Tankwa Karoo National Park

Friday morning we headed off to the Tankwa Karoo National Park. This Park is around 321km northeast of Cape Town. 140km of this road is dirt road, but fortunately it is a good quality dirt road. We left home at 07:50 with Ruth at the wheel. We decided to take the R44 and go through Wellington, a historic Cape hamlet. It was a beautiful day for driving and before long we were heading through Mitchell's Pass, an extremely scenic route to Ceres. This route passes by the old town of Tulbagh.
Stopping at Ceres for some coffee and a change of driver, we then continued along the R355 and onto Tankwa. Before long, we hit a dirt road. I didn't realise this road was going to be so long, but it ended up being 75km of dirt before turning right onto the P225o that leads to Tankwa. After turning off, we had another 65km of dirt before we arrived at our destination. Fortunately this road is graded frequently and we sped along this at a steady 80kph. We arrived at the Tankwa National Park office just after 1pm. The temperature was around 40c by this time. We picked up the keys to the "De Zyfer Cottage", and then drove to the cottage. Quickly unpacking our stuff, we decided it was just too hot to go for a walk, so we relaxed for a while waiting for it to cool down.
In the late afternoon, we went for a hike. We encountered a troop of Baboons who were shouting at us to keep our distance.

That night, we had a braaied some chicken I had marinated for 2 days, washed down with some beer and some wine. Later we climbed an outside staircase that adjoins the cottage and sat up there for a while contemplating the stars. Man, the sky was so clear, you could barely make out the common constellations as the Milky Way was just a white blanket.I woke up Saturday morning with Ruth grinning over me with a Birthday present and a handmade card. Yep, another Birthday, and thankful for spending it with a beautiful wife in such beautiful surroundings.
Shortly we got up and went for a walk in the desert. We hiked to a conical hill not too far from the cottage. The landscape is very different here to what we have been used to. The ground is covered in what looks like shale rock which is notorious in this neck of the woods for punctures as it is very sharp. Succulents abound here too. On the way, we found a stone maze someone had made. Ruth loved this maze. It was strange to find it in the middle of nowhere.
When we got back to the cottage, we cooked up a storm for breakfast. Not often we have the full fry-up, but hey, it was my Birthday… Later on in the afternoon, we took a drive to the Gannaga Pass, 24km away. When we arrived at the top of the mountain, you could see for miles and miles. There was a storm happening in the valley below. It was like a grey sheet of water just pouring from the sky.
Arriving back at the cottage, it was time to light the braai again. Fortunately it was another clear night and the stars were out to visit us again… We ate our dinner on the veranda whilst we listened to the noises of the night. We were fortunate to have such fantastic weather. I really feel in my element in places like this.







For more photos of the Tankwa, please click here:
https://picasaweb.google.com/dlivens/TankwaKarooNationalPark