From my Hide: The dry land

A BOOK landed on my desk the other day, A Natural History Guide to the Arid Kalahari, including the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, to give it its full title.

It’s by the indomitable Dr Gus Mills and his wife, Margie, and is, as the title perhaps suggests, everything you ever wanted to know about the Kalahari. The Kalahari is one of the biggest bodies of sand in the world, stretching as it does over much of Gabon and Congo, the other Congo, Angola, Zambia and Zimbabwe, through Botswana and Namibia into South Africa.

Much of it is known as the Kalahari Desert, an evocative name for an evocative place, although very little of it is true desert.

We, and I in particular, have been very fortunate to have travelled much of the Kalahari, in fact everywhere except Gabon and the Congos.

We have been on magic safaris under all sorts of conditions, often in our own old Landie or even older Willys Jeep (a 1946 CJ2A, for those of you who are interested), and also frequently in little aeroplanes and even helicopters.

Among those travels have been many trips to or through the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park, now part of the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park. I say through, because the South African section of the park is a very special way of getting to Namibia, but it is essential that one spends some time in the park itself rather than just use it as a rather sandy highway.

This book really is a guide, covering as it does the history of the region, including its early human residents, then the landscape and vegetation, the wildlife in great detail and tips on visiting the region.

Bear in mind that the Kalahari Gemsbok NP in South Africa is negotiable in an ordinary vehicle, although the dirt roads can be very iffy, while the Kalahari TFP on the Botswana side is strictly 4×4 country, but it’s always best to check with the authorities beforehand.

There are also very full check lists for just about everything, including some of the intriguing place names, like ‘erdvarkgatpan’, but you’ll have to read the book.

The book is full of some really great photographs, particularly of the wildlife and mostly by Gus and Margie themselves. The book is something of a must if you intend visiting this part of the world, (it’s a very long way from here) but also something of a must if you an armchair traveller as well, as it is very readable.

We’ve had some wonderful animal encounters in the Kalahari Gemsbok Park, including with such comparative rarities as honey badgers and brown hyaenas, but also leopard, cheetah and the king himself, the lion.

The Kalahari Gemsbok NP is famous for its lions which is why it was chosen as the focal point for a television documentary my wife and I spent months working on, Lions of the Kalahari – Lords of the Dry Land. Great place, great book, great documentary. Cheers!

* A Natural History Guide to the Arid Kalahari, including the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, Gus & Margie Mills, Africa Geographic Books, Cape Town, 2013.