Rachel Lang

In fact I was surrounded by many well-loved sights and sensations; the smell of wild sage, the confident crescendo of a pearlspotted owlet, the warm laughter of my family around the campfire and the beautiful open glades with termite castles and animal paths that surrounded the little island we were camping on. I opened the little plastic tap on the canvas bucket to welcome a warm trickle of water that smelt delightfully like campfire smoke from being boiled over the fire. It was something special knowing that I was washing my hair with the most pristine water (the Khwai River extends from the Okavango which means the water has come all the way from the Angolan highlands and travelled many many kilometres! ) If these droplets could tell stories of their journey, I wonder what they would be of… maybe crocodiles in their underwater lairs, hippos giving birth in private channels, of the shy sitatunga in it’s papyrus hide, or tiny marbled African jacana eggs camouflaged on a floating reed nests?

I stepped onto an airplane that morning with Airlink in Pietermaritzburg for a quick 1-hour flight to Johannesburg, hopped on a new plane for a smooth hour and a half ride to land my feet in the warm red sands of Upington, the main city in South Africa’s Northern Region and the nearest town to the park gate and Twee Rivieren Rest Camp. Fran and I began the night drive sitting on either side of the open vehicle but it wasn’t long until we were huddled together in the middle, furiously trying to close any little gaps open to the freezing night air in the blanket we shared. The lodge (the only 4 star fully catered accommodation option within the park) is at the centre of a piece of land that has been given back to the Khomani San and Mier communities after it was lost to them in the 1930’s when they were displaced to make way for the game reserve. Walking also gives you the opportunity to notice small bright treasures like little flowers and the feel of different grasses, which all have lovely names like ‘tall bushman grass’, ‘dune bushman grass’ and ‘silky bushmen grass’. !

Kalahari Plains Camp is situated in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, which supports a unique semi-desert ecosystem giving guests a chance to see sought-after species such as cheetah, aardvark, brown hyaena and the adorable bat-eared fox. It was my first night in the Kalahari and this wasn’t a part of the evening symphony I was used to in the bushveld. When looking for a mate, there’s no need to be humble Summer is courtship season in the Kalahari and everybody is showing off! The kori bustard (the world’s heaviest flying bird) is one of the most characteristic birds of the Kalahari.

It’s been a hot summer with Wilderness Safaris in the Delta so far, one of the hottest and driest in many years, according to locals. We have had little spurts of rain, but nothing substantial in any of the areas I have visited so far (Chief’s Island and the western area of the Delta). I’ve loved sitting at these little pools watching saddle-billed and yellow-billed storks, goliath herons, fish-eagles, pied kingfishers, hamerkops and great white pelicans. The latter are very interesting because many of these dedicated piscivores nest at the Nata River in the Makgadikgadi Pans and make daily journeys of over 600-700 kilometers a day to collect these trapped fish in the Delta.