Golden Gate Highlands National Park

Golden Gate is the one South African national park where nobody asks about lions. It protects a stretch of the Maluti foothills in the eastern Free State, all of it above 1,800 metres, where sandstone cliffs turn orange and gold in the low sun. Proclaimed in 1963 and enlarged several times, most recently by absorbing the QwaQwa National Park in 2007, it now covers something over 300 square kilometres up to Ribbokkop at 2,829 metres, the highest point in the park.

Getting there

Clarens, the arty little town 20 km west, is the usual base and the drive from Johannesburg is about 320 km: N3 to Harrismith, N5 towards Bethlehem, then the R712, a public road that runs right through the park, so you can drive the main valley without paying anything; the conservation fee applies when you turn off onto the game loops or start a trail. A normal car is fine.

When to go

Any time, as long as you pack for the altitude. June to August is dry and sunny by day and bitterly cold at night, with snow in some winters and temperatures that fall well below freezing before dawn. October to April is the rainy season, about 800 mm a year, when the grass is green and afternoon thunderstorms roll in with hail and lightning.

What to do

Walk. The short trails all start near Glen Reenen rest camp: Mushroom Rocks, Holkrans and Echo Ravine each take about an hour, and the Brandwag Buttress climb uses a fixed chain for the final scramble to a view over the whole valley. Wodehouse Peak is the serious day walk, a stiff climb to 2,440 m that takes four to five hours. Cathedral Cave, a sandstone cavern some 250 m long and 50 m deep, can only be visited on a guided walk booked in advance. The Ribbok trail is 28 km over two days with a hut overnight and takes in the park’s highest ground; it must be booked, and you carry your own food and sleeping bag.

Driving, the Oribi loop (4.2 km) passes the vulture hide, your best chance of a bearded vulture, and the Blesbok loop (6.7 km) climbs through grassland where black wildebeest, eland and zebra graze. The park’s dinosaur fossils, including the oldest known dinosaur embryos (Massospondylus, found in 1978), are the subject of the Kgodumodumo interpretive centre that opened in June 2025. The Basotho Cultural Village offers guided tours and rock art walks.

Good to know

Accommodation is Glen Reenen rest camp (rondavels, cottages and camping), the Golden Gate Hotel, Highlands Mountain Retreat up at 2,220 m, and chalets at the cultural village. Day hikes need no booking or permit beyond the conservation fee. Mountain weather turns in minutes: start early in summer, carry water, a warm layer and rain gear even on a hot morning, and turn back if mist or thunder arrives.

Last updated 6 October 2026. Sources: Wikipedia, Wikivoyage, Roxanne Reid, South African Tourism, SA Hikes.