Year in the Wild Blog

Exploring the beautiful Namaqua National Park

It’s been really windy here in Namaqualand! And cold! Apparently there is snow in various parts of the country.

I spent the day exploring the northern part of this park, which starts near Kamieskroon in the Northern Cape, and extends west down the escarpment onto the coast. There is a great 4x4 route (Caracal Eco Route) which takes you from the main entrance to the aptly named Wildeperdehoek Pass (what a great name!) in the north, which leads to Springbok eventually. The views are
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The famous flowers of Namaqualand…

I arrived yesterday in Namaqualand (YEEHAAA!!) and the flowers are OUT!  There’s a bit of a cold wind blowing, even though its sunny, so they’re not at full bloom…but they’re still amazing. The bics below are just a few hundred metres from the main reception area of Namaqua National Park, which is probably the best place to see them. They are amazing.

I also came across the resident Black Eagle…and thought of Read more »

Year in the Wild’s brand new fuel tank!

So, if you’ve been reading my blogs lately, you would have noticed that my fuel tank sprung a leak. The guys at Tankwa Karoo NP did a really good job patching it up, but Andre from GFS (one of my sponsors, and the guys who fitted the aftermarket long-range tank) sent Rocco Swanepoel and Thys du Plessis ALL THE WAY from Pretoria to fit a new one! (That’s more
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Bryan Habana the Springbok in Namaqualand

They’ve got a Springbok in Namaqua National Park called Bryan Habana. He was hand-reared as a youngster after farm dogs attacked him. Now he roams around the reception area at Namaqua NP…and sometimes he gets a bit too close to visitors! He managed to get out of his fenced-off patch of grass, and when we tried to get him back into it, he got a bit grumpy! Those horns are sharp! Eventually, park manager Bernard van Lente managed to get him back behind the fence, with the help of visitor Pat
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Last day in the Tankwa

I've spent my last day here in the Tankwa Karoo National Park...and even though I've only spent a week here, it feels like home. So it's strange to be leaving. Come to think of it, I'm never really comfortable leaving a place...I think I'm a better person when it comes to arriving, if you know what I mean!
The cold weather has set in, and hopefully we will have some rain in the area, because the flowers need good regular rains to maintain their brilliance.

Thanks very much to park manager
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Stars above, flowers below…both work their magic!

Okay, so another sunny day has dawned on the Tankwa Karoo National Park, and although the flowers are the main attraction at this time of year, I'm having serious trouble keeping my eyes off the sky at night.  Last night I set up my camera to do a time lapse of the sunset and stars rising above the koppies and vast plains, which are best seen from the top of Elandsberg. It's an awesome view point. I'll upload the video of this soon, but for now, here are some photos from last night.

Anyway,
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