Golden Gate Highlands

Sandstone Cliffs That Turn Gold And Orange At Either End Of The Day, Which Is What The Park Is Named For And Is The Only Reason To Put The Free State On An Itinerary With Eland And Zebra On The Grassland, Vultures On The Brandwag Buttress, Dinosaur Fossil Beds In The Rock, And The Artists' Village Of Clarens At The Gate · Clarens, Free State

The eastern Free State is sandstone country, and at Golden Gate the rock does something worth driving for: great buttresses and cliffs of it stand above the grassland and turn gold and deep orange in the last hour of light, which is what the park is named for. The Brandwag buttress is the one on the postcards. There is no dangerous game here at all - eland, zebra, blesbok, oribi and black wildebeest on the grassland, vultures and black eagles on the cliffs - and the consequence is that you can walk freely, which in South Africa is a genuine relief after a week of staying in the vehicle. The rock also holds dinosaur fossil beds, including some of the oldest known dinosaur eggs. At the gate is Clarens, an artists' village of galleries and breweries that has become the Free State's one tourist town, full of galleries and breweries. It snows up here in winter, which is not what anybody expects of the Free State.

In the eastern Free State sandstone country on the Lesotho border, between Clarens and Phuthaditjhaba, Clarens, Free State, South Africa

Open daily in daylight with a SANParks conservation fee, and because this is a drive-through park on a public road the access arrangements are looser than a game reserve's - the walking trails keep daylight hours and walkers should sign in at the camps. Accommodation is at Glen Reenen and the Golden Gate hotel inside the park, plus a great deal of choice in Clarens at the gate; both fill at South African school holidays and long weekends. WINTER SNOW CLOSES ROADS here, sometimes for a day or two, and the high grassland can be below freezing at dawn from May to August. THE DINOSAUR FOSSIL BEDS ARE NOT GENERALLY OPEN TO VISITORS - the interest is the rock and the interpretive material rather than a dig you can walk into. Clarens is 20 km west, Johannesburg about four hours north-west.

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