The silence, mystery and pure beauty of the mountain tops creates memories that beckon deep into the soul. It is where the cool breeze rustles through the short-cropped and yellowed grasslands and it is the place where crazy black wildebeest herds galavant in circles, stirring up dust while grunting and whistling at one another. It is where endangered Cape mountain zebras create blurs of black and white stripes as they silhouette across the ridge lines and where eastern clapper larks dance with clapping wingbeats high in the sky before gravity once again plummets them back to the earth. It is where haunting calls of grey-winged francolins somehow accentuate the forever views across this magnificent and ancient Great Karoo landscape.
Largely unknown, Mount Camdeboo, where these images where all taken, is within the heartland of a major conservation rewilding project that is bringing private landowners, farmers, private game reserves and National Parks together in co-operation under the Mountain Zebra Camdeboo Protected Environment. This incredible initiative aims to highlight and protect the amazing biodiversity, beauty and stunning landscapes of the Great Karoo while maximising the socio-economic benefits that can be unlocked through the conservation economy. Through this year, I will be bringing regular updates of progress and of how Mount Camdeboo is helping to drive conservation and eco-tourism change.
