Live The Journey

Trail Review Karoo National Park — 4X4 Eco Trails.

One of the greatest advantages of experiencing new 4x4 tracks is the taking of roads less travelled to get there. And the back roads from Bot River to the Karoo National Park, via Sutherland, certainly made a worthwhile detour.

On our first day, my travelling partner, Lionel ‘Tau’ Williams (his Setswana nickname, meaning Lion, will be explained later) and I got off the N2 as quickly as possible and made for Swellendam on the Klipfontein dirt track. From there to Sutherland, we chose dirt tracks wherever we could, losing ourselves in the world behind the scenes − passing through towns and waypoints such as Suurbraak, Gysmanshoek Pass (a Grade 1, 4x4 track, especially after heavy rains), Brandrivier, Ronnie’s Sex Shop, Plathuis, Hondewater and Laingsburg.

But the most pleasing and scenically-spectacular back road we travelled in our quest to reach the 4x4 Eco Trails of the Karoo National Park was the 230km dirt track from Sutherland, over the flourishing Bo-Karoo landscape and down the dramatic Rooiberg Pass to the moon-like landscapes of the lower-lying Koup Karoo around Merweville.

From this quaint Karoo town (with its Edwardian-styled houses, some with decurved corrugated iron roofs topping their stoeps, the authentically renovated Karoo cottages, and the imposing NG Church overlooking all from Letterkop hill), we made our way to our overnight stop at Olijvenhuis cottage just outside Beaufort West some 130km away.

Having confirmed our trip to the park only 10 days before we were due to leave, we’d not been able to secure accommodation in the park itself. But this initial disappointment eventually led us to this brand new self-catering cottage (which was excellent value) on a small olive farm just 5km east of Beaufort West, and only about 12km from the Karoo National Park.