Camdeboo National Park: Lakeview Tented Camp closes temporarily for maintenance!

South African National Parks (SANParks) has announced that the Lakeview Tented Camp in the Camdeboo National Park will be closed from 02 June 2025 to 20 June 2025 to carry out essential maintenance. This temporary closure is part of SANParks' commitment to enhancing visitor experiences and maintaining top-quality facilities in South Africa's treasured national parks.
Located near the picturesque Nqweba Dam within Camdeboo National Park, Lakeview Tented Camp offers four rustic, fully furnished tents. Each cozy tent sleeps two people and includes a braai unit, fridge, table, and chairs. Campers have access to a communal kitchen, along with shared showers and toilets, making it an affordable and authentic way to experience the wild beauty of the Karoo.
Camdeboo National Park itself is a gem of the Eastern Cape, nearly encircling the historic town of Graaff-Reinet. Spanning 194 km², the park is renowned for its breathtaking landscapes and rich biodiversity. Visitors can spot iconic South African wildlife, from the Bat-eared Fox, Steenbok, and Springbok to larger animals like the Black Wildebeest, Kudu, and the elusive Cape Buffalo and Cape Mountain Zebra.

Camdeboo National Park: Maintenance is taking place at Lakeview Tented Camp!

South African National Parks (SANParks) has announced that the Lakeview Tented Camp at Camdeboo National Park in South Africa's Eastern Cape is in the process of being refreshed and revamped. The required maintenance will take place throughout the month of July 2024, which is one of the quietest occupancy months of the year.
Lakeview Tented Camp is located near the Nqweba Dam inside the Camdeboo National Park and offers four rustic fully-furnished tents. Each tent sleeps two people and has a braai unit, fridge, table and two chairs. The campsite offers a communal kitchen. Communal showers and toilets are also provided.
Camdeboo National Park is located in the Karoo and almost completely surrounds the town of  Graaff-Reinet in the Eastern Cape. The National Park covers an area of 194 km² and is home to a diverse spectrum of South Africa's wildlife, including the Bat-eared Fox, Steenbok, Springbok, Blesbok, Black Wildebeest, Kudu, Grey Duiker as well as the less often seen Cape Buffalo, Red Hartebeest, Gemsbok and Cape Mountain Zebra.

Western Cape: Meiringspoort Pass remains closed until further notice! [update]

update (13 June 2024): The Greater Oudtshoorn Municipality in South Africa's Western Cape has anniunced that Meiringspoort will be opened at 17:00, 13 June 2024. The restrooms will remain closed due to damage. Travelling through Meiringspoort must be done at a lowered speed and with utmost caution.

The Greater Oudtshoorn Municipality in South Africa's Western Cape has announced that the Meiringspoort Pass, one of the most scenic mountain passes in South Africa, remains closed until further notice due to extensive construction works. Significant repairs are underway, including the rebuilding of sections of the road as well as addressing hazardous ditches formed along the riverbanks. These conditions pose a serious danger to motorists, necessitating the closure. The Pass and other roads in and around Oudtshoorn were closed due to heavy rains which caused flooding and rockfalls last week.

Meiringspoort is a mountain pass on the N12 in South Africa's Western Cape, where it crosses the Swartberg mountain range. The pass is a gateway that connects the Little Karoo and the Great Karoo, through a gorge with a 25 km road crossing the same river 25 times in the span of the 25 km.

Survey: These towns in South Africa have the best air quality!

Swiss air quality technology company IQAir has released the 6th Annual World Air Quality Report, which reveals details of the world’s most polluted countries, territories, and regions in 2023. For this year’s report, data from more than 30,000 air quality monitoring stations across 7,812 locations in 134 countries, territories, and regions was analyzed by the company’s air quality scientists. According to the Report, Nieuwoudtville in the Namakwa District Municipality in the Northern Cape is not only the city with the cleanest air (PM2.5* concentration 2.1µg/m³) in South Africa, but also on the African continent. The town of Botrivier/Bot River (2.8µg/m³), situated in the Overberg Region of the Western Cape, comes in second followed by Lichtenburg (5.1µg/m³)in the North West Province and Cape Town (5.9µg/m³) in the Western Cape.
On the downside, two cities in South Africa are the most polluted regional cities on the African continent. Benoni (54.9 µg/m³) in Gauteng is Africa's and South Africa's city with the worst air quality, followed by Bloemfontein (49.4 µg/m³) in the Free State.

The air quality in South Africa as a whole has improved significantly from 2022. The country’s annual average PM2.5 concentration showed a 14.8% decrease going from 23.4µg/m³ in 2022 to 19.9µg/m³ in 2023. The towns of Nieuwoudtville and Botrivier/Bot River met the World Health Organisation (WHO) annual PM2.5 guideline of having an annual average PM2.5 concentration at or below 5µg/m³.Cape Town met these requirements for four months but reported an annual average concentration of 5.9µg/m³ for the entire year.

