Camdeboo National Park
Expert Reviews (8)
South Africa Parks
Mark is a travel writer who grew up in Africa and has written over 700 titles for Condé Nast Traveller, Travel Africa, BBC Wildlife and others.
The Valley of Desolation… And Plains of Unexpected Abundance
Camdeboo National Park is famous for its spectacular geological rock formations rather than for its wildlife. Most people come here for truly epic sunset views over the dolerite pinnacles of the Valley of Desolation. You will see a variety of raptors up here and, with some luck, maybe klipspringer and even caracal.
The park gets the majority of its visitors thanks to its proximity to the lovely historic town of Graaff-Reinet and most of those make a beeline for the Valley of Desolation around sunset without even giving a thought to the separate (wildlife viewing) side of Camdeboo. This is a pity because this relatively concentrated area – easily explorable in three to four hours – is richer in wildlife than most people would expect. You’re likely to see black wildebeest, gemsbok, ostrich, springbok, red hartebeest and some truly gigantic tortoises that behave like roundabouts. The endangered Cape mountain zebra (as its name suggests) tends to inhabit the higher slopes.
Of the Big 5 only buffalo are officially present. Although in such ideal habitat, and with such an abundance of prey, it’s hard to imagine that there are no leopard. Jackal, meerkat, yellow mongoose and bat-eared fox are some of the exciting small Karoo predators.
The peaceful and tree-shaded Nqweba Campsite is an appealing alternative to staying in Graaff-Reinet and has excellent game viewing as well as great birding (with a Camdeboo checklist of 225 species) from a lookout platform beside Nqweba Dam.
Perhaps one day little Camdeboo will get the recognition it deserves. Until that day, take a chance to catch Karoo’s hidden gem while you can still have the game-driving tracks pretty much to yourself!