A portion of my 2006 Christmas summer holiday was 5 days spent in the Kalahari Desert. For both me and my traveling companion, Brenda, another PCV, the idea of the Kalahari conjured up exotic, mysterious visions of miles of red sand dunes and a wasteland of barrenness. Hailing from Minnesota, Brenda had never experienced the desert so we decided she would have to see a sand dune before her Peace Corps experience was complete. We had a general idea of what we were doing and where we were going (?) and set out in our rented car for a 4 to 10 hour trip (our best guess) to Uppington in the Northern Cape where we hoped to connect with a desert safari operator for a 3 day safari deep into the Kalahari, the largest continuous sand system in the world. What a great adventure! We found Uppington to be an oasis in the midst of 100 plus degree (the sand temp can reach 166 degrees) heat and semi-arid desert, with the Orange River creating a tropical paradise of palm trees, lush vegetation and a myriad of chirping birds darting here and there in the gentle dry breeze. While sipping from our coffee service on the balcony of the 100 year old colonial home B&B overlooking the river, it was difficult to believe we were in the South Africa of the Peace Corps.
This was the beginning of my experience with the “other” South Africa. It never fails to amaze me how stark the contrast is between the South Africans that live so well and the reminder that struggle every day to survive. On vacation from Peace Corps, we got to experience how the other 15% lives. We lived like queens.
What amazed me most about our safari experience was how abundant the wildlife was in the desert. Maybe I’ve missed something in my own American southwest desert experiences, but the Kalahari was teeming with life. There were multi-colored reptiles. We saw a tawny eagle capture a Cape copra and carry it off in the air and the quirky secretary bird (or “the guy with three-quarter pants” as our Afrikaner guide told us) were abundant as well as ostriches. On our very last excursion out on the dusty, bumpy trail, we noticed that all the familiar 4 footed animals including the springbok, hartebeest, and gemsbok were absent. Our guide explained to us that when lions are near, all the animals disappear. And sure enough, we suddenly encountered a pride of 9 lions, including 6 cubs leisurely headed towards us on the trail in front of us. What an experience!
Lastly, there was one other experience that impacted me deeply. As our guides took us deeper into the harsh desert environment, we happened upon a group of Khoi-San people (the derogatory name for them is Bushmen) huddled under a tree and straw hut selling trinkets. Although the time with them was short, I am still reminded how my attempts at learning how to say “goodbye” in their language touched one man who put his hand over his heart to express how much it meant to him that I would want to learn something about him. Our guide told that there was only about 30 Khoi-San people left, having been forced out from their grazing and hunting grounds over the past 3 hundred years. These are the people who created the amazing rock art left tens of thousands of years ago all over Africa and according to the Africa Genome Education Project in Capetown, are “the surviving link to humankind’s oldest ancestors.” I find it immensely saddening to see their light disappearing from our world.
On a lighter note, in this harsh environment, the hardy ranchers, who raise goats and sheep, use ostriches as guard dogs. Eventently, they are more vicious than dogs, especially if they have young. And the snorkel on the Land Rover? Yes, it’s true. A couple we met at the B&B had a snorkel that was fitted on the side of the vehicle so that they could be immersed in water up to the windows if they were so inclined. And here I thought rhino bars on our SUVs had become the epitome of advanced civilization?
