You can almost draw a line at Cradock where the Karoo suddenly becomes the Eastern Cape. The rolling plains spotted with sparse grass give way to scrubby acacia woodland.
And, as you stand on the heights of the Bankberg mountain range outside Cradock in the Mountain Zebra National Park, you can see the border quite clearly.
To the west and north, ahead of you, the barren Karroo koppies float like battleships in a yellow sea. Behind, are trees; not just in the well-watered ravines, but even on the higher slopes, and the grass is higher.
For family Seery, there is another line we have drawn regularly at the Mountain Zebra park - over the past few years, it’s become the place we stop off on the long journey from Jo’burg to visit relatives in Knysna.
You can do the trip in a day, but what for? From Jo’burg, it’s about 900km to the park, a decently long but not exhausting day in the car. From Knysna it’s about 500km, a short hop which enables you to leave later and travel in a leisurely fashion.
We’ve thought about the alternatives - a bed and breakfast in Graaff Reinett on the way down and one in Colesberg, say, on the way back - but who likes waking up in someone else’s house?
And waking up in a Mountain Zebra National Park bungalow reminds you that you’re surrounded by beauty. The park was proclaimed in 1937 after the government bought farms and, as its name implies, provides a home to the endangered Cape mountain zebra, of which there are now more than 200 in the park.
The reserve has also provided breeding animals to game farmers and so ensured the survival of this zebra sub-species.
High on the plateau overlooking the rest camp - which comprises 18 bungalows and a camp site - you can find the mountain zebra, and it’s become a habit for us to go on a late afternoon drive up to the heights.
On our most recent visit, though, we chanced a quick hike up one of the surrounding features, worried all the while that the threatening storm would engulf us.
The sound of space, and peace up on the grassy shoulders of the mountains, under craggy precipices which are home to black eagles, has to be experienced.
Then, for the more adventurous, you can embark on the 4×4 route.
In dry weather, this would be no problem for a reasonably high two-wheel-drive; in the pelting rain when we drove it we discovered it was touch and go for the “part-time 4×4″ in which we were travelling. The following day, the entire route was closed to all traffic - including 4×4s, because the river had come up so high.
But, what I remember - and will do again and again - is the evening braai on the patio of the bungalow.
Feet up, reading a book, drink at hand, getting up every now and again to check the meat, watching the curious dassies gambolling through the nearby rocks - doesn’t get much better than that.
amp,habit
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