Mountain Zebra National Park
User Reviews (22)
South Africa Parks50-65 years of age
Mountain Zebra park is a unique Karoo biome and utterly spectacular scenery and wildlife
The Park accommodation is very good and our chalet was newly refurbished - within easy walk of the swimming pool where you can laze away the hot midday hours while being watched by Rock Dassies (Procavia capensis), which are abundant in the area and the favorite meal for the Verreaux's Eagles. Far from being devoid of life the Karoo is alive with a wide variety of species specially adapted to the harsh semi desert conditions. Specials include the Mountain Zebra's which the Park was established to conserve, Blue Cranes (Anthropoides paradiseus)- South Africa's national bird and the nocturnal, shy, Aardwolf (Proteles cristatus) which feeds almost exclusively on termites and can be seen early morning or at dusk if you are lucky. The roads are good and suitable for normal cars and take you up onto the surrounding plateau with breathtaking views of the surrounding valleys and mountains. There are also nice hiking trails for early morning or late afternoon when temperatures are more comfortable. All in all a must do for a night or two to truly appreciate the magnificent Karoo.
Email André Prins | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
A pleasant surprise
The Mountain Zebra National Park was recommended to us by people we met in another park. We weren’t too convinced, but decided to go see for ourselves. What a pleasant surprise.
The park is surrounded by beautiful mountains, with a central grassland plateau, covered with wild flowers during the time we were there (April). Although most of the roads within the park are gravel, it’s well maintained and accessible to all motor vehicles. The rest camp has a number of cottages and a beautiful camp site. The cottages are quite modern, comfortable and well equipped for self-catering. The cottages are serviced daily. There is a restaurant and a well-stocked shop in the rest camp. The restaurant has a very basic menu. We did not visit the restaurant, as we self-catered. There is a swimming pool in the rest camp and another swimming pool in the separate picnic area.
We saw an abundance of mountain zebra, black wildebeest, springbok and blesbok on the grassland plateau. In the thicket surrounding the plateau, we saw gemsbok, hartebeest, kudu and eland. Most of the antelope in the park are easy to spot and they generally go about their business without giving much attention to the visitors. We fleetingly saw some black-backed jackals and two of the rhinos in the park. The best sighting however, was the two male lions. They walked within touching distance past our vehicle. To complete our list of sightings, we also saw monkeys, baboons, ground squirrels and a number of different bird species. Not seeing the cheetahs, hyenas or buffalo, was a bit of a disappointment. I would therefore recommend visitors to go on the guided game drives to improve their chances of seeing the more elusive animals.
I have visited a number of national parks in South Africa and would definitely recommend this park for its accommodation, beautiful scenery and abundance of animals. It is a small park and a three - to four night stay should be sufficient to explore the park and enjoy the scenery.
