Sadly our visit to the KTP had to come to an end, so we headed south to visit the Tankwa-Karoo National Park (hereafter, simply Tankwa) en route to Cape Town and the final leg of this year’s journey:
First, let me provide a little natural and cultural history context for this post. The Tankwa is one of several South Africa parks dedicated to conserving the expansive Karoo ecosystem. You may recall from previous posts during the first year of my African overland journey that the Karoo is a special place in Africa – and the world for that matter. It is an expansive semi-desert ecosystem encompassing more than 150,000 square miles of land in South Africa, spanning much of the Northern, Eastern and Western Cape Provinces. The Karoo is surprisingly diverse and is ecologically divided into several sections, each with its own characteristic flora and fauna.
The Tankwa is just a small piece of the Karoo in what is referred to as the Succulant Karoo – semi-desert comprised of many different succulant plant species, and one of the world’s designated biodiversity hotspots. The Tankwa was formally established in 1986 by consolodating 9 abandoned farmsteads and has grown steadily over the years by purchasing additional farmsteads. It currently stands at roughly 400,000 acres. The Park encompasses the northern portion of the Tankwa Karoo basin and bordering Roggeveld escarpment, with the basin floor lying at roughly 1600 feet elevation and the escarpment rising more than 3,000 above to an elevation of almost 5,000 feet. Consequently, there is a pronounced environmental gradient as you move from the basin floor to the top of the escarpment, and this strongly shaped much of the historical human land use (see below).
You may recall from previous posts that the San (Bushman) were the original human inhabitants in southern Africa and probably occupied the region for well over 100,000-150,000 years, and had a predominantly hunter-gatherer nomadic lifestyle. Roughly 2,000 years ago, as part of the Bantu-speaking migration out of northwestern Africa that expanded south and east, the Khoi moved into the region of the Tankwa. The Khoi were primarily herder-pastoralists and were larger and more aggressive than the San. Consequently, the San slowly were killed off or displaced from the Tankwa (and elsewhere) and survived only in remote and harsh areas too inhospitable and unsuitable for the herder-pastoralist lifestyle of the Khoi. But the San left behind their knowledge of how to survive in the Karoo and their rock art, which we have seen elsewhere. Today, sadly the San are almost gone and the few that survive live mostly pitiful lives.
The Dutch were the first European colonists to occupy South Africa and established Cape Town in the mid 1600’s. During the 1700’s, the Dutch expanded north from the Cape colony into the Karoo, including the Tankwa. These trekboers or voortreckers, as they were sometimes called, trying to elude the heavy-handed colonial government of the Cape, killed off or displaced most of the Khoi, or otherwise enslaved or incorporated them as labourers. The trekboer established huge farmsteads in the Tankwa, centered largely around where they could find or tap water, and mostly tried to eke out a living by raising sheep and goats. They would move the livestock down into the Tankwa basin during the cooler, moister winter months and then move them up on to the Roggeveld escarpment during the hotter, driver summer months. Ultimately, the Brittish would take over the Cape Colony and extend its reach throughout all of South Africa. The Anglo-Boer war of 1899-1902 even touched the remote Tankwa and resulted in some famous battles. Eventually the environment of the Tankwa proved too harsh even for small livestock farming and most of the farmsteads were gradually abandoned. Today, there are still scattered ocupied farmsteads, but they mostly eke out their living by a multitude of enterprises, including tourism – farmstalls along the roads into and out of the Tankwa are a common sight.
This history of land use is important for a couple of reasons. First, nearly all the large mammals were hunted out by the settlers for subsistence. After the Park was established, they began a campaign to reintroduce some of the species, including springbok, gemsbok, kudu, hartebeest, eland and even ostrich. Many of these species are now thriving in the Tankwa once again – and we ended up seeing all of these species here. The Tankwa even hosted lion and rhino in the days of the San and Khoi, but they were quickly extirpated by the Dutch settlers. Second, several of the old farmsteads left behind buildings that still dot the landscape today as historical landmarks, and some have even been restored for use as cottages that can be booked.
Today, the Tankwa is in a stage of ecological recovery both in terms of flora and fauna. One day, they even hope to reintroduce the large predators, but for now the caracal (mid-size cat) is probably the largest predator.
The Tankwa was strikingly beautiful to us. We especially loved the juxtaposition of the open basin floor and the Roggeveld escarpment, with rather lush riparian vegetation along the intermittent drainages. Entering the Tankwa from the north involved descending off the escarpment via the Gannaga Pass. Here’s what they say about the Pass road: “45 bends, curves and corners – including 4 hairpins and 3 more corners sharper than 90 degrees.” Here’s a picture from one of the bends near the top looking down over the lower section, but the hairpin swictchbacks and tight bends can’t be seen from this vantage point – what a great way to get introduced to the Tankwa!
We camped for two nights at a delightful campsite called Perdekloof near the head of one of the scenic canyons, with great shade and ablutions to boot:
Nancy and I took a drive up one of the canyons and encountered lush and diverse riparian vegetation and some of the large but elusive antelope such as Kudu and Red Hartebeest. We also did a loop through some of the desert basin floor which produced one of my favorite photos of the entire trip – Ansel Adams worthy?:
I took a lot of pictures, as the landscape was so striking, and rather than pick a handful to show you here, I created a slide show of our entire journey through the Tankwa. Take note of the diverse succulant vegetation, early Spring flowers, old farmstead ruins, and the stark beauty of desert mountain landscapes. Hope you enjoy it as much as we did:
Tankwa Karoo slideshow (6 minutes)
New Species:
- Spike-heeled lark
- Rock martin
- Fairy flycatcher
- Orange River white-eye