A lush Namaqua National Park gave Johan de Smidt the orange-carpet treatment when he had a crack at their new 4x4 eco-route. Along tracks to the West Coast, he found twitchy gemsbok, saucer-sized vygies and pottery shards at a former Bushman settlement.

Heaven knows what will run out first if the route gets any better than this − the memory cards or superlatives.

For the herd of alert red hartebeest snapping up their elegantly curved horns behind a clump of quiver trees across the rivulet form such a calendar picture, I’m worried it will crack the camera sensor.

In fact, it wouldn’t be surprising if the same hands-on Namaqua National Park staff who – with some help from the elements – had rolled out the orange daisy carpet in the Skilpad Wildflower Reserve, have told them to pose for us.

Equally well-timed is the July launch of the route to coincide with an early unfurling of spring flowers and flowing rivers in the normally arid park, some 20 km from the N7 town of Kamieskroon.

So thrilled have we been in the past hour since we started on the new Caracal Eco-route, we’ve only covered ten of the route’s some 200 km.
That’s a serious distance, but then it stretches from Skilpad to the Groen River Mouth on the West Coast in the far southwest of the park’s new 34 000-ha section.
At this rate, it’ll take us three days instead of the planned two to reach section ranger Piet Schreuder’s house at Groen River Mouth.

To top it all, our talisman in the Navara is ebullient game ranger Dirk van Schalkwyk who leads us to some of the park’s secrets: shards of pottery at a rock grooved by Bushmen sharpening arrows and a rock where tuskers used to rub themselves.

Furthermore, there are skittish gemsbok whose behaviour seem to indicate illegal hunting in the park. “I’ll have to return tonight to keep watch,” Dirk muses aloud.

Bushmen hunted here

It’s probably possible to do the route in 4-7 hours – if you take all the shortcuts and drive as if your house is on fire.

Ours wasn’t, so it took us fourteen hours as we stopped often and explored on foot.
If you really want to take the long way home, do as Piet suggests and complete the route over six days.

After waiting for those carpets of shy orange daisies (Ursinia cakelifolia) at Skilpad to come out and play despite the icy wind, Vanessa and I only extracted ourselves from our snug cottage at 11.30 and started on the route down the Kamiesberge.

You could do the same if you’re sleeping over at Luiperdskloof, a mountain cottage some 50 km from Skilpad, as it might take you five hours to get there if you take all the detours.

However, if you’re aiming for Platduin, the route’s first campsite some 11 hours from Skildpad (if you’re taking it easy), you’ll have to start at sparrow’s.

The first of five sections on the easy route, graded a moderate 3 in its most difficult parts, is a tame stretch of some 40 km from Skilpad down the Kamiesberge onto plains rich in game such as gemsbok and springbok, before an at times rough mountainous stretch of about 20 km.

A 30 km stretch of major gravel road connects the mountain section to the fourth, 45 km arid-fynbos stretch before the final, some 60 km coastal section from the Spoeg River Mouth to the end at the Groen River Mouth.

Apart from a former Bushman settlement next to a permanent rock pool and an oasis around the fountain of Kookfontein, the highlights of the first section are abundant game such as those photogenic red hartebeest.

We find the first of 14 numbered route signs − each marked with a caracal symbol − 16 km from the reserve.

The drive-by-numbers route means you don’t have to worry about getting lost, even if you don’t have a GPS.
Keep your eyes peeled for game now, as one of the best shots at seeing buck, especially in the dry summer months, is after the sign.

Just remember to watch out for flash floods in riverbeds shortly after rains.
Fortunately, the Swartlintjies River − at the bottom of a hill complete with quiver trees and all − is a trickle when we reach the crossing.

We turn off to a bubbling fountain at the nearby Kookfontein, where we find shady palm trees, a swimming dam and a mystery rock with a smoothly-worn angular strip just below shoulder-height.

“Elephants probably used to rub themselves here,” Dirk speculates. Campers will soon be able to try and figure it out for themselves, as a campsite with basic ablutions is being planned here.

Soon afterwards, we’re standing on a knoll where Bushmen left behind signs of a settlement. About halfway between the third and fourth signs, Dirk has lead us down a sidetrack at a spot he calls Dikmelk-khous (“Thick-milk drinking place”).

The permanent rock pool at the end of the sidetrack must have been what attracted the Bushmen to settle on this rise.
Dirk hunts around and finds shards of pottery and ostrich shell.
He also points out three parallel, smoothly worn grooves in the rock where the hunters probably used to sharpen arrows.
They feel so near, you half expect them to pop out from behind a nearby dikmelkbos.

Returning from the time warp to the route, we turn off on a mountainous loop to Luiperdskloof cottage and the Wildeperdehoek Pass.

If your house is on fire, continue past this turnoff on the shortcut to the coastal section. Fortunately, our only emergency is the lack of radio commentary on the crunch first test between the Boks and the Kiwis.