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On Thursday 13 May we departed for a 4 day breakaway to the Tankwa Karoo National Park. We stayed in the Paulshoek cottage.



Late afternoon on our first day, I casually mentioned that I was going to light the donkey (wood-fire stoked geezer). Our little boy was terrified as the only donkeys he knows are the four legged variation on granddad’s farm. It took a lot of explaining to have him understand that we were not going to set fire to any live donkeys .



We had this little LBJ with only one functional leg around the house every day. He always kept his distance but seemed to enjoy our presence. Apart from little LBJ, we were visited by Namaqua Sandgrouse, Southern (Lesser) Double- collared Sunbirds and a Pale Chanting Goshawk (and some more LBJ’s ).



These two are enjoying the early morning sun as much as we did:



At nightfall we were surprised to see little LBJ actually sleeps in the cottage. Only then I realized why the bathroom window was left slightly open – birdie’s entry point each night. The photo was taken early on our last morning at Paulshoek. I wonder if anybody else had a similar experience.



The scenery around the cottage is arid but beautiful. We enjoyed every solitude minute. It is the absolute silence and remoteness that makes Tankwa so special to us.





We traveled more than 400 km dirt road to and from Tankwa, plus another +/- 80 km in the Park. The general condition of the roads is excellent and well maintained but due to its tyre-eating nature not really sedan friendly. Even those routes we traveled that were marked as “4x4 only” did not seem too bad and should be OK with a 4x2 with high clearance. The worse road was the Steenkampshoek one, which was a bit rocky.

All the staff we met was extremely friendly. In all Tankwa is a very enjoyable and sure to be repeated experience!

Beautiful pics Weskusklong. Glad no live donkeys were hurt in your travels

Thanks for this super mini report WeskusKlong
Lovely pics ..we spent one night there recently and i do need to go back. Nice to see some pics of the other accommodation.
Just love those landscapes.
Thanks for sharing
Caracal

Thanks so much, Weskus it looks a place to be visited.

Hi Weskus! Looks like the right place if you want peace, silence and space

Great start Weskusklong.
The pic of the "donkey" brings back memories of long long ago.
Beautiful view of the mountains.

Well done on great photos from Paulshoek cottage.I had to smile as we had stayed in the same cottage a week before for three nights(wonderful experience!)and were equally as curious to find out wether anyone else had enjoyed the company of the lame chat(?) at night. We timed him..18.20pm without fail he flew in and took up his night perch !