JG,
I hunted the Karoo in 2002, primarily on a cull-hunt for springbok, thinning out the herd on a huge sheep ranch. Unlike many parts of RSA, there were no game fences. The country looked EXACTLY like large parts of eastern Montana and Wyoming, especially since karoo bush looks like sagebrush--except it has thorns! There were big wide valleys and flat-topped buttes, and the herds of springbok off in the distance looked exactly like herds of pronghorn.
Consequently I loved both the country and the hunting, though I hunted toward the end of April when it the temperatures were tolerable and the country still fairly green. In fact it rained a couple of times. Killed my biggest springbok and gemsbok on the hunt, both very fine trophies, and also went up into the kills one day after mountain reedbuck. Found some but decided not the kill the ram. There are also vaal rhebok in some of the "mountains." There were also black wildebeest but I passed on them, as I needed to conserve my trophy money for another week in the Eastern Cape, hunting Cape kudu and bushbuck. (Got a very good kudu and a decent bushbuck.) The PH was Kevin Thomas (
www.ktsafaris.co.za), who I hunted with again in 2008 in a different part of the Eastern Cape, and can highly recommend.