Kalahari Safari

AWOL organises tours from Cape Town that meander up the harsh but beautiful West Coast, known for its icy blue seas and excellent seafood. Travel inland over the Cederberg Mountains, with their ancient rock art, through Namaqualand where you will meet contemporary Khoisan people and end your trip on a game-viewing safari among the red dunes and gnarled camelthorn trees of the Kalahari Desert.

The Kgalagadi National Park is a vast wilderness and home to lion, hyena, gemsbok, springbok, bat-eared foxes, pangolins and many other unusual and beautiful animals. As part of the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, with neighbouring Botswana, this wildlife reserve forms the second largest protected area in the world.  Red sand dunes, sparse vegetation and the dry riverbeds of the Nossob and Auob have a rich variety of antelope species that have specially adapted to these harsh environs and are not dependant on water. The Kalahari lions are majestic beasts, much larger than their Kruger cousins.

Guests have the opportunity to meet members of the Komani San/ Bushmen clan – the ancient hunter gatherers of Southern Africa. We visit the home/gallery of the late bushman artist, Vetkat Regopstaan Kruiper to see his incredible contemporary drawings and painted ostrich eggs.

Part of the experience is staying with the peaceful bushmen community in their camp, Imbewu, within the Park itself. Days are spent interacting with the Bushmen, sitting under the camelthorn trees, talking and learning about their lifestyle and cultural practices and participating in daily tasks. These may include collecting kalahari truffles from the dunes, learning how to find them and cook them, building bomas, collecting fire wood or making ostrich egg shell beads, mobiles and jewellery out of wood, ostrich egg shell and leather.

Evenings are spent around the camp fire, listening to the wisdom of the elders, hearing traditional stories, learning about the meanings of the animals in bushman belief, playing and listening to music and singing whilst cooking in a traditional way on the fire. In the evenings everyone falls asleep in several communal bomas or traditional places, safe from wild animals, but under the stars (unless it rains, in which case we sleep in grass huts & tents).

In this natural, unspoilt environment everything that is brought in has to be taken back out again. Sustainable living and honouring nature are very important lessons from the Bushmen people, who live so close to nature.