Touring South Africa's National Parks by Michael Brett

Author:Michael Brett
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Random House South Africa
Published: 2010-03-14T16:00:00+00:00

Rooiplaat offers the best game viewing in the park, and herds of game congregate on the plateau sweetveld. Mountain reedbuck are often observed in rugged terrain, and although widely distributed in South Africa they are absent from most of the larger parks.

A total of 220 bird species have been recorded, most noticeably jackal buzzard, secretary-bird, bokmakierie, Karoo scrub-robin, olive bush shrike, common fiscal shrike, amethyst sunbird and African red-eyed bulbul.

Expansion of the park

For 30 years the park was limited to 6 536 hectares, which is no larger than the average Karoo farm. In 1996 the wildlife artist, David Shepherd, donated a painting to raise money for expanding the park. Sasol, the petroleum company, donated R1 million to the park and the Barbara Delano Foundation donated US $270 000. The park has since been expanded to 26 997 hectares, sufficient room for the reintroduction of buffalo, black rhino and cheetah.

SANParks has a long-term goal of linking the park to Camdeboo National Park at Graaff-Reinet, thus creating a protected area of 520 000 hectares. An enlarged park would support the full range of species that occurred historically in the region. The Karoo is often plagued by drought, but this region’s many natural attributes – clear skies, wide-open landscapes and an abundance of wildlife – have considerable appeal.

A large park, and the resultant increase in ecotourism, would offer considerable economic benefits in this isolated and lightly populated region of the Karoo.

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