Mountain Zebra National Park is located in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It was established in July 1937 to provide a nature reserve for the endangered Cape mountain zebra. The park is surrounded by 896,146 hectares (2,214,420 acres) of the Mountain Zebra-Camdeboo Protected Environment.
History
In the early 1930s, the Cape mountain zebra was close to disappearing. In 1938, the National Parks Board of Trustees set aside a 17.12 km (6.61 sq mi) area for the zebra’s protection after buying the farm Babylons Toren in Cradock the year before. At that time, the park had only five male zebras and one female, which was too small to grow the population. By 1950, only two male zebras remained. A nearby farmer, Mr. H. L. Lombard, helped increase the population by giving eleven zebras to the park—five males and six females.
By 1964, there were only 25 zebras in the park. At this time, the park’s size was expanded to 65.36 km (25.24 sq mi), and Paul Michau donated six zebras to the park. After this, the zebra population grew steadily to about 140. In 1975, zebras were moved back to the Western Cape and placed in the De Hoop Nature Reserve.
Since 1978, moving zebras to new areas has been part of the park’s management plan. As of 2015, the park’s herd had more than 700 zebras, and about 20 zebras were relocated each year. Over the years, more farms were bought to expand the park to its current size of 284 km (110 sq mi).
Fauna
Other mammals living in the park include caracal, Cape buffalo, black rhinoceros, eland, black wildebeest, red hartebeest, gemsbok, and grey rhebok. In 2007, cheetahs from Southeast Africa were brought back to the area. In 2013, three lions were released into the park. A special fence stops large predators from entering nearby farmland. The camps inside the park are also fenced.
- Eland
- Red hartebeest
- Gemsbok
- Cape buffalo
- Mountain zebra harem
- Blesbok
- Springbok
- Black rhinoceros
- Caracal
- Lion
- Ground squirrel
- Meerkat
- Blue korhaan
- Pale chanting goshawk
- Blue crane
- Ostrich
- Brown-hooded kingfisher
Flora
The park has these types of trees:
- Rapanea melanophloeos (Cape beech)
- Rhus lancea ("Karee")
- Olive
- Leucosidea sericea ("Ouhout")
- Vachellia karroo
- Buddleja salviifolia (sage)
Tourism infrastructure
- There are 19 family cottages with 76 beds total. Each cottage can sleep 4 people.
- One swimming pool is available for guests staying overnight.
- One camping area has 20 sites. Each site can sleep up to 6 people.
- Restroom and kitchen facilities are available at the campsite.
- One guest house can sleep 6 people.
- Two overnight huts, each can sleep 10 people. These huts are for hiking trails. There are about 39 kilometers of hiking trails available.
Visitor numbers
From April 1, 2017, to March 31, 2018, the park had 31,210 visitors, which is an increase from 27,965 visitors the year before. This increase of 11.6% put the park in the top five SANParks for the highest percentage growth in visitors compared to the previous year.