Across the Frontier into Eden*

[Flutterby]

That is a BIG tree!! On Carte Blanche last night there was an item regarding the illegal felling of Yellowwood trees in SA and how it's affecting the survival of the Cape Parrot...very sad!

Lovely view of Knysna!

[Sharifa]

Bontebok is a very small park and it has one circular road. There is a picnic site and view points but you can easily drive the whole of the park in 2 hours.

Picnic Site - swimming and angling permitted here


Bonteboks




A young one




Grey Rhebuck

[Sharifa]

Seen on our drive in Bontebok

African Stone Chat


Cape Bulbul


A tussle between what I make to be a Steppe Buzzard and Booted Eagle






Black Harrier


Erica plant


Bontebok - My Verdict
Small Park to conserve the Bontebok. Great Accommodation. Not much to see but could be good place just to relax for a couple of days. Too far from Gauteng to make a special trip but could be used as a stop over en route to another destination.

Next, 2 days in Karoo National Park

[Toko]

Bontebok - My Verdict
Small Park to conserve the Bontebok. Great Accommodation. Not much to see but could be good place just to relax for a couple of days. Too far from Gauteng to make a special trip but could be used as a stop over en route to another destination.

Agree on that.

I disagree It's great for fynbos lovers, as it is the best piece of protected Renosterveld and if you look carefully , you'll find some really cool plants, such as the Outeniqua Heath posted above

[Sharifa]

We arrived at Karoo National Park at about 1.00PM. The Attendant at the gate was the friendliest and most efficient Attendant we have come across in any SANPark. A wonderful chap who explained everything without being asked

The accommodation is also very good and no issues






History






There is a wonderful display area showing the geology and fossils and one can spend quite a bit of time here

[Sharifa]

Karoo Landscapes and Animals

Was surprised to see that the landscape is not all flat. Good sightings of antelopek against some nice backgrounds

Grey Rhebuck





Eland Herd











Gemsbok





Zebra......



.....with Haarties and Ostrich

[Sharifa]

I think the Karoo is a very nice park if you're not after the animals but for the magnificent landscape.
We found the critters very skittish and quite far off most of the times.
Looks better in your pix though.

The Karoo is a very tranquil Park Mel with spectacular landscapes
And we found the animals very skittish too.

[Sharifa]

More Animals and Landscapes of the Karoo

















Kori in flight


Booted Eagle

[Sharifa]

like the Rhebok
Zebras are.. special Zebra so black on the legs
and love too the Botted Eagle

Not sure if it is a special zebra nan but he was with other Burchell's zebras and he looks like a mountain zebra.
We were told by a guide in Mountain Zebra National Park that in some instances, burchell's and mountain zebras do inter-breed, but then the offspring are sterile. Maybe he was a result of that.

[Sharifa]

Breakfast is included when you book accommodation for this Park We missed breakfast the first morning as we had decided to do the 4x4 routes and got back to camp after breakfast time We did have breakfast the second morning - very nice it was too

The 4WD route is not challenging at all and provide a nice drive. We were hoping to catch some of the lesser seen mammals like aardvark and aardwolf but this is what we found when we entered a Donga (dry riverbed)













We sat around for half an hour hoping he would start eating or maybe the lionesses and cubs would turn up. He was just going to sleep for now


Karoo - My Verdict
Loved it, peaceful, beautiful landscapes, wonderful fossil display and some good sightings too.