8 August 2014 (09:06PM)

The Kalahari-Flower Trip:

This is is our third annual (family) road trip! Two years ago we did a great trip around Botswana, the famous Sidney Trip. Last year we dod the Richtersveld and Southern Namibia ( The Kokerboom tour) and this year the plan is the Kalaghadi Transfrontier Park. About a month before departure on the planed trip I added three days to add a quick two day visit to the famous Namakwaland flower areas, given the favourable time of year, hence my name for the tour, the Kalahari-Flower tour.

Planning a trip is everything. However expect that some details may be overlooked.

We planned the trip to as much details involved as possible. We spent many evenings on the computer.

We had to get things such as an inverter, base camp tutorials, learn base camp, Audible books, movies, cooler box, car for Gopro, book telephoto lenses, book accommodation, make final payments on Kalahari bookings, having made original bookings almost a year ago.

Reading about the destination is important and also ensuring activities and timing of trips. We planned to take photos of wildlife, landscapes, flowers, star trails etc etc..Enjoy.

9 August 2014 (08:39PM) Departure-Victoria West

We eventually leave on our  Kalahari Flower trip after months of planning. I fee like a log as the flue has  hit me badly. We start the day with a problem as last night when we packed we discovered the new cord for our deep freeze is not working properly, rather try not at all.

The only way out is to delay the journey to buy another cord, freezer or both. We also had forgotten the biltong so our delayed departure is picking up some merit, We duly stop at Sloan Meat Market and buy some some stock of the good stuff and some wors!

We are the first customers at Outdoor Warehouse and would you believe we test two more faulty cords before get a new one that works and phew, off we go, finally leaving the dust of Johburg around 9 30 in overcast and rainy conditions.

We take the N1 to Bloem and soon I realise I am tired and with eyes burning and full of flue medicine  from Dr Hussain. We breakfast at Vrede, fill up some juice ad then hit the road all the way to Colesburg where we have a refuel final stop after an uneventful journey. Sue drives most of the way. Uneventful that is save for the bad accident just outside Kroonstad where a yellow BMW probably had  a burst tyre and looks like two fatalities or seriously injured.

We book into Kingwills Guest House as planned on a very quiet  Saturday night in Victoria West, accommodation is quaint and acceptable. We have dinner at the Merino Restaurant, good Karoo lamb tjops and I also have a lamb liver in net as as starter, nostalgia! We get to bed nice and early.

10 August 2014 (08:58PM) Nieuwoudwille

We have breakfast at 7 30 sharp at the Karoo Deli , all packed up and ready to go.

The scrambled eggs is the worst ever, dry and inedible. The best is the sign in the deli,

NO WIFI-Talk to Each Other!

We have a good roads again pass Loxton, quiet and Carnarvon, also quiet. We fill up at Canarvon. Very little activity on a Sunday morning in this dusty outpost.

We now hit Williston and then Calvinia before we arrive at Niewoudtville, ready for flowers and the bulb capital of the world. The Karoo towns remains remarkably empty even for a Sunday.

We go to Gannaskop and the Kokerboom forest. The latter is great but we find no flowers. We visit the spectacular Nieuwoudtville Waterfalls and   seeing the first flowers. We buy some dried fruit and get told to try Matjiesfontein and Papkuilsfontein. we soon discover why, as at Matjiesfontein we see what all the fuzz is about as the flowers are revealed in all their spectacular glory. we do not get the Matjiesfontein given the time but we travel on to Van Rynsdorp down the escarpment.

We have a quiet night at the Van Rynsdorp Guest House and share a table with two other families. Quite a novel experience, but no other meal options in this small town on a  Sunday night!

11 August 2014 (04:57PM)

We leave after breakfast around 8am in very thick fog, quite despondent that we might not see,  and definitely do not see flowers the next two hours. Thankfully the fog abate around Garies and we start seeing some flowers.

