We checked into Mountain Zebra National Park near Craddock for 3 nights. After setting up camp we went for a short drive. And then the cold front hit us! It rained heavily and the temperature dropped rapidly. We were not put off at this stage as we had a lot of house-keeping to do; laundry, cleaning, etc. so it was a good reason to stay indoors.
The next morning it was still raining and even colder than the night before. We were very glad to have a solid roof over our heads; some of the other campers were in two-man tents!
During a short break in the weather we eagerly jumped into Suzi for a game drive. There was the most amazing thing happening out there: giant earthworms had emerged all over the place and were criss-crossing the road. Only they knew where they were going to but we decided that this was probably an opportunity for them to have a party! Anyway, you can read more about these strange creatures at http://karoospace.co.za/giant-earthworms-of-the-karoo/ .
The weather was certainly here to stay but the scenery was amazing! The wind was howling over the plains and the animals looked positively miserable, as were we!
The next day was no better. But we got to see two different groups of Blue Cranes which was really special. We subsequently had a few more sightings, even on farmland after we left the park.
By now we realised that we were not ready to leave the Park. With the weather the way it was we did not have enough time to really experience it so we extended our stay for another 2 days. We were rewarded by the weather clearing up and a good sighting of two secretary birds. At least this time we had time to take a photo as they usually cover ground very quickly.
On the day before we left we hiked the 2,5Km Black Eagle trail inside the fenced-in area of the rest camp. This gave us a bird’s eye view of the camp and surrounds.
And then of course a post about the Mountain Zebra Park would not be complete without pointing out the differences between the Cape Mountain Zebra and the Burchell’s Zebra (now called Plains Zebra):
Cape Mountain zebra have narrower stripes on the head and body, no shadow stripes between the black stripes, the black stripes do not run under the belly, it has a dewlap, larger ears and a grid pattern of stripes on the rump.
Burchell’s zebra have black stripes spaced far apart with shadow stripes in the white bands, the stripes on the legs fade away.
In the meantime we have changed our minds about going back to Port Elizabeth and decided to continue to Cape Town instead. There is a possibility of another Bateleurs assignment and it would be preferable to leave Buzz in Ballito for now. And of course we would prefer to be in Cape Town before winter really sets in. Or is it too late already?
With this in mind our next stop will be the Karoo National Park at Beaufort-west.
Sorry guys. Report from CT says the rains have already started. Some magical sunny days in between. Alex
Oops! We will look forward to the sunny days and won’t begrudge the rainy ones. We know they need the rain. Rainy days are good for wood fires and red wine though…
Lovely adventure!
I think that the flowers in the Cape are going to be absolutely spectacular this spring (Aug/Sep) because of all the rain that the Karoo has received this April, what do you think? Are you going to stay there for that long though…………..guess not, you’ll be heading closer to Rosebank methinks…..
We plan to be in Namaqualand for the flowers. We have to be back during the last week of September, in time to start work again in October.