Desert beauty: |Ai-|Ais/Richtersveld Transfrontier Park

Conjure up a desolate and forbidding landscape, seemingly devoid of life, except for some people dotting along the horizon. Make a startling discovery upon closer inspection when the mirage dissolves into the human-like half-mens (half person) and the harsh environment prove to be a treasure trove containing the world’s richest desert flora.
Hauntingly beautiful and seared by a blistering sun, the lava mountains and sandy plains form southern Africa’s largest Mountain Desert Park, |Ai-|Ais/Richtersveld Transfrontier Park.
Though surrealistically harsh – this is the driest part of the Northern Cape – the rugged Richtersveld nurtures 30% of South Africa’s succulent plant species. With less than 50 mm of rain annually, it also sustains leopards, lizards and adventurers. Water is scarce, and life depends on morning fog – ‘Ihuries’ or ‘Malmokkies’ – rolling in from the Atlantic, nourishing reptiles, birds, and mammals alike. Gnarled quiver trees, towering aloes and the distinctive half-mens stand sentinel over this enigmatic land.
Paradoxically beautiful, it is a land for those keen to ‘rough it’. You can explore it from the comfort of your 4x4 or paddle the river, taking in the awe-inspiring, seldom-seen purity of a mountain desert wilderness.
Shared heritage
On 1 August 2003, the late former Namibian President Sam Nujoma and former President Thabo Mbeki signed an international treaty incorporating the Ai–Ais Hot Springs Game Park in Namibia and |Ai-|Ais/Richtersveld National Park in South Africa, resulting in the establishment of the |Ai-|Ais/Richtersveld Transfrontier National Park.
Extensive community consultations were conducted beforehand, as the |Ai-|Ais/Richtersveld National Park in South Africa is owned by the |Ai-|Ais/Richtersveld community and managed on a contractual basis with the South African National Parks. This allows the full participation of the local community through elected members representing the four towns in the area, Kuboes, Sanddrift, Lekkersing and Eksteenfontein and of local pastoralists.
Benefiting local communities
These communities would all benefit from increased tourism to the area, while at the same time conserving its unique biodiversity. In addition, a transfrontier park would maintain the cultural heritage and traditional lifestyle of the Nama people.
The traditional lifestyle of the Nama people is based on nomadic pastoralism, the |Ai-|Ais/Richtersveld being one of the last regions where this way of life has been preserved. A number of significant archaeological sites are situated in the area, including a shelter at Die Toon near Tatasberg. This site has been dated back to 2200 BC.
One of the main features of the combined park is the world’s second largest canyon – the Fish River Canyon.
Sendelingsdrift serves as a border post for crossing into Namibia. On the South African side, a pontoon has been established to ferry people and vehicles across the Garib (Orange) River. The pontoon has a carrying capacity of a 32-seater bus or two fully-loaded double cab 4x4 vehicles.
Succulents of the Karoo
The |Ai-|Ais/Richtersveld National Park is a very good example of one of the most interesting mega-ecosystems of the world, the succulent Karoo.
There is no desert flora on our planet possessing similar species richness and individuality of flora. On a surface area of one square kilometre, more than 360 plant species of flowering plants (angiosperms) are found at a site with an average rainfall of only 68 mm per year.
The |Ai-|Ais/Richtersveld includes two floristic kingdoms. A magnificent variety of dwarf shrubs with water-storing leaves belongs to the succulent Karoo region of the Greater Cape Flora, while its western portion forms part of the East Gariep Centre, the most important centre of the Nama Karoo Region.
The |Ai-|Ais/Richtersveld is divided into two portions belonging to two major climatical systems: the temperate winter rainfall region with its high air humidity, and the inland region with higher temperatures and important summer rains and low humidity. Both units are closely placed against each other, separated by a narrow transition zone of about 10 to 20 km.
One outstanding example of such unique life forms is the psammophorous plants – plant species that fix a layer of sand to their surface to build a protective shelter against the force of sandstorms and the related sand blasting.
The |Ai-|Ais/Richtersveld is widely reckoned as one of the world’s richest succulent areas. It is estimated that 50 generas out of a total of 160 from the Mesembryanthemaceae family occur here.
A number of endemic plant species only occur in small colonies on the highest peaks. About 30% of the total floristic composition is endemic to the park.
There are four main landscape units: the Orange River and adjacent floodplains; gentle undulating plains (distributed in the Summer/all year round rainfall area); rolling hills and rugged mountains.
Ancestors in the trees
Two trees are particularly associated with the |Ai-|Ais/Richtersveld: the bastard quiver tree (Kiewiet April 2001) and the half-mens (half-human), Pachypodium namaquanum. The half-mens is a succulent with an unbranched, cylindric stem, 1.5 to 2.5 metres, and sometimes up to 4 metres, in height. Near the top, it has a tuft of branches, which lean northwards at an angle of 20 – 30 degrees. The Namas revere the human-like trees as the embodiment of their ancestors, half-human, half-plant, mourning for their ancient Namibian home.
The animal species found in the area are adapted to withstand the harsh, arid climate. Other species are concentrated in the denser vegetation bordering the Orange River, including 56 species of mammals and 194 bird species. Furthermore, a large variety of lizards (35 species) and snakes (16 species) are found in various microhabitats.