Jesa Caravan Park

While they're in Graaff-Reinet, gardeners and cactus-fans should find time to visit the Obesa Nursery, a living sculpture park of prickly plants and succulents, some of which look simply out of this world. It's a good intro to the surrounding semi-desert Karoo region: vast, not even definitively drawn on any maps, but full of wonders... many of them not far from Jesa. A 10-minute drive takes you to the Nqweba Dam, where visitors fish, canoe and kayak the waters, spot rare mountain zebra, kudu, buffalo and black eagles as they hike through the surrounding Camdeboo Nature Reserve. Climb Spandau Kop for views that go on forever and don’t miss a walk through the Valley of Desolation, an area of sheer cliffs and dolerite columns created by 100 million years of geological forces and now home to a fine array of rare beasts and birds, including the heaviest flying thing on the planet, the Kori bustard. If you miss any of the wildlife on your list, don’t worry, it’s an hour and twenty minutes to the Mountain Zebra National Park for guided walks and drives on the trail of cheetahs, black rhinos and other wild beauties, big and small. If you're heading southwards next, Port Elizabeth and the Indian Ocean are around two and a half hours' drive away.