Tankwa Karoo National Park — Attraction in Hantam Local Municipality

A Magical Place!! I loved Tankwa but never got enough time to explore it. Its wild, remote and beautiful but not for the faint hearted and NOT for a 2x4 and a trailer. We took our Nissan X-Trial and a Venter trailer of which we had to replace two tyres (thanks to the stoney environment) and a trailer which snapped on heavily corrugated roads once entering the reserve. If you are travelling during the rains, definitely only go with a 4x4. We had rains and after attempting to leave via the main entries, had to get assistance out of the goey mud and flooded rivers and eventually headed home via the only accessible road for a 2x4 under these conditions - Sutherland. A 4 hour journey became 10!

We stayed at Elandsberg and as all SAN Parks, the cottages are lovely but not well maintained. Taps are not secured tightly enough and pipes are leaking in the walls.The plunge pool is a real blessing and the vistas unbelievable. Its also HOT, well over 40 degrees during our stay.

The reception is 20km away from Elandsberg and there is no signal from the time you leave the roads at Ceres, Calvinia and Sutherland. Reception are not familiar with road conditions or routes so do your homework before you head out to Tankwa. If you breakdown or get stuck you are 100% reliant on other guests to help, which can be several hours apart.

This is a magnificent part of our country and next time we will go back but with our Landy...

Five stars for nature, minus three stars for maintenance. I am a frequent visitor to many SANParks and am mostly overwhelmed with the natural majesty that this department is able to maintain across the country and the welcoming atmosphere of most (not all) reserves. However, in my most recent visit to Tankwa Karoo National Park, I was shocked by the extremely poor quality of the roads, specifically inside the park (most of the roads just outside the park were in great condition). I had to drive on approximately 200 km of corrugated roads, which cost me a tire and a lot of unnecessary stress (I drove a Suzuki Jimny with lower-pressure tires, not a rented "city car" with tar-tight tires, so the damage was unexpected). These road conditions are extremely dangerous for inexperienced drivers and, at the least, will require your clients to spend money on vehicle maintenance. The roads were so bad that I am [honestly] not sure that I will ever return to the park. The complete lack of information about the road conditions is definitely something that SANParks can improve on, especially since rangers/staff travel these roads frequently and can provide updates through this website (SANParks undoubtedly has the money and manpower for this miniscule gesture of hospitality). It is a shame that one of the most beautiful parks in the world is nearly inaccessible owing simply to neglect and poor...

We tried to book in three weeks ago for a two night stay but couldn't because there was no electricity and they could not do any electronic transactions. Granted we did not book ahead but we did an extensive Karoo tour, out of season, and we booked nowhere. Accommodation was freely available everywhere with no issues. It was difficult if not impossible to plan where we would be two days in advance. They had various available accommodation at the Elandsberg Camp but could not do the booking transaction, so we could not have any of the available units! Also no Wi-Fi and no cell signal for an electronic bank transfer. They told us that the power outage was expected to continue for a number of days. They refused to trust me to make the transfer/payment after our stay, once we reached a place with cell signal. It seems that an ID, drivers license, proof of address etc means nothing in terms of traceability in our country. Pathetic. We however saw a fair amount of game and drove the nice Gannaga Pass on our way through. Really a pity we had to pass on the opportunity to stay the two days. We had to stay over in Calvinia on our way back home. The one star is purely based on the disappointment of not being able to stay. The park looked fantastic after the...