Boxing Day 2013 saw us heading back to one of our favourite South African wild places – the spectacular Golden Gate Highlands National Park in the eastern Free State Province.
We had three nights booked at Glen Reenen Rest Camp. Our unit offered a beautiful view of the mountains surrounding us, and the camp is frequented by a wide variety of birds and animals. Sitting on the verandah we were surrounded by paradise.
Glen Reenen Rest Camp
Glen Reenen Rest Camp
Crested Barbet
Ice Rat
Ice Rat
Robin
Cape White-eye
Cape Weaver male
Cape Weaver female
Baboons often pass through camp looking for scraps and stealing from the accommodation units
Baboons often pass through camp looking for scraps and stealing from the accommodation units
Cape Canary
Cape turtle dove
Weaver
Red-winged Starlings
Glen Reenen Rest Camp
Difficult as it was to wrestle ourselves away from Glen Reenen’s peaceful surroundings, we made the most of all the activities available (when the weather allowed). Driving around, horse-riding or hiking – take your pick!
Gladstone stables
Hiking trails
Sandstone Valley viewpoint
Dolerite Dyke viewpoint
Thanks to the good rainfall all the streams in the park were flowing strongly.
A visit to a National Park would not be the same without the animals and birds that find sanctuary there! Our most special sighting of this trip? Two specimens of the rare bearded vulture passing overhead!
Blesbok crossing
Black wildebeest
Black wildebeest
Plains zebra
Plains zebra
Blesbok herd
Blesbok
Grey rhebok
Black wildebeest
Bearded vulture
Black-backed jackal
Black-backed jackal
Black-backed jackal
Black-winged Kite
Amur Falcon
Black wildebeest
We also posted a couple of pictures while we were in the Park. On the 26th of December a thunderstorm welcomed us back to the Park, on the 27th we chased the end of the rainbow and on the 28th we marveled at the cloud formations passing overhead.
Our regular readers will know that Golden Gate Highlands National Park has a very special place in our hearts. If you’d like to know more about this beautiful place, have a look at the special post we published on the occasion of the Park’s 50th birthday.
DeWetsWild 