The Kalahari Desert wasn’t exactly what I was expecting – parts of it were green!

We found out later that the colours were due to 3 days of heavy rain that had fallen about a week earlier.
It added little to the waterholes but caused the normally dry Auob riverbed to bloom – a blessing for the wildlife.

We had left the Namibian Kalahari after staying 1 night at Auob lodge just outside Gochas (very fancy place – although we were camping) and 1 night just short of the border at Sitsas Farm (pretty desolate, but perfect for crossing the border early next morning).

We reentered South Africa through the relatively newly opened border at Mata Mata. This border can only be used if you can prove that you have at least 2 nights accommodation booked in the Kgalagadi National Park section of the Kalahari.
What a breeze… 15 minutes of paperwork, a brief car inspection and we were through.

After the stunning desert environments of Namibia, the terracotta Kalahari had a lot to live up to.
As we drove from the Mata Mata border to Twee Rivieren Camp, I must admit I didn’t think it was going to.
On the way we saw plenty of bird life such as Secretary Birds (so big and clumsy that you’d laugh out loud watching one try and take off)…

… plus sparrow-hawks and falcons,

…and ostrich having a dust bath.

But, apart from a few giraffe, jackals, springbok and hartebeest there was very little Game.

After 120km (6 hours!) driving on probably the worst combination of arm-numbing corrugations and heavy sand we arrived at camp, shattered.

I can tell when I’ve had a tough day driving: my fingers are still vibrating 15 minutes after we stop; the tinnitus in my head is just the echo of every metal component in the car rattling; and I can smoke 2 cigarettes & drink a large beer in just under 34 seconds.

To cap it all…
1) we had a rainstorm before I got the tent up (not really a problem – we love them),
2) the campsite wouldn’t take Namibian Dollars (what happened to it being a ‘Transfrontier’ park – everywhere in Namibia takes SA Rand?)
3) the power hook-ups at Twee Rivieren don’t use universal fittings (as they do throughout Namibia) and the shop had sold out of adapters, and
4) the Customs / Police official at the border pointed out that our visa would run out half way through our South Africa circuit and if we didn’t go to Uppington (250km away) to renew within 36 hours they’d be shut for Christmas and we’d be fined.

I was starting to get a bit grumpy. An early night was called for.

The following day looked a lot more promising.
By 7.30 we were on the track to Nossob through the desert. Gravel for the first 20km and then a combination of dusty / heavy sand – BUT, much better driving than the previous day.

However, by 11.00am it was 42 C degrees in the shade (about 110F) and we’d seen nothing.
Not just disappointingly little sign of life.
Nothing.

We’d just decided to head off in a different direction when we spotted a couple of shapes in the shade at the foot of a distant tree.

Three cheetah, trying to stay out of the sun.

There was no way across the sandy riverbed to get closer for better pictures through the heat haze, but it was fascinating watching them for a couple of hours.

Well that livened up a generally pretty dull morning.

Only 20km back along the track – another couple of ‘lumps’ in the distance at the foot of a shady tree.

This time, 3 lions.

A big male and 2 females.

We also watched them for about 3 hours (remembering the great lion-kill action we’d seen at Etosha) but lions are like Marilyn Monroe – beautiful to look at, but they lie around doing nothing all day (even when there’s dinner on the doorstep).

Nevertheless, it had turned out a good day after all. Saw some interesting game, and another, more desolate & fierce landscape in the Kalahari.

We had to get back to the camp gate before it shut at 7pm so started the hour’s drive around 5pm.

Good job too.
Only about 20 minutes from the camp we nearly missed this guy, just sleeping off a heavy lunch perhaps, at the side of the track.
Nearly ran him over like a speed bump.

Another ‘Marilyn’. Absolutely beautiful, but no action (I love this shot – click on it to enlarge)…

The closest it got to ‘Lights, Camera, Action’ was a damn good yawn and stretch.

We just sat there, fascinated by it.

I know we’re in Africa for a while but I hope this is something we never become blasé about.

We tore ourselves away and hurried back to the campsite as the sky darkened.
It wasn’t sunset (not due for 40 minutes) but a massive storm coming in fast.
The last 5km took us 30 minutes – couldn’t see for the dust being thrown up into the sky by the lightening strikes and couldn’t hear ourselves talk for the grinding of the sand and gravel on the windows due to the strong winds.

By the time we got back to camp the heavy rain had joined the orange, blue and silver lightening flashes and all we could do was sit in the car for a couple of hours until it subsided enough for me to be prepared to get on the roof and put the tent up.

What a day.

Top Tip: never give up on a day – you just don’t know what will happen next in Africa.