Land of the striped horse: why Mount Zebra National Park is worth the drive
For sweet isolation amid stunning Karoo landscapes and an impressive parade of animals on your drives, this glorious park in the Eastern Cape delivers
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Image: Nick Yell
Travelling along the R337 gravel track between Pearston and Cradock, my wife, Annette, and I search for game behind the fences on either side of us — particularly mountain zebra, as we are headed for the Mountain Zebra National Park (MZNP). Outside Pearston, we encountered a Mountain Zebra-Camdeboo Protected Environment sign on a farm gate.
It’s incongruous as we’re about 100km from the park. But after Googling it over coffee in Pearston, it turns out an initiative called the Mountain Zebra-Camdeboo Protected Environment (MZCPE) management plan was ratified in August 2017. It was formalised after collaboration between SANParks and the Wilderness Foundation began in 2012 to create a protected corridor between the Mountain Zebra and Camdeboo National parks.
According to Jaco Loots, an executive committee member of the MZCPE’s Landowners Association, about 180 private landowners and nearly 900,000ha of land are involved.
I’ve often said the Karoo is our largest unofficial national park because after hundreds of thousands of kilometres tracked across its dirt roads over the past 20 years I’ve seen countless springbok, steenbok, eland, gemsbok, caracal, kudu, black wildebeest, rhebok, vervet monkeys, baboons and jackals, not to mention endemic birds such as ostriches, bustards, korhaans, goshawks, eagles and the secretary bird, a dead ringer (albeit larger) for one of the known links between dinosaurs and birds, called archaeopteryx.
Image: Nick Yell
In fact, almost right where we are, I once saw a large male kudu vault a 2m fence and get its massive horns entangled in the uppermost wire. Miraculously, the momentum of its body caused it to somersault and it landed on its feet on the other side, seemingly unhurt. Which is why my only additional wish for the ultra-worthwhile MZCPE plan is that its environmental benefits would be better communicated to the public. Let them know what to look out for and, moreover, why they should drive carefully.
Back on the R337, we scramble up the rutted and sometimes muddy Buffelshoek Pass. It leads to one of the most serene elevated plateaus in the Karoo, filled with large swathes of empty grasslands and dotted with occasional copses of poplars, often hiding old farmhouses beneath their long rustling skirts. Though the area is known as Swaershoek (brother-in-law’s corner) we only reach the eponymous pass, which leads down to Cradock, after 40km of dirt-track bliss.
Before our descent we take in Buffelskop to the northeast, where Olive Schreiner, her husband, Samuel Cronwright, her dog and their baby daughter (she died one day after birth) were all interred. As we descend the pass, the impressive Bankberge rise on our left.
Image: ecosnap / 123rf.com
Image: Nick Yell
Just on the other side of this range waits the Mountain Zebra National Park (MZNP) and three nights in the cottage we’ve been dreaming of forever. But our minds are occupied with the audacious klipspringers gambolling down precipitous slopes, as well as flotillas of hazy purple peaks, staggered all the way to Hofmeyr and beyond. With the introduction of lions to the park in 2013 (there are seven), the park seemingly gained more sex appeal for tourists.
Visitors to the park before the introduction of dangerous predators, such as late South African travel doyen TV Bulpin, may well miss the smaller park of old, where you could walk the three-day Mountain Zebra Trail without fear. However, the likes of Bulpin would no doubt be impressed by the meteoric rise in numbers of the once nearly extinct mountain zebra (from a seed population of 11 in 1937, the park boasts in excess of 1,000) as well as the size of the park, which has grown from its originally proclaimed 172ha to more than 28,000ha today.
Annette and I meet up with daughter Ashley and her beau Jacques at reception. While we are keen 4x4ers, nothing prepared us for clambering over boulders the size of houses en route to Bakana mountain cottage. But as we edge up the rocky and bushy cleft that is to be our home for the next few days, the perfection of the setting of our modest stone cottage trumps all other thoughts. We heard at reception that lion were spotted on the Ubejane Loop earlier, so we speedily unpack the bakkie and set off in search of them.
