A couple of Cape mountain zebra stand silhouetted against the craggy Karoo landscape, bathed in the golden light of the late afternoon. A caracal on the prowl intently scans the kloof, its sharply pointed ears picking up the minutest sound. Up in the Bankberg Mountains, grey rhebok and mountain reedbuck graze, looking down on the valley spread out below them. A pair of red mongoose wind up their hunt for insects and a family of suricates bob up and down as they survey their surroundings. The beautiful plains and valleys of the Mountain Zebra National Park provide a perfect setting for the Cape mountain zebra, one of the world’s rarest large mammals. At present, they number about 200, after being on the brink of extinction when the park was proclaimed in 1937. Summers in the park are warm but winter nights are cold and regular snowfall occurs on the higher ridges. The annual rainfall averages some 390 mm.