Mountain Zebra National Park

The Cape mountain zebra was down to a few dozen animals nationally when this park was proclaimed in 1937, and the founding population here was six - five stallions and a mare, which is as close to failure as conservation gets. Restocking from surviving farm herds turned it around, and the park now carries several hundred on about 28,000 hectares of Karoo mountain and grassy plateau. Cheetah were reintroduced in 2007 and the park runs cheetah tracking: guests go out with a guide carrying a telemetry receiver and follow the signal on foot across the veld, which usually means walking a fair distance and sometimes means not finding them. Lion were brought back in 2013. Brown hyena, caracal, eland and black wildebeest are here too, and the escarpment road climbs to viewpoints over the Karoo with cold, clear nights.

What you actually see

• The six founders - a park started in 1937 with five stallions and one mare.
• Cheetah tracking on foot - following a telemetry signal across the veld with a guide.
• The plateau roads - gravel routes climbing to escarpment viewpoints.
• The reintroductions - cheetah since 2007, lion since 2013, on old zebra ground.

When to go

March to May and September to November. Two days. Winter nights drop below freezing.

Honest expectations

Cheetah tracking is booked separately, starts early, involves real walking and does not always find the animals. Roads are gravel and some loops need clearance. Summer is very hot, winter mornings genuinely cold. The park is quieter than Kruger in every sense, including sightings.

Nearby

Cradock and the Fish River valley are close; Camdeboo is west via Graaff-Reinet.