The Karoo

There is a large part of the interior of South Africa that looks like parts of Utah and Wyoming. Dry, vast, with scrubby vegetation and bluffs and mesas. It is uniquely beautiful. On June 15, we visited the Karoo National Park near Beaufort West.

This could be Utah, right?

There was a lot of wildlife (game, they call it here), some of which we also saw in Kruger and Parys, and some of which was new.

Black-backed Jackal. Rare sighting because it's normally nocturnal. Guess who spotted it? If you guessed Brooke, you're right.

Lots of ostrich. Here's a whole family.

Here was our favorite antelope, the gemsbock. The guy wins the prize for antelope fashion. Clean lines, unique, but not too flashy.

Marin and Sophia on the fossil trail, learning about Therapsids, who lived in this area 250 million years ago (30 million years before the dinosaurs). Take that, T-Rex.