It’s been a long time since we’ve been to Mokala National Park, southwest of Kimberley in the Northern Cape. One of our favourite parks (granted, there are many!), we’ve been a few times . . . but not after prolonged, unusual rain. It’s a well-known fact that in 2025, Namibia, Botswana, the Karoo, Kruger, Mozambique, all have had a LOT of water.
The La Niña effect . . .
In fact . . . we arrived in the rain . . . but were rewarded with the most dramatic cloud formations. At left, the photograph is most deceptive of the length of the drift of water we had to negotiate, 100 metres or so.
The Great Karoo was as green as Mpumalanga, totally amazing. There can’t be many times we’ve seen it like this.
One of the things we simply love about Mokala is its brick-red Kalahari soils.
And then on to the absolutely marvellous Haak-en-Steek camp, a hugely private house and campsite (which is not populated if the house is occupied) overlooking its own waterhole. It’s like having your own daylong parade of wildlife . . . and in spite of the copious quantities of rain, the animals just kept on coming. Buffalo, eland, red hartebeest, Burchell’s zebra, blue wildebeest . . . We even had a Cardinal Woodpecker tapping away at a branch in front of us. Haak-en-Steek, means something like ‘hook and jab’, referring to the thorns of the Umbrella Thorn acacia. Mokala is a corruption of the Tswana name for the Camel Thorn acacia, all of which are prolific in the park.
Thank you to Clare Bosman for the photo! Our lovely abode for 3 glorious nights.
At left is the view we looked at every day across the waterhole. At right a hint at the calibre of wildlife that Mokala protects. We were gobsmacked at how prolific the numbers of the ungulates and antelope were, no doubt encouraged by the sweetness of the vegetation. The fluorescent green of that grass has not been doctored or modified. It’s the real deal!
Reflections in the sizable puddles everywhere in the park. Many roads were closed because the mud and water made the soil just too mushy. A LOT of vehicles would have got stuck. We negotiated some real tricky water drifts as it was. If you look closely, the nearly full Moon is reflected to the right of the upside down tree.
Two views of the same spot, early morning and sunset.
No words required . . .
Shadows and graphic lines . . . at right the walkway to the Stofdam bird-viewing hide.
This zebra foal’s mane was almost too large for his little head . . .
Huge herds of incredibly shiny, healthy-looking red hartebeest, here with a baby.
And I got to see my precious sable antelope — just look at that pair of horns! — although admittedly this one was spotted on a neighbouring game farm because the road to Lilydale, where the roan and sable roam on the grasslands, was closed. Thank you, Hirsh, for the wildlife photos. My tiny pocket camera just can’t compete.
An incredibly attractive picnic site in the park. We just couldn’t get over the apricot hues of the Kalahari soil.
Our feeling is that Mokala is a seriously underrated park. A really worthwhile trip . . .