SANParks.org Forums

Hi all,
My wife and I just spent a glorious three days at bontebok Although it was pretty hot during the day, we were helped to keep cool by a strong wind and a refreshing swim in the river The nights were heavenly, calm, cool and peaceful, we sat up till late enjoying the sounds of the bush and admiring the millions of stars The sunsets were beautiful, three very different ones each night and all gorgeous The walks that we could go on were well worth it and not too strenuous The longest was closed due to the flood in Nov 08 as was the picnic site which they are redoing Would have loved to have seen them. We were visited daily by a large tortoise, hundreds of birds and on our last two mornings by three bontebok The drives were also great and there are some lovely view points. Our only wish is that they improve the road to the rest camp, very rough in parts and hair raising when towing a caravan. We have some lovely pics and will post them later. We can't wait to visit the park again, will try it in a different season too.

Hi Toktokkie,
Warm welcome to the forum !

Am so glad that you had a great visit ! Am looking forward to the pics !

Looking forward to your pics TT!

You certainly make Bontebok sound like a lovely place to visit. On to my list it goes

Hi Matthys and Dinkybird Thanks for your replies, am just trying to figure out how to post some pics, not very bright when it comes to technology

Posting pics is daunting at first, but you will get it right

Have a read here - and you are welcome to PM me, and I can email you further hints.

Hi there, here are some pics of our Bontebok stay, this is a view of the chalets amongst the bushes from the swimming area.



This is a view of the swimming area in the Breede River.



This is a view of the campsite.



These are the chalets at Bontebok.



This a young Bontebok that came for breakfast with 2 others in the camp.



Another bokkie, think it is a Grys Rhebok.



A lovely bird, think it may be a Black Shouldered Kite, please correct us if we are wrong.



A couple of scenery pics.





A sunset over the river.

Thank you for sharing your pics! They really are lovely and the park looks so special

Thank you Toktokkie !
Great pics

Thanks guys,
The park is special, and being so close to us, only 2-3 hours drive we could go fairly regularly to escape the rat race. We have been to other National Parks and so far are really happy wherever we have been. Karoo National is a big favourite, and we loved Augrabies, Golden Gate, Addo and Wilderness too. This year we are planning a trip to Karoo National, Camdeboo, Mountain Zebra and Tsitsikamma, Can't wait

Toktokkie, welcome to the forum. Glad to see that you like Bontebok NP - and so do we. The good news is that the current improvement operations in the Park will see to it that you will in future, be entering the Park directly from the N2, (the new entrance being a few hundred metres or so before the current entrance, coming from CT) which means you will no longer need to drive the gravel road that passes a municipal dump (?) to get to a Nature Conservation Park. Also, the Picnic Area is being upgraded, although we did not find it to be lacking at all! We have done all the hikes the Park has to offer and would highly recommend the hike that takes you to the picinc site, but, with the devastation of the recent floods, I understand that there is a lot of cleaning up to be done. Hope you enjoyed your visit!

OH! nice pics. Love your sunset Pic.

Thanks for the info & pics toktokie.
Nice to see that they haven't messed with my swimming pool

Hi Munchkin, really good news about moving the entrance to Bontebok, must say it is a bit disconcerting driving past a municipal dump to a lovely place like that. I also saw a notice at reception, that they will be building a new reception too, so it looks like they are planning a general revamp. Hope they don't go overboard, because I really enjoyed the park as it is.
And yes BB, your swimming pool is heavenly! Hope you didn't mind us using it!

Hi again, just felt inspired to post a few more pics of Bontebok after reading about and viewing pics of other peoples trips. Also need to practise posting pics as I tend to forget things if I don't repeat doing them a few times. I must also say I was so glad to see both foreign tourists and locals at the park, all enjoying the peace and tranquility, lovely that they all also appreciate the smaller parks.

Here is a lovely healthy looking Bontebok, then two bontebok babies who had been playing, they were very cute, unfortunately one turned away at the wrong moment. Then there are two Mountain Zebra, unfortunately I zoomed in a bit too much.







I loved the way these three mousebirds sat in the tree, and this is the tortoise who popped in for a visit each day.





Here are two views of the river from our walk up Aloe Hill,and another of the lovely landscape.







Lastly three sunset set pics, the first on our first night there, the second on our second night, the colours that night were spectacular, but once again I zoomed in a little too much. And of course the third on our last night.

Thanks for more pics tt, you may use my pool whenever you like