpful, concerned staff assured us that they would send help immediately. Driving back to the stricken vehicle, the passengers assured us that they were fine and turned down offers of coffee and food. Minutes after we got back to them the parks board staff were there and we left them to enjoy a well earned breakfast at the nearby picnic site. We were most impressed. The Sanparks rescuers had the two damaged tyres off and were heading back to camp with the stranded guests before our kettle even boiled.

We returned to camp, without any further adventures, via the flatter and drier but, in its own way, no less beautiful Potlekkertie route, doing a little detour on a 4X4 route that took us past Afsaal Cottage, where we had booked for our last night in the park as a special treat. It was mid-afternoon by the time we got back to camp so, after a bit of leisurely reading and armchair birding, we went to check on the mom and daughter who had been stranded overnight. They were in good spirits and full of praise for the kind and helpful Sanparks staff members, who had taken the damaged tyres into Beaufort West for repairs, returned to the vehicle and replaced the tyres for them, all within a couple of hours.

Later that afternoon we rounded off an excellent day with a visit to the interpretive centre and a lovely little drive to Bullkraal picnic ground for sundowners. Driving slowly homeward we enjoyed the excellent birding and game viewing that area had to offer. We were pleased to see plenty of young kudu, hartebeest and springbok. The day had been sunny and warm but the clouds rallied this evening and we had some more rain during the night. It was once again cold and misty the next morning so we dawdled a bit, enjoying a little lie-in before getting up and packing up our tent. Then we pick up the keys for Afsaal cottage at reception and headed off along the Potlekkertjie Route, looking forward to our stay in a place that is very special to us.