Golden Gate Highlands National Park

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Golden Gate Highlands National Park
IUCN Category II (National Park)
Map of South Africa
Location:	Free State, South Africa
Nearest city:	Bethlehem
Coordinates:	28°31′28″S, 28°37′15″E
Area:	41 km² (16 mi²)
Established:	1963
Governing body:	South Africa National Parks

A sandstone cliff in Golden Gate Highlands National Park.

Golden Gate Highlands National Park is located in Free State, Republic of South Africa, near the Lesotho border. It covers an area of 41 km² (16 mi²). The park's most notable features are its golden, ochre and orange hued deeply eroded sandstone cliffs and outcrops,^[1] especially the Brandwag rock.^[2] Another feature of the area is the numerous caves and shelters displaying San rock paintings.^[3] It is the Free State's only national park, and is more famous for the beauty of its landscape than for its wildlife.^[4]

1 Location
2 Vegetation
3 Wildlife
4 Geology and palaeontology
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Location

"Golden Gate" refers to the impressive sandstone cliffs that are found on either side of the valley at the Golden Gate dam. In 1875, a farmer called J.N.R. van Reenen and his wife stopped here as they travelled to their new farm in Vuurland. He named the location "Golden Gate" when he saw the last rays of the setting sun fall on the cliffs.^[5]

In 1963, 47.92 square kilometres (11,840 acres) were proclaimed as a national park, specifically to preserve the scenic beauty of the area. In 1981 the park was enlarged to 62.41 km² (15,420 acres) and in 1988 it was enlarged to 116.33 km² (28,746 acres).^[5] In 2004 it was announced that the park would be joined with the neighbouring QwaQwa National Park.^[6]

The park is 320 km (200 miles) from Johannesburg and is close to the villages of Clarens and Kestell, in the upper regions of the Little Caledon River.^[3] The park is situated in the Rooiberge of the eastern Free State, in the foothills of the Maluti Mountains. The Caledon River forms the southern boundary of the park as well as the border between the Free State and Lesotho. The highest peak in the park (and also in the Free State) is Ribbokkop at 2,829 m (9,281 ft).^[5]

The park is located in the eastern highveld region of South Africa, and experiences a dry sunny climate from June to August. It has showers, hails and thunderstorms between October and April. It has thick snowfalls in the winter.^[7] The park has a relatively high rainfall of 800 mm (30 inches) per year.^[5]

[edit] Vegetation

The park is an area of rich highveld and montane grassland flora.^[3] It has more than fifty grass species and a large variety of bulbs and herbs. Each of these species has its own flowering time, meaning that veld flowers can be seen throughout the summer. The park also has Afromontane forests and high-altitude Austro-Afro Alpine Grassland, which is scarce in South Africa. The ouhout Leucosidea sericea, an evergreen species, is the most common tree in the park. Ouhout is a favourite habitat of beetles and 117 species occur on these trees in the park. The Lombardi poplars and weeping willows in the park are introduced species, but are kept because of their cultural and historic connection with the eastern Free State. Other exotic species in the park, for example wattle and bluegum, are systematically eradicated.^[5]

[edit] Wildlife

Instead of reintroducing one of the "Big Five" into the park, the sungazer lizard and water mongoose were reintroduced. Twelve species of mice, ten species of carnivores and eight antelope species have been recorded in the park. The Grey rhebuck and mountain reedbuck were present when the park was established. Eland, blesbok, black wildebeest, springbok, oribi and Burchell's zebra were also introduced. ^[5]

140 bird species have been identified in the park, including the rare Bearded Vulture and the endangered Cape Vulture and Bald Ibis. Seven snake species, including the puff adder, mountain adder and rinkhals are found in the park.^[5]

[edit] Geology and palaeontology

The geology of the park provides very visual "textbook" examples of Southern Africa's geological history. The sandstone formations in the park form the upper part of the Karoo Supergroup. These formations were deposited during a period of aeolian deposition towards the end of the Triassic Period.^[3] At the time of deposition the climate of the area the park covers was becoming progressively drier until arid desert conditions set in, resulting in a land of dunes and sandy desert, with occasional scattered oases. The deposition of the sandstones ended when lava flowed out over the desert 190 million years ago.^[5]

The following sequence of geological formations are visible in the park (starting from the bottom): the Molteno Formation, Elliott Formation, Clarens Formation and the Drakensberg Formation. The spectacular yellow-brown Golden Gate and Brandwag cliffs are made up of the Clarens formation. The layers in this formation are 140 to 160 metres (460 to 520 ft) thick. The Drakensberg formation is comprised of the basaltic lava that flowed over the desert. It forms the mountain summits in the park. On Ribbokkop it is 600 meters (2000 ft) thick.^[5] The Elliot Formation is a red mudstone where many dinosaur fossils have been found.

The oldest dinosaur embryos ever discovered were found in the park in 1978.^[8] The eggs were from the Triassic Period (220 to 195 million years ago) and had fossilised foetal skeletons of Massospondylus, a prosauropod dinosaur. More examples of these eggs have since been found in the park. Other fossils found in the park include those of advanced cynodontia (canine toothed animals), small thecodontia (animals with teeth set firmly in the jaw), bird-like and crocodile-like dinosaurs.^[5]