Weekend Escape: Lilydale rest camp in Mokala National Park, Northern Cape

Mokala, SANParks' newest park just 70km from Kimberley, boasts an abundance of wildlife, writes Nick Yell

My travelling partner, Harvey Tyson, and I had been ferreting around some of the more obscure Boer War battlefields in the Northern Cape for days.

Looking for some respite from the historical detective work - there is no legible on-site information so you need to know what you are looking for - we decided to take a day off at the nearby Mokala National Park.

On my first visit to the park earlier in the year, I had camped at Motswedi in the south and been impressed with the overall experience; especially my private ablution facilities.

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But I'd been on a blistering schedule and had only had about 16 hours there.

As a result, my game viewing had been restricted to the short afternoon drive to the campsite and then my exit route via the Lilydale gate the following day.

Even though I'd been reasonably impressed by the variety and quantity of game I'd seen the first time around, I was determined to get a better feel for the park's varying landscapes and reported abundance of game this time; especially the big herds of buffalo I'd missed.

Because of this, Harvey and I planned a mid-afternoon arrival at Mosu gate in the south, leaving 90 minutes to do the 25km dirt track to our chalet at Lilydale rest camp.

It proved an inspired strategy. From the moment we got back into the car after booking into the park at the Mosu Lodge reception, the game-fest began.

It started with warthog, then herds of tsessebe (capable of running at nearly 100 km/h, they are the fastest antelope in Africa) followed by numerous sightings of magnificent kudu bulls, herds of hartebeest, springbok and a few lone buffalo in the thickets.

More than the variety and abundance of game, though, it was the quality of every sighting that held us spellbound and made us wish we had allowed an extra half hour for the trip.

On the last section of our journey we felt as though we'd been transported to the prairies of North America's past. There on the plains of thornveld savanna, like the huge bison herds of old, stood hundreds of buffalo; distant cousins of their American counterparts.

And just before we arrived at our chalet, we picked up on the scimitar horns of a roan antelope silhouetted against the dying sun. It doesn't get better.

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Named after the Setswana word for the camelthorn tree, Mokala National Park is spread out over some 27,500ha and embraces a changeable landscape koppieveld (dolerite hills) in the south and large open plains in the north.

Another feature of the park is the drainage lines leading from the hills across the plains to the Riet River (a popular fly-fishing destination) on the park's northern border. Integral to the up-close-and-personal game experience at Mokala is the lack of big predators, making it one of the best national parks for photographers.

And, because the park is situated in the transition zone between the Karoo and Kalahari biomes (comprising thornveld savanna, outcrops of dolerite hills and a pocket of riverine vegetation) the birdlife is varied and unique.

The next morning, Harvey and I decided to get off the main roads and see how our borrowed transport would handle some of the 4x4 tracks that lead down to the Riet River. The first one was a mild, Grade 1 affair but it gave us another window onto the roiling waters of the river whose acquaintance we'd made from our deck the previous evening.

The second 4x4 track off the Vaalbos Loop, which circumnavigates the huge plain in the park's northern region, was a more taxing 4x4 challenge (Grade 2.5) and we enjoyed a special sighting of a waterbuck which had seemingly become best friends with a small reservoir on the trail.

On the way out, we collected many more roadside sightings: zebra, black wildebeest, tsessebee, buffalo, hartebeest, gemsbok and eland; many so close we had to keep backing away to fit them into the camera frame.

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WHERE IT IS: Mokala National Park is around 70km southwest of Kimberley.

WHAT IT HAS: A variety of accommodation from rustic to luxury camping, bird-hide accommodation, a treehouse, self-catering chalets, a conference centre and lodge, which can sleep large numbers and even a private bush cottage (called Haak-en-Steek).

There are communal swimming pools at both Lilydale and Mosu rest-camps, while the latter boasts a restaurant too. And, of course, there is plains game galore.

WHY GO THERE: Primarily to enjoy some of the most relaxed and best plains and other game viewing in the country - around 50 mammal species alone.

But there is also much else for the outdoor enthusiast: fly-fishing; self-guided inflatable canoe trips; open-vehicle guided game drives; San rock-art excursions and bird-watching (about 160 species).

THE FOOD: We self-catered, but Tripadvisor reports speak highly of the restaurant at Mosu.

RATES: From R340-R400 per campsite per night (based on two people) and from R650 to R1,145 per self-catering unit, depending on type and season (also based on two people) and a daily conservation fee of R34 per person per day for SA citizens, R68 for SADC nationals.

CONTACT: See the SANParks website or call central reservations on 012-428-9111 or the park itself on 053-204-8000.