Summer at Golden Gate

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Our New Year’s visit to Golden Gate Highlands National Park marked the final stop on our three-week long bush holidays. For this final leg, we were joined by Marilize’s parents and my sister and brother-in law at Glen Reenen Rest Camp.

Glen Reenen, Golden Gate Highlands National Park, December 2014

Glen Reenen, Golden Gate Highlands National Park, December 2014

This Park may have been proclaimed originally to safeguard the awesome mountain scenery, but the hills and valleys are also home to a pleasing variety of birds and animals. We found most of the game concentrated towards the east of the Park, around the Basotho Cultural Village.

Glen Reenen
Clean and crisp mountain water
Red hartebeest
Re hartebeest dwarfed by Golden Gate’s scenery b
Eland herd
Springbok
Springbok
Black wildebeest
Springbok
Golden Gate scenery
Golden Gate scenery
Golden Gate scenery
Golden Gate scenery
Blesbuck
Black-backed jackal
Golden Gate scenery
Cape Bunting
Cape weaver (female)
Golden Gate scenery
Baboon acrobats

Golden Gate’s magnificent scenery and hidden jewels are best enjoyed along the many walking trails traversing the area. Have a look at the posts we dedicated to the Brandwag, Echo Ravine and Mushroom Rocks walks, three shorter hikes that are ideal introductions to this mountain ecosystem.

Which way to go?
A trail with a view
Looking back out of the gorge
Looking up
Floral splendour at Golden Gate Highlands National Park

Golden Gate Highlands National Park was another highlight of the trip and a perfect setting to conclude a wonderful holiday. Quality time spent with dear family saw us home in good spirits and strength for the year that lay in wait. And just to be sure the Park is still as beautiful as we remember it, we’ll return soon enough. We simply can’t stay away from a place this magical.

 

Golden Gate 30122014
Golden Gate 31122014
Golden Gate 01012015
Golden Gate Highlands National Park
Rapid in Little Caledon

We didn’t think three weeks in the bush would fly past as quickly as it did. We started of with two nights at Chelmsford Nature Reserve, then three nights at Ithala Game Reserve, three nights at uMkhuze Game Reserve, three nights at Lake Saint Lucia, five nights in Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park, one night at Midmar Dam, and finally four nights at Golden Gate Highlands National Park. By the time we reached home back in Pretoria again, we had covered a distance of 4022km between and in some of our favourite South African wild places. An epic December bush holiday indeed.

Dec14 Bush Trip

Our route between 13 December 2014 and 3 January 2015 (map drawn from Google Maps)

 

 

 

 

22 thoughts on “Summer at Golden Gate”

  1. Pingback: Our 2015 in pictures | de Wets Wild

  4. Spokie sny spoor

    Sjoe – uitsonderlike reeks fotos. Mal oor die vlamme van die sonsondergang. Die silwer van die waters, prag van die diere. Hierdie hoort in ‘n boek. Baie spesiaal. Jy doen soveel moeite. Waardeer.

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