At Kamieskroon we see for ourselves what the rave is all about. Flowers aplenty! We then go onto the Skilpad at the start of the Namakwa National Park and we have a fabulous time for about two hours or so taking photos and some of us even getting prostrate in the process. An intense enjoyable time.

We then move onto Springbok and our next brief interlude at the Goegap Nature Resrve as we enjoy the annual flower parade of nature. Not as good as Kamieskroon. but enjoyable all the same as we take the long road to Pofadder where we fill up, buy local fudge and our final stop at Kakamas for the night. Great day, early night.

12 August 2014 (05:07PM) Twee Riveieren

We make ready to hit the Kalahari today.

We buy our last groceries, biltong, nuts and wors and hit the road for Twee Rivieren around 10pm,  arriving after 1pm where  we meet up with Brother Marius, wife Annette and Johan and Henriette.

I make my last telecom for two weeks and we then go on our first game drive in the Kalahari and we see all the natural wild suspects including two female lion on a hill basking in the late afternoon sun along the Aub valley. We have a braai and a few good ones and also meet Mr Hines, because you are so fine! This is the new “Sydney” high quality well aged brandy  substitute as my readers might remember from previous trips. We thankfully do not get to bed to late! We dream of more lions and raptors and starry starry nights, Vincent.

13 August 2014 (05:17PM) Kieliekrankie

We go on a morning drive where we strike our first  meerkat and some raptors, nothing much more.

Wind has started to build up as we leave for our first Wilderness camp, Kieliekrankie. We have a quiet afternoon game drive and then have a quiet dinner in very windy conditions with no great sunset. Nothing much at the waterhole and no great sunset or good night shooting conditions.Waterhole is quite far away. Views are spectacular though of the desert dunes.

14 August 2014 (05:35PM) Urikuruus Day 1

We have a morning drive and find an old lion on his last legs. Even the mighty must fall I suppose, but this poor fellow is having a miserable time with no certain meal ticket and it shows. We pity him and wonder how long he will last……

We leave after the drive just 40km away for two days at Urikuruus camp. This is arguably the best camp on the trip as the water hole is nearby (50m) and well used by a variety of game. We even try our Go Pro on our remote control car. Little success as we drive into  in a hole. Not so easy is it. We also find the Gopro network has a  limited range and it has its old problem of getting stuck similar to what I experienced at Sodwana.

The waterhole is very active with springbok, kudu, gemsbok, ostrich etc visiting. we also see what must be a giant spotted eagle owl.

We do an afternoon drive, getting to be religion now, see some bateleur and a vulture with a chick. A good day out is celebrated with my first wilderness braai. Mmm Sue ok ?

No big night sigtings except a threesome of bat eared foxes. We have an early  night with nothing further to report.

15 August 2014 (05:43PM) Urikuruus Day 2

It’s Friday today and we take a trip up to Mata Mata in the morning and enjoy all the sights at the various famous waterholes (Dalkeith, Dertiende, Veertiende etc) I must say I find the descriptions as per the great photographic aid  book by Jenny and Mario Fazekas, insightful and most helpful.

I take some great pics of gemsbok fighting and we see the bateleurs again, sadly only rumours  of predators.

We have another great braai and settle in early.

16 August 2014 (08:08PM) Nossob

We leave after breakfast or rather try leaving for Nossob, but we suddenly discover we have a flat battery. Fortunately we find a good Samaritan with number leads after a fruitless attempt to use the solar panels.

It is again a bit windy and we do not see much and the last piece of road is quite bad, the worst so far.

We take some great tawny eagle shots north of Nossob on the afternoon drive as it comes to land with perfect light as we sit at the waterhole. This makes the Nossob trip worthwhile. We visit the hide in the evening with no great shots. We have a braai in very windy conditions and retire early again.

17 August 2014 (08:14PM) Kalahari Tented Camps Day 1

We are on our way back to the Aub again after an early morning drive. We take nice  shots of two bateleur taking off on flight. I also take a far-off shot of a Lanner falcon with prey.

The road is quite long, but we arrive at Kalahari tented camp by lunch time. The camp is nice and we have a few resident golden mongoose.

