Good As Gold

Golden Gate Highlands National Park has clear river pools in summer, snow-covered peaks in winter, sandstone cliffs, bearded vultures, hiking trails and great places to stay. You never knew the Free State was so spectacular, did you?

- Willem Van Der Berg

The Free State is often com­ pared unfavourably to other provinces. People are quick to point out that it’s flat and dusty and that the best road is the N1 because it’s the quickest way out. And the poor Cheetahs! (Although, what people forget is that when the Sharks, Bulls and Lions players go home to their mothers, they all go back to the Free State.)

Come autumn, however, the humble Free State is one of the most scenic places in the country, especially on a windless day when the poplar trees are etched against a pastel­blue sky.

And then there’s the jewel in the Free State crown: Golden Gate Highlands National Park, where the Drakensberg and the Malutis snuggle up side by side. One visit and you’ll fall in love – I guarantee it.

It’s autumn when I visit and by the time my tent is pitched at Glen Reenen rest camp, the sun has dipped the poplar trees in gold. I’m surrounded by towering sandstone cliffs, the most impressive of which is the famous Brandwag Buttress.

It’s the middle of the week and the campsite is nearly empty. There’s peace and quiet in abundance, and even more on the Blesbok Loop (6,7 km). The road climbs onto a plateau. I pull over and get out. The park doesn’t have dangerous animals lying in wait so you’re free to walk around.

The landscape is huge and the air is cool. A rain shower rolls in from Lesotho and a light drizzle sifts down. Then the sun pushes the clouds aside and sets the grass and cliffs on fire. A rainbow unfurls and a choir of jackals yelps in the distance.

Is there another place in South Africa as beautiful?

Of course, there wasn’t always a park here. In the 1850s, the Orange Free State and neighbouring Basutoland were locked in a battle over the area, then known as the Rooiberg.