Gamkaberg Nature Reserve

Gamkaberg was proclaimed in 1974 for one reason: a handful of Cape mountain zebra survived on the mountain, part of a subspecies that had been reduced nationally to a few dozen animals. The core reserve has grown since to about 10,400 hectares by buying neighbouring farms, inside a wider conservation area of some 80,000, its name taken from the Khoi word for lion, and it now protects an unusual overlap of five vegetation types - succulent Karoo, thicket, renosterveld, fynbos and Afromontane forest patches - within a short vertical distance, which is the ecological argument for the place. Accommodation is deliberately low-impact: tented camps and eco-huts with no electricity, reached partly on foot. Leopards move through, klipspringer stand on the rocks, and the birdlife shifts as you climb. It is quiet in the literal sense - visitor numbers are capped and there is no through-road, so most groups see nobody else all day.

What you'll find

• The mountain zebra - the remnant herd the reserve was created to save in 1974.
• The five vegetation types - Karoo, thicket, renosterveld, fynbos and forest in one reserve.
• The off-grid camps - tented and hut accommodation without electricity.
• The emptiness - capped numbers and no through-road, so the trails stay empty.

When to go

March to May and September to November. Two days. Summer in the Klein Karoo is very hot.

What to expect

Access is gravel and some camps need a walk in with your gear. No electricity, no shop, limited signal. Summer temperatures make midday walking unwise. Big game is not the point here - it is zebra, small antelope and plants.

Nearby

Oudtshoorn and the Cango Caves are north; Calitzdorp is west.

Key facts