Johannesburg to Cape Town – Karoo National Park

After a great breakfast on the porch at the guesthouse, I set off to explore the Karoo National Park. It sits directly beside the N1, just outside Beaufort West, and if there’s one place that you have to stop between Cape Town and Johannesburg then it’s here. It was my favourite discovery of the entire trip.

When it comes to fossils and examining life on earth while it was still the Pangaea, then the Karoo plays a very significant role. The fossils found in this region shed light not only on the type of vegetation that were found here millions of years ago, but also the animals that used to roams these lands.

It’s a mere R18 for a day visit and you simply have to park your car and do the 400m fossil trail. The path leads from one glass box to the next and inside these you can see the fossils that were found in the area. Some are clearly pieces of skeleton or bones of pre-historic animals while others are pieces of stone shaped and carved by water over the years.

The park also has many 4×4 drives to explore the beautiful surroundings, but seeing as it was only me and my tiny Hyundai i10, I settled for one of the two drives suitable for normal cars. Look out for antelope and even tortoises crossing the road. Lions also roam these lands, so you might even get lucky and spot the king of the jungle.

The guest cottages are great if you want to spend the night in the area but you don’t feel like sleeping in Beaufort West, and the restaurant will keep your tummy happy.

Back to “Beame road trip’s it along the N1 with Adel Groenewald”