Mountain Zebra National Park
User Reviews (22)
South Africa Parks35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
A quiet park with lovely scenery
This tranquil little park in the Eastern Cape is one of the few places you can see its namesake: the Cape mountain zebra. The population of these animals dropped to zero in the 1940s, but through a very successful reintroduction programme, the park now boasts more than 700 Cape mountain zebras.
(Burchell’s is the most common zebra in southern Africa. The Cape mountain zebra is smaller than its common cousin, and has bigger ears. Its stripes are bolder than the Burchell’s, and its belly is white. There are no shadows on the stripes, as with the Burchell’s.)
Mountain Zebra National Park is also home to cheetah (which I didn’t see) and a lot of plains game: hartebeest, buffalo and black rhino, springbok and blesbok. When I visited, there were only two roads you could drive on – both one-ways, which take you along the beautiful open plains of sweet grass that stretch off into the distant hills. There are, however, a few 4x4 trails, and some walking trails too.
The night skies out here on the edge of the Karoo are exceptionally clear, so take a star-gazing reference book or download a night skies app, and take your safari into another dimension. There is an overwhelming sense of tranquillity in Mountain Zebra National Park, and while game-viewing doesn’t compare with many of South Africa’s other parks, it is a wonderful place to put your feet up, take out a good book and soak up life in the lovely Karoo.
ES
Email M_Fdez | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Nice, but not superb, experience for an European
As a biologist, I enjoyed African Nature in many diverse places in South Africa; also in Mountain Zebra National Park, of course. Landscapes are beautiful, not very different to African savanna, I think. There were very few tourists when I visited the Park, so it was a good moment to relax and enjoying driving through it.
Apart from this, I have to say that mammals diversity was not too high, so we had to drive a long way to see "big" animals (gazelles and zebras, most of them). I can imagine that the most of urban citizens, unused to Nature, prefer to find wilder animals like rhinos, lions, cheetahs,... and that could be the reason why we saw so few tourists there.
My final impression was that Mountain Zebra is a good park, sure, but it shouldn'be a priority for visitors