Please note: Only 24 out of 54 countries in Africa had sufficient data available to be included in the 6th Annual World Air Quality Report, leaving 30 countries unaccounted for.

* The World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines for PM2.5 concentrations is five micrograms per cubic meter or 5 µg/m³ annually.

 

South African National Parks (SANParks) has released a new destination video showcasing Tankwa Karoo National Park!

South African National Parks (SANParks) has released a new destination video showcasing Tankwa Karoo National Park, which is located on the southern boundary of the Northern Cape. The National Park is bounded on the east by the Roggeveld Escarpment, on the west by the Cederberg, to the north by the Kouebokkeveld Mountains and on the south by the Klein Roggeveld Mountains. Tankwa Karoo National Park's size currently stands at approximately 143 600ha.

Tankwa Karoo National Park is part of the Great Karoo, one of the richest arid areas in the world. The vegetation in the National Park falls within the Succulent Karoo biome, one of only two Southern African regions designated as Biodiversity Hotspots by Conservation International. One is the Cape Floristic Region in the Western Cape and the Eastern Cape, and the other the Succulent Karoo, which stretches along the coastal strip of southwestern Namibia and South Africa's Northern Cape.

Karoo National Park: Swimming pool at the Bulkraal Picnic Site is currently closed!

The swimming pool at the Bulkraal Picnic Site in the Karoo National Park in the Western Cape is closed for at least 14 days (as of 10 Oct 2016) due to urgent renovations. We'll keep you posted!

Card
The Bulkraal Picnic Site is located in the eastern part of the Karoo National Park. The facilities at the site include the currently closed swimming pool, as well as a braai area and ablution facilities (cold shower).

Eastern Cape: The attractions of the Karoo Heartland! (video)

The Emfuleni Corridor Tourism Association (ECTOUR), an umbrella body of tourism associations from various tourism nodes across South Africa's Eastern Cape, has released a new image video highlighting the attractions of the Karoo Heartland. The region, often referred to as the "dry heart" of South Africa, is a portion of the Karoo set on the eastern periphery of the central plateau.

South Africa: New promotional video for the Cape Karoo!

Wesgro, the official Destination Marketing, Investment and Trade Promotion Agency for the Western Cape, has published a great new promotional film featuring the Cape Karoo. How do you like it?



Cape Town | Paarl | Worcester | Matjiesfontein | Laingsburg | Prince Albert | Beaufort West

Video: The Karoo National Park (South Africa)

Have you ever thought about visiting the Karoo National Park, but you have never been there? Well, the following video has some very good reasons to visit South Africa's largest ecosystem:

The Karoo National Park is located in the Karoo area of the Western Cape, about 12km from Beaufort West. Cape Town is about 500km south along the N1, while Johannesburg is situated about 1 000km north of the Park.
The 400m Fossil Trail starts about 200m from the main camp of the Karoo National Park. Along the trail, which was put together by South African National Parks (SANParks) and experts from the Wits University in Johannesburg, you'll find a good selction of the over 26,000 fossils that have been found in the Karoo Basin, as well as information boards showcasing the geological history of the area.

South Africa: Camdeboo National Park to open accommodation facilities

South Africa's Camdeboo National Park, located near Graaff-Reinet and home to the famous Valley of Desolation, will open a campsite on 01 March 2012. The Nqweba Campsite is situated on the floodplains of Nqweba Dam and offers its visitors 14 sites for caravans or tents. Each site has a powerpoint and braai, while a communal kitchen provides a deep freeze, microwave and stove plates.
Camdeboo National Park will also be getting a new tented camp next to the dam. With just four furnished safari tents, the Lakeview Tented Camp will offer seclusion and comfort. The tented camp is due to open on 01 April 2012. Bookings can be made through South Africa National Park's central reservation offices.

Trailer: Un•earthed - The Documentary (2012)

The independent South African documentary un•earthed seeks to investigate plans of potential shale gas development and its method of hydraulic fracturing in the Karoo and broader regions. The project is committed to thorough, objective research and encouraging open and accurate discussion amidst heated debates currently unfolding in the country. After filming locally and abroad, un•earthed is currently in post-production and a massive release is expected in early 2012.



Pls check the website of the documentary and their facebook page for more info!

Video: The plant life of the Karoo

If you want to learn something about the plant life of the Karoo, such as which plant is actually giving the famous Karoo lamb its unique taste, you should watch the video below and follow conservationist Sue Milton of Renu-Karoo on her walk through the Great Karoo just outside Prince Albert. Kudos to Go Travel Magazine for the video!