May 12-13: On to Mountain Zebra

My next stop after leaving Karoo National Park was going to be Camdeboo National Park, but when I arrived it was totally socked in with clouds, and the forecast was for likely rain over the next few days. The primary attraction and why I planned to visit the Park is its huge dolerite pillars, some of which are 120 meters high, located in the “Valley of Desolation”. Note, dolerite is an igneous rock (i.e., rock initially molten and injected as a fluid into older sedimentary rocks); thus, it stands in stark contrast to the surrounding layered sedimentary rocks. The Valley of Desolation is purported to be quite spectacular. However, the weather would have prevented me from seeing anything so I opted to continue on – major bummer!

On my way to my next destination, I continued travelling across the Great Karoo for several hours. One of the things I find fascination about the natural world are ecological convergences; that is, ecological systems and/or environments that evolve over time to be very similar in terms of their physical environment and their flora and fauna, despite being geographically isolated. In these convergent ecosystems, the plant and animal speciers are totally different yet perform the same or very similar ecological functions. I mention this because driving across the Karoo reminds me in so many ways of driving through parts of western North America. There are extensive semi-arid plains that go on for as far as the eye can see, reminding me of the non-irrigated western great plains – I could easly believe I was driving through parts of Nebraska or Kansas, as shown here:

These plains are regularly broken up by grass and shrub-covered hills, mesa-like landforms and mountains proper, reminding me of parts of the inner mountain west – I could easily believe I was driving through parts of Idaho or Utah, as these photos depict:

One of the biggest surprises for me regarding this part of South Africa is that I came with the preconceived notion that most of this part of the country was populated (by humans, that is) and in some form of productive agriculture, whether that be cultivated or pastoral land use. Instead, this landscape (the Karoo, that is) is almost completed unpopulated and wild, even though it is almost entirely private land. I belive what I am looking at are immense ranches (mostly just a few sheep herds, as I have not seen a single cow!!!) and game farms – places where people pay big bucks to go shoot big game animals. If you like wild places with “big sky”, this is clearly a place to visit. After some consideration, I believe the answer lies in the climate, as this area receives less than 20 inches of precipitation a year, which is generally the minimum for cultivation. There is a 20 inch precipitation line that runs north to south that essentially demarcates the western States (Western Cape and North Cape) from the agricultural eastern States (Eastern Cape, Freestate, KwaZulu-Natal).

One last observation on the landscape. The Karoo is vast, as I have said, and once had a relatively abundant megafauna (those large beasts) – albeit at much lower densities than elsewhere – which were largely eliminated by hunting. Today, the megafuana (essentiall all mammals larger than, say, a deer) are almost entirely restricted to the few national parks and game farms (where they are raised as game for hunters). So, the few national parks, such as Karoo, Camdeboo and Mountain Zebra are relics where nature still rules, noting that in these parks several of the larger species (rhino, lion, cheetah, etc.) had to be reintroduced since they had been erradicated. It’s a sad story of human overexploitation not too dissimilar to what was done in North America. These Parks are real lifelines for several of these species.

My destination was Mountain Zebra National Park, located near the town of Cradock. Mountain Zebra NP (110 sq. mi.), established in 1937, is on the eastern edge of the Great Karoo ecosystem; consequently, the vegetation is similar – dominated by grasslands and shrublands, although open- and closed-woodlands are common here in the valley bottoms and prominent rock outcroppings are distinctive as well. Indeed, this area on the eastern side of the Karoo gets a bit more precipitation so the vegetation is more productive. I took the Green Dragon out for a drive through most of the Park, including some 4×4 roads that had mud and some steep rocky/ledgy hill climbs – the Green Dragon performed like a “rock star’. Here is a whole series of pictures that show both the landscape and the drive:

The most notable feature of the Park, and its namesake, is that it is home to the very rare and endangered mountain zebra (I posted a picture of one in my previous post), which will serve as our species of the day. A few decades ago fewer than 20 individuals of this zebra species existed, but since then their numbers have recovered; currently there are more than 350 in the Park and upwards of 5,000 total in the wild. The mountain zebra is distinguished from its more common cousin, the Burchell’s zebra of the plains, by the narrow black and white stripes that extend right down to the hooves (whereas in the Burchell’s the stripes fade down the legs), the grid-iron black and white pattern on the rump, the clear white belly (the stripes do not join under the belly, whereas in the Burchell’s they do), and the longer, more donkey-like ears. In addition, mountain zebras do not aggregate into large herds like plains zebras; instead, they form small family groups consisting of a single stallion and one to five mares, together with their recent offspring. So far, I have been lucky enough to see Mountain Zebra now in three different Parks: Table Mountain (Cape Peninsular), Karoo, and now Mountain Zebra National Park.

OK, for those of you that have read this far (yikes) here are a few observations for you to figure out. First, what critter do you think made this cool dwelling (note, the opening diameter is perhaps 8-10 inches):

Pretty cool little hut, hey. Whoever did it, was a pretty good sculptor as they cared this entrance and tunnel down into an underground sanctuary with their bare hands. You wildlifers, did you guess it? Right, an Aardvark! Unfortunately, you have to out at night to see this guys as they are strictly noctural.

OK, last trivia question. What made this sound?

Wildlifers, did you guess it? Sounds a lot like someone we have in North America. It’s a close relative: the Blue Crane! I saw two groups of 4-5 individuals on my drive today and one of the groups had one individual calling and I was able to capture it – yeah!

OK, sory for such a long posting but as you can see I had a lot to say! Next stop, Golden Gate Highlands National Park – and let’s hope it’s not raining all day and night like it has been here.