Image: Nick Yell
Image: Nick Yell
Just before we turn on to the loop we spot a cheetah in the long grass, glowing gold in the fast-setting sun. Mesmerised, we almost forget about the lions and, once we tear ourselves away from this special sighting, we are again sidetracked by an aardwolf exiting stage right. It’s an animal I’ve only ever seen as roadkill, so I’m delighted to see this shaggy-coated loner ferreting for insects. Even though we don’t see the lions, we head back to our mountain hideout satisfied.
Though the cottage, as well as the toilet and shower (about 25m distant) are surrounded by “fences”, you still need to keep your wits about you. And when we hear the lions roaring later that night we experience that delicious prickle of primal danger. It’s what you’re paying for, because the accommodation is reminiscent of a dolled-up hiker’s hut, offering little real comfort while the cooking amenities are restricted to a gas hotplate and an indoor braai that nearly asphyxiates us.
Yet these small disappointments do little to spoil our time here, mostly because we are in the car all day, ever searching for the elusive lions. We drive the park flat on Annette’s birthday — the mountainous Kranskop Loop is memorable — and after seeing heaps of mountain zebra and a variety of other plains game, we head for reception to see if any lions have been sighted today. We’re in luck. A big red marker shows someone has seen lion not far from the rest camp, so it’s back in the car, senses sharpened anew.
Image: Nick Yell
We stop some folks in a bakkie coming out of the one part of the Kranskop Loop we didn’t do earlier; and, yes, they’ve just seen two lionesses sitting atop a boulder, about 1km up on the right. Not only do we find them in the position described, about 50m from the roadside, we have them to ourselves for about half-an-hour. You can’t ask for more.
Image: Nick Yell
ACTIVITIES AND AMENITIES IN THE PARK
Apart from excellent self-drive game viewing and 4x4 tracks (there are three of varying lengths and difficulty — only the Umgeni trail requires some skill), there are swimming pools and picnic sites aplenty, as well as the following paid-for eco-activities.
- Guided game drives: Morning, sunset and night drives in open vehicles.
- Cheetah tracking: As the cheetahs are collared, your guide should be able to get you closer to them than you would on your own.
- Guided walks: Get to know the Karoo bush on foot with an experienced guide.
- Rock art: Visit a San rock painting with a guide.
- Hiking trails: There are two short circular hiking trails (Imbila is 1km and Black Eagle 2.5km) situated within the safety of the fenced rest-camp area. The guided Saltpeterkop hike is more strenuous and costs R444.40 per person (minimum two people).
- Accommodation (cottages, chalets and camping), a restaurant, shop, conference room and petrol station. We didn’t eat at the restaurant so I cannot vouch for the food, but these amenities are at the rest camp.
Image: Abrie Liebenberg
MORE TO DO IN THE KAROO ‘HEARTLAND’
While the MZNP (13.5km west of Cradock) is worth making the long drive from anywhere in the country (Gqeberha is the closest big city — 255km south), it’s a good idea to bookend your visit with a few regional activities:
- Other game reserves: Camdeboo National Park (near Graaff-Reinet); Samara Private Game Reserve (55km from Graaff-Reinet); Mount Camdeboo Private Game Reserve (60km from Graaff-Reinet).
- Cradock: Visit the Olive Schreiner House Museum and take a drive along Market Street to see the colourful Tuishuise, 30 beautifully restored Karoo-style cottages.
- Nieu Bethesda: Take in the famously eerie Owl House; visit the fascinating Kitching Fossil Exploration Centre; have a beer at The Brewery and Two Goats Deli; and tackle the Grade 2 Wolwehok 4x4 track at nearby (about 40km) Pienaarsbaken Farm.
- Graaff-Reinet: Explore the remarkable Valley of Desolation and experience the 4x4 trails, game-viewing and picnic areas, plus walks and hikes in the Camdeboo National Park; admire the heritage architecture of this well-preserved town; visit the Graaff-Reinet and Hester Rupert Art museums; have a beer on the terrace at the Drostdy Hotel and browse the antique shops.
CONTACTS:
- Mountain Zebra National Park: 048-801 5700/5701 or sanparks.org.
- Cradock information: thegreatkaroo.com or karoospace.co.za.
- Nieu Bethesda tourism information: nieu-bethesda.com.
- Graaff-Reinet Tourism: 049-892-4248 or graaffreinet.co.za.
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