Indigenous Wildlife and Vegetation
The office, shop and restaurant of the National Parks Board for Augrabies is situated on Klaas Island. There is also a museum with a dazzling display of the gemstones, rocks, animals and vegetation indigenous to the area. The walls of the buildings here are adorned with locally sourced semi-precious and decorative stones.
Next to the central building is a garden where over 100 species of aloe along with karee, wild olive, kokerboom, Cape willow trees and acacia are grown.
More and more animals are finding a home in the conservation area. Some of those which can be found are monkeys, baboons, klipspringers, gemsbok, red hartebeest, steenbok, springbok, as well as various wild cats, birds and reptiles such as the Cape red-tailed flat lizard which favours granite country.
Much to See
From the main office a 12 km road heads west to Fountain. There are branches to various outlooks from this road where visitors can look over the gorge. There is much to see and should you choose to explore all these roads and return to the park headquarters you will cover a total of 42 km. There is a three-day hiking trail, called the Klipspringer Trail, with overnight accommodation available.
The best views of the show stopping waterfall are on the north bank of the Gariep River which can be accessed via a 20 m long suspension bridge. The Augrabies Falls National Park is a first class national park and visits there are highly recommended. It is best to go in the summer when the river is flowing at its peak. The weather can be very hot, however.
The Kokerboom Food and Wine Route embraces the towns and settlements of Keimoes, Kanoneiland, Kenhardt, Augrabies, Upington and Marchand. Th...