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14.02.2008 West Coast National Park
We arrived in Cape Town on a rainy morning with 19 degrees. As we managed to get through the town there was nothing to see of table mountain and the city from Bloubergstrand. It was too early for check-in at the hotel and we decided to have a short glimps at West Coast National Park this morning.
Our wild card was expired and we had to get a renewal at the West Coast National Park's office in Langebaan. There were no signs in Langebaan where to find this office, but when we were close to it we saw the sign in front of the building.

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In the mean time it was only a bit cloudy no rain any more.
The entrance of West Coast National Park has a new building, our last visit to this park was during the flower season 2005.

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Right after the gate there is a sign warning you should pay attention to tortoises and there they were ...

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On our way to Geelbek there were so many road crossing fellows. Funny to see more tortoises than cars.

At noon it became sunny and nice warm. After a wonderful lunch at Geelbek restaurant we saw many ostrichs in this area.
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During our last visit in the flower season we only saw an ostrich and one tortoise. So we already had more sightings as during our last day visit.

Abrahamskraal was as peaceful as I remembered it. Balm for my eyes which haven't seen fresh green during the last months in the european winter.
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and again some ostrichs ...
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After watching some ducks swim in the water at Abrahamskraal we were on our way back to the tarred road. Suddenly a brown stick disappeared into the bush. We drove back, but no success with this dense bush. Perhaps a snake crossed the gravel road.
It was time to leave for the hotel, but we had to stop at Seeberg view point before we left the park. A lazy dassie enjoyed the afternoon sun on a rock.

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... and Seeberg view point offers great views of this wonderful landscape.
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Thank you wanderw and arks for your nice comments. Yes,there is more to come ...
arks you are right, Tsaarsbank is a must-see. We did not have an overnight stay in the park, so I don't know the Duinepos chalets.
So here is the second day.

15.02.2008 West Coast National Park
We started with a visit of the bird hide near Seeberg and surprised a steenbok with our presence. It soon disappeared into the dense bush.
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On our walk to the bird hide there were more ostrichs, a little mouse and many spiderwebs in the bushes. The birds were very busy this morning ...
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It started raining again when we drove close to Tsaarsbank. Every now and then a raptor watched the area in the rain. I didn't expect to see any of the bigger game during my visit, but when we were at the crossing of Postberg entrance and Tsaarsbank we saw bonteboks laying in the wet grass.
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We were the only ones at Tsaarsbank, no wonder you could hardly see the ship wreck because of the rain. A curious sea gull came to my side of the car, raindrops at it's back.

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Tsaarsbank on a rainy morning, no good for a picture of the ship wreck, but entertainment by the sea gulls.

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Back at the bonteboks we saw them walking in the dunes.

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Now only the elands were missing.

After lunch the sun came back and I wanted to visit Tsaarsbank again to get my picture of the ship wreck which I saw during my last visit in the flower season. Close to Geelbek we had our second eland sighting in a South African National Park. We saw the first ones at Golden Gate National Park, but they were very far away. Now they were close to the road.

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At Atlantic view point we saw another ostrich walking in the dunes ...

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... and enjoyed the view of the Geelbek area.

they don't: at Saldahna Steel they are all pink, seriously, there is even a sign up saying there is nothing wrong with the gulls, but if they want to hang around the steel works then they will end up pink

lovely report Sable ....you were just "down the road" from where I live

Tsaarsbank was as quiet as in the morning. A black oystercatcher on a rock in the sun watched the sea.

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... and I got my picture of the ship wreck.
We ended our visit on a quiet bird hide at Geelbek.

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A nice walkway leads to the hide.

We had two very relaxing days and were surprised how many sightings are possible when there are not that much visitors in the park. The elands were of course the highlight of our visit, I expected them to hide away in the Postberg area where there are no visitors at this time of the year.
This park is definitely worth a visit even when there is no flower season. A great start for a four weeks holiday in South Africa!

More West Coast National Park impressions ... our video.
No stripes at the West Coast? As if!

West Coast National Park


Reports 2008
West Coast National Park
Cape of Good Hope National Park and Boulders
Karoo National Park, Addo Elephant National Park,
Mountain Zebra National Park

Thank you all.

Jackal, I had been to WCNP in 2005 during the flower season.
It was before I joined the forum, so there is no report, but there are some pictures.

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The flower season is wonderful, but then the park is much more busy with visitors.
I didn't expect that so many animals are living there.
During our visit in 2005 we only saw a few ostrichs.
This year we saw so many of them that I stopped counting.
I read that there are bonteboks and elands and I thought they can only be seen by regular visitors which come to this nice park more often, but I was blessed with wonderful sightings.

Reports 2008
West Coast National Park
Cape of Good Hope National Park and Boulders
Karoo National Park, Addo Elephant National Park,
Mountain Zebra National Park
Camdeboo National Park
Kruger National Park