Bontebok National Park

The bontebok is a chocolate-and-white antelope of the Overberg coastal plain, and by the 1830s hunting had reduced it to a few dozen animals on a handful of farms. A park was proclaimed in 1931 with seventeen bontebok; the soil there proved wrong and the herd struggled, so in 1961 the 61 surviving animals were moved to this site on the Breede River six kilometres south of Swellendam. The species recovered from that base and now numbers some 2,500 to 3,000 animals, all descended from this herd - a conservation result that is genuinely rare and entirely the reason this park exists. At about 27 square kilometres it is the smallest national park in South Africa: a short loop of gravel road, renosterveld and fynbos, the river with a swimming and picnic spot, Cape mountain zebra and grey rhebok alongside the bontebok. Spring brings flowers across the plain, and the Langeberg mountains stand behind everything.

The landscape

• The seventeen founders - a species brought back from near extinction on this ground.
• The smallest park - about 27 square kilometres, driveable in an hour.
• The Breede River - a swimming and picnic reach along the park's edge.
• The spring flowers - renosterveld and fynbos in flower against the Langeberg.

When to go

August to October for flowering. Half a day. Easily combined with Swellendam.

Practical notes

There are no big predators and no elephant - this is a small-antelope park and people expecting a safari are disappointed. The road loop is short. Summer is hot with little shade. Facilities are limited to a picnic site and a few chalets.

Nearby

Swellendam and its Drostdy museum are minutes away; Marloth reserve is behind the town.

Key facts