Sendelingsdrif Rest Camp Richtersveld Park SANParks

Rugged kloofs, high mountains and dramatic landscapes that sweep inland from the Orange River, divulge the fact that you are now in the vast mountain desert that is the Richtersveld National Park, an area managed jointly by the local Nama people and the South African National Parks. This is a harsh and unpredictable land where water is scarce and life-sustaining moisture comes in the form of early morning fog, called ‘Ihuries’ or ‘malmokkies’ by the local people, which rolls in from the cold waters of the Atlantic Ocean, sustaining a remarkable range of small reptiles, birds and mammals. A staggering assortment of plant life, some species occurring nowhere else, is to be found here, with gnarled quiver trees, tall aloes and quaint ‘half-mens’ keeping vigil over this inscrutable landscape.

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