The Richtersveld Transfrontier National Park is a 4x4 only destination. Sedans and other city cars simply won’t handle the rough terrain. Guests are also forbidden from travelling at night.

The park is located in South Africa’s Northern Cape and the easiest way to enter would be to head to the entrance gate via Port Nolloth and Alexander Bay which are about 90km away from the park. For a more scenic adventure, guests can travel through the villages of Lekkersing, Eksteensfontein and Kuboes.

The Richtersveld Transfrontier National Park is a 4x4 only destination. Sedans and other city cars simply won’t handle the rough terrain. Guests are also forbidden from travelling at night.

The park is located in South Africa’s Northern Cape and the easiest way to enter would be to head to the entrance gate via Port Nolloth and Alexander Bay which are about 90km away from the park. For a more scenic adventure, guests can travel through the villages of Lekkersing, Eksteensfontein and Kuboes.

The Richersveld is one of South Africa’s youngest national parks having only been proclaimed in 1991. It took 18 years of careful negotiation between the National Parks Board and the Nama people, whose home is deep within the Richtersveld, to come to an agreement as to how the park would be managed. Today, the park is in the hands of the Nama people and SAN Parks, with the Nama people leasing land to the board. When travelling through the park, guests can occasionally see the locals tending to their livestock as they continue to live and work in the park.

As a desert landscape, life in the Richtersveld is anything but predictable. Water doesn’t come easy here and most of this essential essence takes the form of fog and dew. Each morning, a dense fog blows in from the Atlantic Ocean and alone it is capable of sustaining life for both the plants and small animals which live here. Visiting the park means having to be very careful about the amount of water you plan to bring along. Unlike other parks, with their rest camps and picnic spots, finding a tap is hard to come by.

Along with all kinds of desert adapted animals, the park is home to incredible birdlife as well as some 650 plant species. The Nama people have various uses for about 150 of the species, using the plants for medicinal, nutritional, and in some cases, even cosmetic purposes. If you are a lover of succulents, the Richtersveld will not disappoint you. One of the most incredible succulents you’ll spot is the halfmens, which is a tall plant that looks very much like a human. Dotted all over the desert, more than one park guest has believed that they are seeing people standing out in the baking heat, only to find that on closer inspection, what they thought was a person was in fact this plant.

The desert is not completely without a water source. The Gariep River creates the parks northern border and it is just about the only standing water to be found in the entire region.

With the rocks and rough desert sands, it is easy to believe that you are travelling on another planet altogether. The colours of the desert are indescribable and utterly enthralling. The Richtersveld is every photographers dream destination. Golds, pinks, purples and yellows capture the eyes in ways you’ve never experienced before as you make your way across this unique landscape. Here and there white quartz rocks will draw your attention back to the earth where you will be captivated once more by the gorgeous colour display of the sand and plants.

Seeing as the Richtersveld is a desert park, taking note of the climate and the intense temperatures is a vital part of your planning. The only way to describe the Richtersveld is to say that it is dry. Day time temperatures have recorded highs of 53 degrees Celsius while the evening temperatures can plunge to extreme colds, especially in winter. Upon waking in the morning, you’ll be greeted by a blanket of dew which covers everything left out. So it is important to pack away everything at night if you don’t want to be faced with damp things in the morning.