The park can be reached along a 39-km road that leads northwest from the riverside town of Kakamas, which is 88 km west of Upington on the N8 national road. The focus of the park is the falls, and most visitors venture little further than the river. However, the surrounding plains and rocky outcrops provide good birding, offering such typical Karoo species as Double-banded Courser, Ludwig’s Bustard (p.105*), Burchell’s Courser (p.96*), Spike-heeled and Karoo Long-billed Larks and Chat Flycatcher. Stark’s Lark and Black-eared Finchlark (p.96*) are erratic, and not always present in dry years. Two sought-after species of the rocky outcrops adjacent to the river are Short-toed Rock Thrush (look on the out-crops around the campsite) and Cinnamon-breasted Warbler (look around the viewsites along the gorge, such as those at Oranjekom, Swartrand and Echo Corner; p.85*).

The acacia thicket of the campsite at the park headquarters is also rewarding. Here, you can see Golden-tailed Woodpecker, Acacia Pied Barbet, Ashy Tit, Red-eyed Bulbul, Namaqua Warbler (common; p.85*), Black-chested Prinia, Pririt Batis (p.85*), Pale-winged Starling, Dusky Sunbird, and the attractively peachy-flanked Orange River race of Cape White-eye (see page on changing bird taxonomy). The short walk from the camp to the falls themselves may produce cliff-nesting species such as Black Stork, Black Eagle and Peregrine Falcon, as well as huge mixed flocks of aerially feeding swifts and swallows. You are likely also to see the multicoloured Cape Flat Lizards (Platysaurus capensis) that sun themselves conspicuously on the burnished granite.