We do an afternoon drive and light is good with gemsbok and we discover a vulture in nest with chick. We have another braai and take some sunset photos.

That night I hear the call of  hyena!

18 August 2014 (08:28PM) Kalahari tented camps Day 2

We spend another day doing a long morning drive.

Not much action except the normal suspects. It is quite cold and miserable no wider everyone is hiding.

I fill up at Mata Mata. We do another afternoon drive but again no big sightings. We have our last braai.

That night we hear a lion (really big ) roar right next to the tent. This is an experience to remember.

Sue is concerned that we cannot lock the door. She does not close an eyelid.

19 August 2014 (08:31PM) We travel to !Xaus

We do not do a morning drive and alas we have more battery problems. We need to find a cable from an American tourist camper to tow the jeep to a position where we can do another another jump start. They tell us they have had a number of flat tyres but that some friendly South africans have been oat helpful every time. Clearly the battery does not like the inverter that  we used to charge the camera and other batteries.

We make our way slowly down to Kamqua picnic spot to meet our guid to !Xaus lodge. We also meet up with  Team Marius who join us after their stays at Nossob, Gharab, Bitterpan and Kieliekrankie. We in fact passed them two days ago on their way to the latter.

After a very healthy picnic our guide arrives and we depart on the 30km journey over 91 sand dunes. An experience to behold. The jeep again shows his mettle against the Toyotas and we complete the trip without the need for low range.

We have a great night drive and dinner and settle in for the night. On the drive we see spotted eagle owl, brown hyena and spring hare.

20 August 2014 (08:39PM)

Day 1: !Xaus

We go for morning walk and see a good sunrise. We learn more about how to survive in the bush and the most  important vegetation. After breakfast we visit the culture centre where we are introduced  to some of the local bushman-san kraft. We make some purchases to support the local community. The lodge is in the reclaimed area that has been transferred to the san people and the Mier community. These communities are some of the forgotten actors in the unhappy part of history of our country. Hopefully these activities will assist in small way.

We do a game drive the afternoon with a sundowner and a brief sunset.

That evening we have some cake on Marius pending both.-some Hines brandy too!  Again we avoid a late night nicely. It seems we are finally either growing up or getting old.

21 August 2014 (08:44PM) Last day at !Xaus

Team Marius leave after breakfast. We do a dune ride looking for game but the game  remain scarce.

I shoot some star trails and sunsets and also witness a brown hyena and rooi hartbees at the water hole. Exciting stuff.

Another good day, but sadly our last.

22 August 2014 (08:47PM) Departure

Our battery is fine  and we are on our way after breakfast.

We do not see too much as we make our way down to Twee Rivieren where we bid the Kalaghadi adio.

We travel non stop to Groblershoop where we pick up a few things before we head for our night stop at Witsands nature reserve. We witness the white sands, bird hyde and sunset.

Nice place, but we are tired and wanna go home.

23 August 2014 (09:08PM) The last day

We leave about 8 am after I take a few ( not very good) sunrise photos. The trip has been long and we need to get home now. We have Bennie Griessel ( we did all three books on the trip) on Audible to finish so that kills some time. After breakfast at Kimberley we take on the final stretch and arrive in the big smoke around 4pm. We have completed another epic trip and the Jeep Cherokee has done its part battery and all.

I had a great and quality time with wife Sue. Things cannot be better and even took some nice shots.

Some mistakes and needs we discovered despite the meticulous planning.

Stay longer at each Kalahari camp-less travelling. A longer and probably separate stay at in Namakwaland was probably warranted.

We need a second battery for all the auxiliaries, a spot light and a tow cable.

The Gopro car was a disaster, we probably took too many lenses and it would be better to have lighter telephotos with 2 times converter. The tripods are fine for landscapes but the telephoto lenses need a stronger fitting and sturdier tripods.

Well in any in any event, I am almost ready to go on the next trip. The issue is will the Jeep last for a fourth trip? It has given us excellent service.