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Kalahari magic

21/3/2010

5 Comments

 
Kalahari. Breathe the word to anyone who’s been there and see a retrospective smile dance across his face. Unspoilt and hauntingly beautiful, with rippling red dunes and vast star-punctured skies, this semi-desert casts a spell that soothes the soul and unlocks a yearning to return.
Picture
The Kalahari shares its riches with anyone prepared to peer beyond the obvious. You’ll look in vain for elephant or buffalo, but you may spot hyaena, cheetah, leopard and lion. 

For me, though, the Kalahari’s most enduring charm lies in its small miracles: a barking gecko clicking from the entrance of its dune-side burrow as the sun plummets to the horizon beneath riotously reddened clouds; a pouched mouse greedily stuffing its cheeks with seeds while a white-faced owl dozes unseen in a tree; a sandgrouse’s liquid call before it struts into a waterpool, soaking up moisture in its chest feathers to take to chicks many miles away. 

Such things have drawn me back to this uncompromising wilderness again and again over 20 years.

Magnificent as the black-maned Kalahari lions are, to my mind it’s the oryx (gemsbok), with their striking black and white markings, who are kings of the thirstland. Superbly adapted to the harsh environment, they’re sometimes seen with a branch adorning their long, straight horns, looking for all the world like monarchs with extravagant crowns. 

Equally diverting are the madcap antics of a boisterous wildebeest kicking up a duststorm, or the ingenuity of a suricate (meerkat) who climbs to the top of a wobbling shrub for a better vantage point from which to scan the area around his foraging family for marauding snakes or sharp-eyed eagles.

Rain is sparse and irregular in this semi-arid ecosystem. When it comes it’s often preceded by whirling duststorms and accompanied by spectacular electric thunderstorms. A threatening boom, a brief flash of lightning across blackly lowering skies, and in a matter of minutes the ground is awash with pools that quickly turn to mud. 

Then, in the blink of an eye, the downpour is over, the sun peeps through the clouds, and the shallow pools begin to dry up. 

All this is hard to relinquish, so I carry it away locked in my heart. 

Leaving the gates of the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park at first light to begin the eleven-hour drive back to Cape Town, my sadness at leaving is lifted by a glimpse of a lone figure atop a naked dune. Silhouetted against the sky, he begins an exuberant jig, happy to be alive in such a place. 

I smile, promising that I too will return soon to dance on the dunes.

Copyright © Roxanne Reid - No words or photographs on this site may be used without permission from roxannereid.co.za
5 Comments
Carol
22/4/2010 01:47:38 am

Being a like soul in my love of any place far from the concrete jungle - reading this blog transported me straight into the heart of the Kalahari.
Hopefully I will be dancing in the dunes in the very near future - if not I can escape reality by reading these stories and allowing my mind to wander to places of tranquility and beauty.

Reply
Tamsin Valjalo
22/4/2010 01:54:17 am

Absolutely AWESOME!! Well written with such heart and sole...it feels so real!!

Reply
Allison
22/4/2010 02:38:55 am

Thoroughly looking forward to following your blog. I adore your writing - you manage to put how I feel into words and onto paper!

Reply
Peter B
1/5/2010 10:32:14 am

Hope to see more tales from the Kalahari soon. Please.

Reply
Roxanne
28/5/2010 05:06:11 am

Thanks for the positive comments. Here's hoping you enjoy the new stuff from our latest trip in May to Kruger and the Kgalagadi...

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    About 

    I'm an independent travel writer and book editor with a passion for Africa - anything from African travel, people, safari and wildlife to adventure, heritage, road-tripping and slow travel.
    My travel buddy and husband Keith is the primary photographer for this blog.
    We're happiest in the middle of nowhere, meeting the locals, trying something new, or simply watching the grass grow.
    Use this website to discover new places to go, revisit places you've loved, or take a virtual tour of destinations you only dream about.

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