probably the strangest and most puzzling zoological phenomenon in the great karoo was the periodic, unpredictable appearance of massive springbok migrations. these migrations always came from the north, and could either go west towards namaqualand and the sea, south-west through towns such as beaufort west, or south through the camdeboo district. these vast herds moved steadily and inexorably across the plains, trampling all before them, including their own kind. le vaillant gave the first eyewitness account of such a migration in 1782. he rode through the herd filling the plains of camdeboo, seeing neither the beginning nor end of the moving mass.