Left Hondeklip Bay after Breakfast and had to drive back to
Springbok for supplies. Garies and
Kamieskroon’s shopping would just not cut it.
The drive to the park was tough. The road is not in great condition and it’s
about 20km dirt road to the gate, many sections are so bad we were reduced to
no more than 10km/h.
SANPARKS does warn you before-hand that the “bulk” of the
park is assessable only with a 4x4 vehicle.
They should specify that less than 1% of the park is accessible with a
normal car. This means a circular route
of 8km from the gate to the camp – Skilpad Rest Camp.
We would not have booked 2 nights had we known what a small
section we were able to view. Even out
of flower season the park is gorgeous, untouched with rolling hills. It is a bit surreal to sit in a National Park
and watch the sheep munching next to the rest camp! We did see a Jakkals, Springbokke and some dassies but for the rest the park
does not support a lot of wild life in the Skilpad area.
The accommodation was something else. Normally the SANPARKS cottages are not real
flush but these were great. The “stoep”
(veranda) at the back offers a great view of the Kamies berge and a spectacular
sun set.
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| We were very cafefull to only stay on the road |
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| Skilpad rest camp Cottages |
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| The Lounge area - I'm already reading |
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| The view from the Stoep |
We spend the afternoon watching movies, sleeping and walking
around. After a week of driving it was
great to have nowhere and to go and no time frame in which to get there. The camp was deserted – it only has 4
cottages and only 1 other was occupied, even though, when making the booking we
were advised that they are fully booked – in fact, they did not have open spots
at the beach camp!
The cottage has an indoor braai and we had a meal fit for a
king (a normal South African braai) on the stoep watching the last colour fade
from the sky. It only gets dark by 8:30
in the Northern Cape.