Camdeboo National Park and Karoo National Park.

Western Cape. January - March 2022.

2. Camdeboo National Park and Karoo National Park.

Our Route.

Blue: Gariep to Camdeboo NP via Nieu Bethesda.

Green: Camdeboo NP to Karoo NP

A drive down the N1 to the Karoo National Park would have been a very easy day's drive but I decided that we'd avoid the N1 and stop over at Camdboo National Park on the way.

Rather than taking the N9 from Gariep we took a longer, more interesting route on some nice quiet roads.

Map of our route.

Gariep to Camdeboo National Park.

A big advantage of taking back roads is than you can usually stop to take photo. On one section we could see the remains of a railway line running parallel to the road so we were able to stop and have a closer look. It was lovely to see the Karoo so green.

Green fileds with hills in the distance.

Gravel road with mountains in the distance.

Old railway track partly covered in grass.

Gravel road with a farm, green fields and hills.

Nieu Bethesda

While looking at the map I noticed that we'd be passing close to Nieu Bethesda and remembered that we'd had a nice lunch there years ago. An internet check indicated that The Brewery and Two Goats Deli was open so we decided to check it out. We sat in the garden and had a selection of meats and cheeses - very tasty.

The town is famous for The Owl House but as we'd been there before we just enjoyed a drive around the town.

Kevin sitting at a table outside with our shared platter.

Camdeboo National Park.

It was over 10 years since we'd visited this park so were looking forward to spending a few days there. We stayed at the Nqweba Campsite which is located inside the Park to the north of Graaff Reinet - the Park surrounds the town.

We had a drive around the northern part of the Park and saw a few animals, birds and lots of beautiful wild flowers.

Our cmpsite with a few shady trees.

A male springbok eating grass.

4 ostriches at the top of a mound.

Yellow flowers amongst the grass.

To the West of Graaff Reinet is the Valley of Desolation which has some amazing rock outcrops and a fabulous view over the town and the surrounding countryside.

The town of Graaff Reinet down below.

Rocky outcrops.

A circular pointed hill.

Rocky pillars.

Camdeboo National Park to Karoo National Park.

From Graaff Reinet we took an alternative route to Aberdeen, travelling along a gravel road and then a track which was washed away in some places. We stopped to have a look at some inquisitive goats and a local farmer stopped to say hi and to apologise for the state of the track which had been damaged by rain earlier that month. It took us at least 3 times as long to get to Aberdeen (instead of using the N9) but it was a lovely part of our journey. From Aberdeen we followed the R61 to Beauford West where we did some shopping before going to the Karoo National Park.

Gravel road with hills in the distance.

Our bakkie on a gravel road next to a field with goats checking us our.

Rain damaged gravel track.

Flat topped mountains.

Karoo National Park.

We have stayed at the campsite in the Park on several occassions when we've been travelling to or from the Western Cape. In the past many of the sites were on grass but with the water shortages in the past few years the decision was made to make them all hard standing. We set up next to a grassy area and were glad to see that the large tortoises were still around. There had been plenty of rain this year so the Park was looking very green.

Our camsote.

Kevin having a close look at a large tortoise.

We had a drive around part of the park one day through some lovely scenery. Later that afternoon Kevin noticed that we had a flat tyre, which he then changed. The following day we drove into Beauford West and got the tyre mended.

On our drive we saw small numbers of zebra, red hartebeest, ostriches, springbok, kudu and a couple of klipspringers. We were told that the previous years of drought had resulted in many animals dying.

3 kudu.