Mokala National Park

An early departure and after a quick stop for diesel and groceries we were on the road towards Kimberly. The Great Karoo used to be an inland sea when it was still part of Gondwanaland and the flat, barren landscape seems to go on forever. The drive was relentlessly uniform - the only occurrence of note was a posse of little vervet monkeys playing some elaborate game of daredevil with the articulated trucks along the highway. One or two would venture out onto the tarmac and then just as the truck was approaching, scarper out of the way, and the monkeys along the verge would start hooting and laughing and clambering along the fences like jungle gyms.

As we were following the Anglo-Boer War historical route along the N12, we took a short detour to a site marked on the map. The roadsigns directed us up to a farmhouse. We thought we'd be stopping and looking at some ruins, maybe reading a sign if we were lucky but were bundled into the farmer's car and driven to the historical site of the both the soldiers barracks and the concentration camp, then further to the historical museum. Rina and her husband discovered the artifacts and subsequent archeological site when they bought the farm in the early 1990s, she kept up a running commentary explaining the significance of the various ruins and the effects of the British 'scorched earth' policy. We finally made it to Mokala National Park as the sun was starting to go down. This is a relatively new park, established about two years ago. It isnt signposted from the main road south and after driving for miles on a dirt road into the middle of nowhere, I started to worry that we were lost. The landscape changed from rocky Karoo to bright red clay and pale green dry grasses. Savannah? A quick check of the wildlife guide confirmed it. On the way to the campsite we saw many types of antelope - Kudu, Oryx, Tsessebe, Roan Antelope, Wildebeeste and more Springbok. The campsite is in the middle of the bush right next to a waterhole, so I'm hoping to see some of the more rare wildlife early in the morning without even having to leave the tent.