South Africa
Southern Africa
UK
Campsites (Africa)
From Prince Albert to Bontebok we had to drive over the Swartberg Pass again and got our best view of the valley to the South of the Mountains Ootshoorn is known as the Capital of Ostrich Farming in South Africa and there are thousands of them. Bontebok National Park is one of the smallest reserves in South Africa but made a good place to stay for the New Year when I'd planned our trip to Cape Town. As it turned out we ended up deciding to return to Richmond to get the truck fixed rather than visiting the Cederberg and then the Cape Peninsular. There were plenty of bontebok (blesbok) in the park. Adult bontebok have distinctive face markings. The calves don't have the markings so they are better camouflaged from predators. The Park is just outside Swellendam, which is the third oldest European town in South Africa. We visited the museum. One section had separate cottages which house exhibitions about a variety of local crafts. 3 of the cottages. The cat in the foreground accompanied us as we wandered around. A forge inside one of the cottages. A waterwheel.... (can you spot the cat ?) ... powered the mill to make flour. On the other side of the road was this house, now part of the museum complex. It used to be the headquarters of the Dutch East India Company and later local government offices. Sunset. A few months ago Kev had read an article in a magazine about Kevin Doveton who makes model steam engines which looked to be similar to the ones that Kev made for a while in the UK, so he phoned him up and arranged for us to go and visit him as his place in Napier is only about 80km from Swellendam. We drove through rolling hills of arable land (all harvested already) and met Kevin at his workshop. We were there for a hour and a half while he showed us some of his models and his workshop and the 2 Kevin’s compared notes!! The Breede River runs through the Park and this section is the swimming pool for campers - mind you we did see a snake swimming across the river once.... One day it was overcast all day (so we didn't have to find some shade to sit in!) and we saw 3 or 4 tortoises around the site. These baby swallows were very vocal, shouting for food, We only saw one parent bird who was kept very busy and wasn't bothered about people nearby. As we were packing up on our last morning I noticed this spider on a bag of charcoal - which Kev had just moved ready to put ii in the box on top of the truck...... It was about the size of my hand!! 1. Mountain Zebra National Park Diary (Word '97 document)
Bontebok National Park
