.: MENU visits the Karoo and the Garden Route 10. The Camdeboo National Park and the Valley of Desolation

Graaff-Reinet has two noteworthy natural attractions; The Camdeboo National Park and the Valley of Desolation
They are close to one another and both can be visited on the same day

The view down Church Street to the Groot Kerk

and Reinet House, currently being restored

We passed it en route to the Camdeboo National Park and the Valley of Desolation

Taking our lunch with us, we headed off to the Camdeboo National Park, which is a less than ten minute drive from the centre of Graaff-Reinet. It is a small Park and can easily covered in a half day visit. Entry for both of us cost R96. This included entry to the Valley of Desolation, which we planned to visit later to see the valley at sunset. The weather had turned hot and muggy, there were scudding clouds high in the sky and a real berg wind; 37ºC when we arrived at the Park

Gift of the Givers is a wonderful NGO which has helped to ease suffering caused by natural and other disasters throughout Africa. Their efforts to ease the drought which has persisted in the Eastern Cape for years are praiseworthy and their sterling work worldwide deserves recognition with something as prestigious as a Nobel peace prize

This monument to the Voortrekker leader Andries Pretorius was erected in 1943. He was a Boer leader in the Great Trek from the British Cape Colony, the dominant military and political figure in Natal and was instrumental in the creation of the South African Republic. The city of Pretoria is named after him. The sculptor was Coert Steynberg

The inscription "Eenmaal sal daar wel 'n wiel oor ons wêreld rol wat vir u en vir my onkeerbaar is" ("One day a wheel will indeed roll across our world and neither you nor I will be able to stop it"). He said this to Cape Governor Sir Harry Smith during their discussions in 1848. Almost an incitement to ... what? Apartheid? But, indeed, the 19th Century development of railways and then motor vehicles changed accessibility and communication to an extent that he could never imagine

We drove around to the first hide called Khwalimanzi. It is a very good place to sit and watch the animals coming to drink. It is the only covered hide that we saw. It’s very sad to see how small the lake has become with the drought, so it is difficult to get close to the water. There is a long, winding rustic fence on both sides, from the car park to the hide, and it is raised above the ground, so you get good views of the small water hole. And there is a bench to sit on. Luckily, we did not encounter anybody else in the hide, so we could watch quietly. We saw springbok, a baboon, bontebok, a hadeda ibis, swallows dipping as they flew past and, in the distance, one wildebeest. As the temperature rose, they drifted away

A springbok (Antidorcas marsupialis) and a black wildebeest (Connochaetes gnou)

A hadeda flew in

for refreshment

A bontebok (Damaliscus pygargus) coming to the water hole

and a baboon

who sat down to contemplate the scene

Once there was water...

So we returned to the car and set off, looking for further viewpoints and hides and found a water hole

with grey herons (ardea cinerea)

Vervet monkeys in a tall tree, where they can watch for predators

and we saw some, with these springbok, drinking at a small dam where water was pumped from underground

At lunch time, we headed to the picnic place, which is fenced in and has a pleasant long drop loo, and even a water tap. They have several dedicated areas with picnic tables and benches and some shade roofs. We were on our own again. We had a very simple lunch of cold boerewors, left over from our braai in Prince Albert, tomatoes, nuts, cheese, biltong and beer. But the heat finally got to us and, when we returned to the car, it was 42ºC! Lynne was not unconvinced that it might thunder and send rain; it was so muggy but, sadly, that didn't happen

We did see a large herd of bontebok and ostriches from one viewpoint, but they were quite far away

Trying to find some greenery to eat

and finding water

A young black Wildebeest or white-tailed gnu

who had strayed a little way from the herd

The dry Plains of the Camdeboo
The name Camdeboo derives from the Khoikhoi and means either green heights or green hollow

because there was water in the mountains and valleys

A distant group of gemsbok (Oryx gazella), seen through the heat haze

The leader of a troop of Vervet monkeys

We drove around for another hour and finished off back at the hide, but very little game was seen, except for two kudu cows feeding alongside the hide, just outside the ambit of our cameras, and some monkeys drinking cautiously at the waterhole

Grooming time in the shade

And a small flock of guineafowl as we left

Using our binoculars, we spotted a small fire which had broken out way across the park. Luckily the local fire fighters arrived and managed to put it out. The park vegetation already looks as though it has been seared by fire and could go up in minutes; it is so dry and broken. We spoke to a ranger later and he confirmed that it was out, but they did not know how it started. The fire and the smell of smoke had sent all the animals into hiding, so we left and went back to the hotel for a rest and for John to join the F&B manager for a wine tasting

At 5pm, we were back in our car and headed for the Valley of Desolation, which is a National Monument. It is about 14 Km out of town and the drive up the mountain is quite spectacular. The road is tarred all the way to the top. Not too comfortable for those with vertigo going up, but the views are amazing. We were misinformed about the time of the sunset, so it was already beginning when we reached the top. From the parking area there, you have a reasonable climb of 220 meters up a flat rock lined path to the very top, a bit like stepping stones

Lynne made it, going slowly and carefully, but then she grew up scrambling on the Atlantic seaboard rocks. John was faster, even carrying the cold box with two glasses and some wine. We were barracked by presumptuous, insistent and, we suspect, tipsy aged visitors at the top, who wanted us to share the bottle with them. We were able to decline, as there was not enough and only two glasses! After that climb, we certainly thought we deserved it

The National Parks Board is in the process of building a viewing platform at the top. The view down into this small valley is spectacular. The walls of piled high Dolerite columns are said to be the product of volcanic and erosive forces of nature over a period of 230 million years. Looking down at the town below, it looks about as high as Table Mountain. However, if you have vertigo and are short in stature, you currently do not get a very good view of the actual valley. Lynne had to rely on John's photographs for her Facebook page, as he took them from the vertiginous edge

Unfortunately once at the top, the sun began its rather quick descent and we had been warned by friends who did this recently, not to walk down in the dark which they'd had to do. We did come armed with torches, but got back to the car in time and without incident and then, head lights full on, travelled back down and down and down and home to the Drostdy hotel