Whatshot
Boundless Southern Africa Expedition 22
Boundless Southern Africa Expedition 22
Date: 2018-04-13
We travel this vast piece of Africa and cross Khutse Game Reserve (Memories of our Tropic of Capricorn journey come flooding back). At a Basarwa community day at Phuduhudu, the Boundless Scroll gets endorsed in the Sesarwa click language of the San people - so as to confuse your tongue I'll give you a sentence: 'Ishi ka xonkhwate isi gkaaba qhaaka thine qhoole, qhaoung xhenya qhaa qgoobale'
We cross the Kalahari to Mabuasehube, more African wild dog and then into the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park on the one-way east to west wilderness track across pristine, unspoilt Africa - pans, wildlife and red Kalahari dunes - to the Nossob River. We South Africans can feel proud, straddling the border between Botswana and South Africa, the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park is one of the most pristine conservation areas on earth.
Officially opened on May 12,2000, this is the first formally declared Transfrontier Park in Africa and a model for conservation in the 21st century. The head of the park on the South African side is Nico van der Walt.
He's a gem and allows the gate at Tweerivieren to be opened so that Ross can race Anna through the night in one of the Land Rover Discoveries to Upington in search of urgent medical attention - it's scary, she's down with bad malaria and not responding to the treatment.
Counting back the days, she must have got it on the Angolan border up on the Kwando. Ross radios to say there's a big male lion just outside camp. I wish him well - we've lived with malaria all our lives and know the danger if things go wrong. Nico helps us gather calabash water from a pan and chooses a calcrete stone to add to stones from all the Transfrontier conservation areas to become a Boundless route monument at Sendelingsdrift in Namibia.
Bat eared foxes, black backed jackal, hyena, ostrich, gemsbok, eland and thousands of springbok move between the camel thorns along the beds of the ephemeral Nossob- and Auob Rivers. Bateleur eagles soar overhead, huge sociable weavers' nests, odd carefully thatched, superbly insulated bird hotels that can house up to 300 weavers, threaten to topple the trees they've cleverly built in. Will keep you posted.