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Over the years we used to visit Kruger NP and KTP regularly and decided it was time for a change.

Next year we want to visit some of the smaller parks - Karoo, Camdeboo, MZP and Addo - we have however done Addo twice before.

We are camping with an off-road trailer, no kids.

I am looking forward to receive your ideas / suggestions on how long to stay at each park (average), what to look out for, routes inside the parks to travel (i.e. the normal routes or 4x4 trails?), which camps to book (i.e. I know there are more than 1 camping area in Addo), etc.

Any ideas or suggestions will be welcomed.

Thanks.

Blackie

Best idea you could have!!!!

We did MZNP, Addo and Karoo a few weeks ago and it was wonderful!!!

Thanks, LQ. Any ideas of what we should do / should'nt do, etc? Did you do a trip report yet?

Regards

Blackie.

Nice trip you are about to plan Blackie.
First advice I can give you is, don't go in winter.
We have done a tour MZ, Addo, (Bontebok), Agulhas, Karoo. In winter.
I would say at least 2 or 3 days stay over at each park.

Best idea we had, was to ask for our breakfast at Karoo to be a take away. Toasted cheese-tomato, chips, fruit and water...........and then do the 4X4 drives nice and early.

We stopped and had our breakfast in the middle of no where and it was stunning to sit there and look at nature with no other cars in sight!!!

Great idea Blackie! We have done Karoo, MZNP and Addo in one trip, and loved it! The park that we loved the most - MZNP. How much time have you got for the trip? As far as winter goes - if you are camping you will have to deal with very cold temperatures, however - best chance of seeing aardwolf and aardvark during the day!

MZNP has two 4X4 routes and both is really worth doing. They don't take that long and you see a part of the park you would not otherwise.......and they are not difficult ( well that's what SO said!!)

Only thing is that in that part of the park there is no picnic sites.........so it could become a bit of a problem if you need to take a nature break!!!

We saw an aardwolf at 15H00 which was wonderful!!!

There's two TR's at this stage on MZNP.......will give you the links now now.

I haven't started with my TR..........still need to finish my Kgalagadi one!!!!

Landscapes and LambChops - Golden Gate & MZNP, April 2011

Mountain Zebra NP : what a special place

The 4x4 routes is a must.
There could have been more picnic sites.

Thanks everyone for the great feedback thusfar!

Guess I should have given more info at the outset but I just wanted to test the waters first!

My provisional plan look like this:

21 to 24/3/2013: Karoo NP (4 nights)
25 to 27/3/2013: Camdeboo NP (3 nights)
28 to 30/3/2013: MZNP (3 nights)
31 to 04/4/2013: Addo NP (5 nights)
05 to 07/4/2013: Baviaanskloof (Eastern Cape Parks Board Reserve) (3 nights)
08 to 09/4/2013: Stormsriver Mouth (2 nights)
10 to 11/4/2013: Somewhere along the Garden Route onroute South (2 nights)
12 to 13/4/2013: Bontebok NP (2 nights)

Now that the news is off the press, any suggestions of where to stay longer / shorter, where to do what, etc?

Any comments on the difficulty of any of the 4x4 routes within these parks? I want to do some of them but this time around want to do them for the experience out in nature and not to challenge my 4x4 abilities!

Thanks again for the feedback and also those still to come - this is really a great forum!

Blackie

It looks good to me Blackie.

Looks good Blackie.

I would suggest Ebb and Flow for your other park on the return trip, especially if you like birding.

I would suggest less time for Karoo and Camdeboo and more for MZNP, which is a gem! Be sure to sign up for their cheetah tracking activity, it's brilliant — unforgettable to be less than 5 meters from a wild cheetah on foot I spent 4 nights at MZNP (Sept 2011) and would happily have spent 4 more, it's full of surprises!

Hi Blackie, did this tour in opposite direction in march this year..TR link below.

I agree with Arks, also a couple of garden route camps could be tried.

As amateurs we enjoyed the Karoo and MZNP 4x4 trails.


Have fun planning...

Agree with your suggestion, Rookie