Just larking around in the Eastern Cape

After leaving Zastron we soon dispatched the last of our current stay in the
Free State. The countryside was scenic as usual and the towns, Rouxville and
Aliwal North, nice but probably well past their best. Next stop the Eastern
Cape. After travelling on many a km of tarmac so far arriving in the Eastern
Cape is a pleasant surprise, they actually seem to care about their roads
and an active road repair scheme must have been active for some time,
potholes, a banished word hurrah!! The towns of Burgersdorp and Steynsburg
flashed past the windscreen, again nice but not places worth more than a
cursory glance, well from our perspective anyway. Then in the middle of
nowhere comes the one and a half horse town of Hofmeyer. There really was
not much there in the sense of a real frontier town, but it just seemed
sweet. We managed to only come away with some Koeksisters from the
shop/resturant/toilet/b&b although tempted by many of the various jars of
jams and pickles on sale. Then it was onto our destination the Mountain
Zebra NP (S32 13.470 E25 28.723) just west of Cradock. Cradock by the way
was not too bad for a largish town, some pretty old houses, and cheap fuel
if nothing else!!
Now for us this is where we are getting into new territory as far as the
South African National Parks go. Hopefully all that we shall visit on this
brief trip will be a great experience. Mt Zebra was definitely this. It is
only a smallish park and there is no Big 5 to draw the masses, but plenty of
game and birds to be seen, although the birdlife seemed a bit lacking
probably due to the time of year. There was promise of Black Rhino and
Cheetah but sadly we saw neither. The rest camp was nice if compact, new
ablutions, and very busy. Sometimes it is not just the wildlife that is
there to be observed but also what is going on in the rest camp! One evening
there was much coming and going between four different couples each admiring
the others 'nice set-up' be it tent, trailer tent, or caravan. We were quite
sure we were probably witnessing the 'nice set-up' of some OAP swingers!
Needless to say after we had finished dinner and done the washing up we were
up our into the tent, ladder hoisted, and ready to repel any advances!!
There is just something about being in a park, especially a quiet one like
Mt Zebra. Up on top of a hill along one of the 4x4 tracks, just sitting
there, coffee in hand, peace and tranquillity, bliss. When there is no one
else around then everything that you can see in all directions belongs to
you and no one else. Well apart from any wildlife there of course, wouldn't
begrudge them a slice of our paradise. We had a nice introduction to one
crazy bird, the Clapper Lark. Oh, we hate larks, hundreds of different larks
and they all look the same, best to be ignored sometimes and look for sommit
easier to identify! However, up in our paradise we made a real effort, and
one of the better and easier was the Clapper Lark. It does exactly what is
says on the can. Leaves its perch, flaps furiously up into the air, beating
its wings together as it does so making the clapping noise, and the suddenly
stops 'clapping' and glides back down letting out a 'weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee'.
Most amusing. Not quite sure how this attracts the most suitable lark of the
opposite sex, but I guess it must work. We spent three lovely nights at Mt
Zebra, but had exhausted all routes and decided to move on to pastures new.
Sue has several places that are on her list to be seen and Graaff Reinet is
one of them. On the way we had to get over two very high passes. Yeah right.
More like little speed bumps compared to some of the heights Mufasa climbed
to up in Ethiopia. Having said that it is quite hard to imagine sometimes
that these passes at around 1800m are only half as high as the dizzy heights
we ventured to on our last trip and these ones were hard work in places.
Anyway, on to Graaff Reinet. Thankfully we arrived just in time to catch the
shops before they closed. Yep, old world South Africa. The shops shut at
lunch time on Saturday. Nice for the workers, bloody inconvenient for the
travelling shoppers!! Thankfully we managed to get some meat and some veg to
keep us going for a few days. Then it was on to find our home for the night,
Urquhart Caravan Park (S32 14.563 E24 31.623). What can we say about the
place. Loads of pitches, no one there except us for a while until a few more
passers by stopped off. The jewel of the place, the ablutions, NOT. I am
sure several hundred years ago when they were first built they were
delightful! Thankfully the town is set inside the Camdeboo NP and so that
evening we decided to pop out of camp not far up the road to take in the
sights of the Valley of Desolation. Sounds interesting, you bet, stunning!
Not to go into too much detail, you drive up to the top of a hill
overlooking some truly amazing rock formations, and if you get there as the
sun goes down they go very nicely red with the setting sun. As traditional
for this type of setting we had some sundowners, well tea from a flask if
that counts. We will post some pictures of the place sometime, but have a
look on the WWW, not sure but I would think there are some nice photos
already there.
Grateful to escape the delights of Urquhart Park it was off to the Western
Cape and see what another national park, the Karoo, would have in store for
us. After a quick stop off just outside Aberdeen at the Kamdebo Padstal to
buy some rusks and olives we made the long haul on a road that the Romans
would have been proud of from Aberdeen to Beaufort West, very long and
pretty straight, we arrived at our next park on the list, the Karoo NP (S32
19.955 E22 29.505). Again not a big draw for lions etc. but extremely scenic
and there are several walks to be done, weather permitting. The camp site is
very nice, although quite busy. You have to laugh sometimes. One couple
arrived in their Land Cruiser towing a smart 'hard core' off road caravan,
and then the hubby proceeded to spend ages trying to get their satellite TV
set-up, I think he gave up after a couple of hours. Not quite sure why they
have the kit they do that can get them away from it all when they don't
understand the point of getting away from it all. Perhaps it is just me?
One night here so far, had a great 45km drive today, not too much game to
see, but the landscape is desolate, and stunning. I think we will hit one of
the walking trails tomorrow and possibly stay here for another 2 or so
nights.