Camdeboo National Park

Camdeboo is unusual in that it encircles a town: the park almost completely surrounds Graaff-Reinet, with about 19,000 hectares of Karoo veld and dolerite hills around it. The centrepiece is the Valley of Desolation, where columns of dolerite up to 120 metres high stand on the edge of a plateau above a scree valley, the result of erosion stripping softer rock from around harder intrusions over roughly a hundred million years. A road climbs to the rim and short paths lead to viewpoints looking straight down the columns, with the town and the Camdeboo plains beyond - the classic time to be there is late afternoon when the rock turns orange. The game section holds Cape mountain zebra, kudu, buffalo and springbok on the flats near the Nqweba Dam, and the birding along the dam is good when there is water, which in this climate is not always.

History

The park grew out of the Karoo Nature Reserve, set up in 1979, whose 14500 hectares the World Wide Fund for Nature in South Africa donated. It was proclaimed South Africa's 22nd national park on 30 October 2005 and takes its name from the Khoi word !Xamdeboo, green valley (Wikipedia, Camdeboo National Park).

What you'll find

• The dolerite columns - pillars up to 120 metres standing above a scree valley.
• The town inside the park - Graaff-Reinet almost completely surrounded by the reserve.
• The Karoo plains - the Camdeboo flats seen from the plateau rim at sunset.
• The dam section - game and birds around Nqweba when the water is there.

When to go

March to May and September to November; late afternoon for the Valley of Desolation. Half a day.

Before you go

The Nqweba Dam is often very low or dry, and the birding depends on it. Summer heat exceeds forty degrees. The valley viewpoints have unfenced edges. Predators are absent, so this is scenery and plains game rather than a big-five park.

Nearby

Graaff-Reinet's Drostdy and church are in the middle of the park; the Owl House at Nieu-Bethesda is north.

Key facts