Kalahari calling

A HIDDEN GEM IN THE SA NATIONAL PARKS PORTFOLIO

Because it’s a breeding reserve, you will see animals you don’t usually see.

An early morning breeze riffles the yellow grass alongside the deep red sand of the track while, in the distance, a lone camel thorn tree stands sentinel against a deep blue sky. A group of meerkats skitters across in front of us, ducking into the cover of the grass.

One of them pops up and surveys us and then the rest of the area. He’s the sentry, the look-out, guarding the rear and the flanks of the little, excited, energetic troop as they go about the business of surviving.

There is a pinging sound of metal cooling from the engine of our car. The meerkat sentry looks up and scampers away. We won’t harm you, we want to say.

We come in peace to this corner of the Kalahari – and it is peace we find in the grassy plains and in the vast, vaulting heavens above.

Mokala National Park, just 60km south of Kimberley, is one of our country’s newest national parks – having been established in June 2007 – and not as wellknown as the bigger, Big Five places – but it has a charismatic charm and attraction for those who like their nature experiences simple and unspoilt.

This hidden gem in the SA National Parks (SANParks) portfolio can also stun and amaze you as it reminds you of how beautiful this South Africa of ours is.

We sit, on the patio of our simple, three-bed self-catering unit at the Lilydale camp at the norther-east end of the park and drink in the stillness.

The camp is set on a ridge overlooking the Riet River and has just 15 accommodation units, which range from the basic, three-bed ones to bigger family units. The camp is well-maintained and the units are well-equipped. The staff are also friendly and efficient.

There is a lodge at Mosu (the main centre of the park) which provides self-catering accommodation, as well as a restaurant. Not far away is the “Haak and Steek” family cottage and camp. It caters for four guests in a basic, rustic way – and the adjacent campsites can be booked in conjunction with the bungalow. It is also located at a waterhole, so the game come to you and not the other way around.

The campsite at Motswedi – popular with caravanners when we were there – is billed as “luxury” … because there are only six sites accommodating six people at each – but each has its own cooking and ablution facilities. The sites are in a semi-circle around a waterhole, which has an electrified fence for the safety of guests.

Because the park was set up specifically as a breeding reserve for endangered species, you will see animals you seldom see in other national parks.

In 1997, the SANParks-operated Vaalbos National Park, west of Kimberley, became the subject of a land claim by people who had been evicted from the area many

years earlier. The claim was valid and SANParks was not about to fight it, so the decision was made to look for an alternative site.

In June 2006, a parcel of Kalahari bushveld south of Kimberley, totalling just under 20 000 hectares, was bought from several local farmers. Shortly afterwards, SANParks began relocating the first animals and added a further 9 000 hectares, improving the diversity of vegetation types.

Mokala (which is the Tswana name for the Camel Thorn tree

(Acacia erioloba) is home to herds of disease-free buffalo, which are not infected with either tuberculosis or foot-and-mouth disease; Red-billed Oxpecker birds (which are endangered country-wide because of pesticides); Roan and Sable Antelope; black and white rhino; Black Wildebeest, Tsessebe and Red Hartebeest and the White-backed Vulture.

One of the most interesting animals in the park, from an historical and biological perspective, is the plains zebra.

Scientists have observed that the southern variations of the plains zebra tend to be lighter, almost a brown colour, in the rear quarters and have stripes which fade to virtually nothing.

Mokala’s zebra are, in fact close to the animal known as the Quagga, which was shot out of existence in the 1800s but which also had an unstriped behind.

Compared to other plains (or Burchell’s) zebra, Mokala’s animals look as though they sat down in a bucket of bleach for a while …

The park’s wide open spaces and endless horizons will soothe the soul.