Mokala National Park

Mokala National Park is a reserve established in the Plooysburg area south-west of Kimberley in the Northern Cape, South Africa on 19 June 2007. The size of the park is 26,485 hectares. Mokala is the Setswana name for the magnificent camel thorn, a tree species typical of the arid western interior and common in the area. There is currently 70 km of accessible roads in the national park.HistoryThe new park effectively replaces the Vaalbos National Park, which was deproclaimed to comply with land claims and diamond prospecting rights. In 1998, SANParks undertook a study of five areas to determine the best replacement locations. A 19 611-hectare tract of land, Wintershoek, was subsequently selected. In 2005, the land was purchased and plans for the re-introduction of game were formed. The first five animals, a group of giraffes, were released into the reserve in June 2006, and a year later it was officially proclaimed.The cultural diversity of the area consist of many San rock engravings and Anglo Boer War battlefields.ClimateThe Northern Cape is a dry region with fluctuating temperatures and differing topographies. The weather is typically that of desert and semi-desert areas. The annual rainfall is never high (between 300-500 mm, average 400 mm) and is always lower than the rate of evaporation. Summers (from December to February) are hot with temperatures usually between 33 °C and 36 °C. Although not common, summer temperatures in the Northern Cape can exceed 40 °C. During the summer months, the rainy season thunderstorms occurs in the central and eastern areas and is often accompanied by heavy thunderstorms, whereas winter rainfall occur mainly in the western region. During winter (June to August), day temperatures are generally mild to warm (22 °C), but at night it can be cold, often below 0 °C.