Karoo National Park

About this place

Karoo National Park is a wildlife reserve in the Great Karoo of the Western Cape, about 4 km in a straight line west of the town of Beaufort West. The semi-desert park covers about 750 square kilometres, and the Nuweveld section of the Great Escarpment runs through it, so it lies partly on the plains of the Lower Karoo at about 850 m and partly on the Upper Karoo plateau at over 1,300 m. Two main game-viewing drives need no four-wheel drive: one heads east across the plains, while the other is a 49 km loop to the west that climbs the Klipspringer Pass onto the plateau before returning to the plains at the Doornhoek picnic site. The park also has a fossil trail through the Karoo's deep past, and its facilities include a camp site, chalets, a restaurant and a shop. Flat-topped hills and layered cliffs rise above wide plains of grass and low shrubs, and the road over Klipspringer Pass gives sweeping views across the Karoo. Antelope, zebras and other animals roam the park, and far from city lights the night sky is very clear. A daily conservation fee applies. Summers are hot and winter nights are cold, and the park makes a good stopover on the long road between Cape Town and Johannesburg.