Give Goegap a go

You’ve either never heard of Goegap Nature Reserve, or you know exactly where it is and you hope others will never find out about this accessible spot where it feels like you’re the only person in Namaqualand!

- WILLEM VAN DER BERG

Maybe people don’t take Goegap seriously because it’s so close to Springbok: The entrance gate is only 15km south-east of town. Or maybe people think it’s too small (150km²) to have a real wilderness feel. Plus, it’s in Namaqualand, and when people hear that name they only think of wildflowers. When it’s not flower season, they drive on to better-known destinations like the Richtersveld and southern Namibia.

But Goegap’s location is exactly what makes it special. The reserve is on the border of South Africa’s winter and summer rainfall regions, with granite mountains and sandy flats in between that will remind you of Bushmanland. You can visit at any time of the year and you won’t be bored.

Maxie Jonk has been the reserve manager for 18 years and she still gets excited when she talks about Goegap: “You can’t compare it to any other reserve because you won’t find this landscape anywhere else. I love all the high-lying areas on the 4x4 and hiking trails, where you can look out over everything.”

The reserve was established after the Okiep Copper Mining Company donated 40km² of land to the Provincial Administration of the Cape of Good Hope in the 1960s. There was a slime dam belonging to the Carolusberg Copper Mine on this land; you can still see it when you drive in.

When the reserve was proclaimed in 1966, it was named the Hester Malan Nature Reserve, after the wife of Nico Malan, then Administrator of the Province of the Cape of Good Hope.