Sculpted by millions of years of harsh elemental exposure, South Africa’s remotest transfrontier park is a seemingly barren wilderness of lava rocks, human-like trees and sandy moonscapes studded with semiprecious stones. The 6000 sq km of surreal mountain desert joins South Africa’s Richtersveld National Park with Namibia’s |Ai-|Ais Hot Springs Game Park.
Accessible only by 4WD, the Richtersveld is South Africa’s final wild frontier. The park is enormous – the South African side alone covers 185,000 hectares – and is most beautiful during the spring wildflower season, when, like elsewhere in Namakwa, it turns into a technicolour wonderland. Hiking here anytime of year, is demanding but spectacular – trails traverse jagged peaks, grotesque rock formations, deep ravines and gorges in this upside-down-looking mountain desert.
Fill up your petrol tank and cooler before entering the park; there are no shops in the parks, and only one petrol station and a small general store, both at Sendelingsdrift. Neither is open on weekends.
