The Goegap Nature Reserve is a semi-desert nature reserve in

Northern Cape The Northern Cape is the largest and most sparsely populated province of South Africa. It was created in 1994 when the Cape Province was split up. Its capital is Kimberley. It includes the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park, part of the Kgalagadi ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring count ...

and lies around east of

Springbok The springbok (''Antidorcas marsupialis'') is a medium-sized antelope found mainly in south and southwest Africa. The sole member of the genus ''Antidorcas'', this bovid was first described by the German zoologist Eberhard August Wilhelm ...

. The area was once used to graze livestock and was proclaimed in 1966 as a reserve then fenced in 1969 and wildlife introduced shortly afterward. It was originally known as the Hester Malan Nature Reserve. After several extensions, the park currently covers an area of . The name ''Goegap'' comes from the

Khoekhoe Khoekhoen (singular Khoekhoe) (or Khoikhoi in the former orthography; formerly also '' Hottentots''"Hottentot, n. and adj." ''OED Online'', Oxford University Press, March 2018, www.oed.com/view/Entry/88829. Accessed 13 May 2018. Citing G. S. ...

word for "watering hole."

Geography

Goegap is part of the

Succulent Karoo The Succulent Karoo is a ecoregion defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature to include regions of desert in South Africa and Namibia, and a biodiversity hotspot. The geographic area chosen by the WWF for what they call 'Succulent Karoo' does n ...

transitioning into the

Namaqualand Namaqualand ( khoekhoe: "Nama-kwa" meaning Nama Khoe people's land) is an arid region of Namibia and South Africa, extending along the west coast over and covering a total area of . It is divided by the lower course of the Orange River in ...

Broken Veld, with an average rainfall of per annum. The temperatures are extreme, including

frost Frost is a thin layer of ice on a solid surface, which forms from water vapor in an above- freezing atmosphere coming in contact with a solid surface whose temperature is below freezing, and resulting in a phase change from water vapor (a g ...

in the winter and temperatures over in the summer. The area includes wide, sandy plains and mountains, the highest is Carolusberg at . There are roads for normal cars and tracks for

4x4 Four-wheel drive, also called 4×4 ("four by four") or 4WD, refers to a two-axled vehicle drivetrain capable of providing torque to all of its wheels simultaneously. It may be full-time or on-demand, and is typically linked via a transfer case ...

in the reserve. Looping trails ranging in length from 2 to 17 km start from the succulent garden.

Biodiversity

The main attraction is the

desert bloom A desert bloom is a climatic phenomenon that occurs in various deserts around the world. The phenomenon consists of the blossoming of a wide variety of flowers during early-mid spring in years when rainfall is unusually high. The blossoming oc ...

that covers the sand with flowers in the spring provided enough winter rain. August and September are the most popular months to visit. Around 600 known plant species have been found here along with 45 mammal species and 94 types of bird.

Birds

Bird species found in the reserve include Cape eagle-owl,

Black eagle The black eagle (''Ictinaetus malaiensis'') is a bird of prey. Like all eagles, it is in the family Accipitridae, and is the only member of the genus ''Ictinaetus''. They soar over forests in the hilly regions of tropical and subtropical South ...

, Booted eagle, Ludwig’s bustard, White-backed mousebird, Karoo eremomela, Dusky sunbird,

ostriches Ostriches are large flightless birds of the genus ''Struthio'' in the order Struthioniformes, part of the infra-class Palaeognathae, a diverse group of flightless birds also known as ratites that includes the emus, rheas, and kiwis. There ar ...

, spotted dikkops and Ground woodpecker.

Mammals

Megafauna such as

oryx ''Oryx'' is a genus consisting of four large antelope species called oryxes. Their pelage is pale with contrasting dark markings in the face and on the legs, and their long horns are almost straight. The exception is the scimitar oryx, which ...

, klipspringer,

duiker A duiker is a small to medium-sized brown antelope native to sub-Saharan Africa, found in heavily wooded areas. The 22 extant species, including three sometimes considered to be subspecies of the other species, form the subfamily Cephalophinae ...

, and the endangered Hartmann's mountain zebras call the park home. Other wildlife include smaller mammals, 26 reptile species, and 3 amphibian species.

Vegetation

The ''Hester Malan Wild Flower Garden'' features a succulent garden and a rock garden. The information library has valuable resources on the

succulent plant In botany, succulent plants, also known as succulents, are plants with parts that are thickened, fleshy, and engorged, usually to retain water in arid climates or soil conditions. The word ''succulent'' comes from the Latin word ''sucus'', meani ...

s of

to accompany the planted and labeled examples of the featured succulents.

Gallery

File:Suráfrica, Goegap 14.jpg File:Suráfrica, Goegap 17.jpg File:Namaqualand, Goegap 1003.jpg File:Namaqualand, Goegap 0035.jpg

References

{{commons category, Goegap Nature reserves in South Africa 1966 establishments in South Africa