Namaqualand

Stretching from just north of Cape Town, up the West Coast to the Namibian border, this arid area in the north western corner of South Africa has a subtle, harsh, dry, old world type charm with wide open spaces & desolate vistas.

In one little village my family lived in for a few years, the 'rush hour' was just before church on a Sunday. The eagles circled close on Sunday mornings at 9 to see what all the 'commotion' was about!

Then suddenly its all a-buzz in the spring when everyone zooms up to see the wild flowers.

Namaqualand daisies in Nababeep.

To make up for the short season and unreliable rains, the daisies have a seed bank of 40 000 per square metre!

Namaqualand sports fascinating bulbs - many iris, orchids, Hyacinth, etc.

The Quiver Tree - related to the Aloe

Daisies in Namaqualand have to take full advantage of the short growing spring - their full life cycle takes place in a few months - mainly August and September. Then it gets hot and dry and one day a strong wind comes along and its all over.

Kamieskroon's fields of daisies....

.... and the Kamieskroon beetle daisy - found only here and enticing real beetles to pollinate them by tricking them into thinking they have found a flower full of mates! Each petal has a dark bump which looks very much like the back of a beetle.

Bok horinkies - or 'bucks horns'

Iris. These plants don't waste time or resources on tall stems - but are the origins of many horticultural species around the world today.

pic by Sean Brown
Another botanical survival technique in Namaqualand is to store water in fleshy leaves and have special adaptions to close the stomata during dry periods in order to reduce transpiration.

pic by Sean Brown
pic by Sean Brown
The beautiful beach at Posberg - part of the West Coast National Park that is only open in August & September each year. Also great for flower viewing and they have several species of mammal including the giant eland.


mud!
pic by Sean Brown

washing off the mud.
pic by Sean Brown


A quirky and favourite place to stay up the West Coast - Kersefontein...
a working farm - with guest accommodation and an interetsing and entertaining host - farmer, pilot, pianist, etc - Julian Melck.

Julian is a 9th generation Melck on the farm and he found the antiques that adorn the lovely rooms in their attic!

Everyone has enjoyed Kersefontein & Julian tremendously - infact they have said things like this:

Our stay at Julian's was exceptional. The dinner is a must and Julian is
a remarkable host. Do keep advising people to go there.
~Christina

last 3 pics courtesy of Kersefontein website

Phinda's cat clowns & creature comforts

ABOUT &BEYOND'S PHINDA PRIVATE GAME RESERVE, NORTHERN KWAZULU-NATAL

"Thanks to its coastal rainfall pattern, Phinda enjoys a lush green environment that contains seven distinct ecosystems - a magnificent tapestry of woodland, grassland, wetland and forest, interspersed with mountain ranges, rivercourses, marshes and pans.

This fascinating variety of landscape and vegetation shelters an abundance of wildlife, including not only the Big Five but many rarer and less easily spotted species, such as the elusive cheetah or the scarce black rhino."

We definitely enjoyed amazing animal action... 8 species of mammal just on the 20 minute drive in to the lodge, including a herd of buffalo crossing the road.

I didn't manage to capture the action on film when 2 young warthogs and their mother walked up and chased away two adult cheetah! But later on we saw these five cheetah resting before the four young ones dashed off...


taken with my phone camera.... not really the best for wildlife photography.

And then there were the tree lions...


Not TOO gainly... branches creaked, huge paws slipped....


but it held! And was a good spot to tease the wildebeest from.


On 3 game drives we saw 9 cheetah in 3 sightings, 14 lions in two sightings. One morning was spent watching three groups of a large lion pride reunite - including gorgeous young cubs and three sub-adults being chased back up towards us by 2 elephants.

Then there was the accommodations and surrounding scenery, amazing food and lovely people...

a typical suite at Phinda's Mountain Lodge comes with a private plunge pool and comfy everything. Nyala like hanging out in the bushes near the rooms and warthogs love the dining boma! &Beyond's new suites at Mountain Lodge were well beyond my expectations, as was my whole stay.


and just to prove I was there (with my Nokia camera phone)....

And 'there' in the three photos below was Phinda Rock Lodge which reminds me of Santa Fe, New Mexico - African adobe with beautiful rustic details...




'With only a handful of lodges sharing an area of 23 000 hectares (56 800 acres) and careful trained rangers and trackers in search of prime wildlife sightings, guests are assured an exclusive game viewing experience.'

PHINDA SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
My writer friend, Julie & I were shown some of the great projects and initiatives that &Beyond is involved with or sponsors in the communities around Phinda. The school, clinic and the delightful Baba Ndlazi's EXCELLENT diet/general health/life skills education were especially impressive.

ZULULAND BEACHES & COASTAL ACTIVITIES
Not far from Phinda are some wonderful coastal lodges on unspoilt, empty beaches - and these offer rare experiences such as watching turtles lay eggs or hatch at night turtle watching (see June 2003), diving, snorkelling, birding, and cultural experiences. One can also fly from Phinda for a daytrip - beach excursion.
Access is from Phinda's airstrip, Richard's Bay Airport or Durban.

July - Dec 2004 Desert & Delta

Camping at the Makgadikgadi pans with a Drifters crowd on my way back to Cape Town
(jump starting their truck), Botswana 2004.

CONTENTS

LIFE IS A SAFARI...

OKAVANGO DELTA

XAKANAXA LODGE

LUNAR ECLIPSE

LIVINGSTONE ZAMBIA

WILD ART

WILD DOGS AND ARTY LODGES

THE OKAVANGO DELTA, BOTSWANA

Water ways around Ker & Downey's Kanana Camp. They laid on a fantastically romantic mokoro trip, complete with thousands of sweet smelling white water lilies and beautiful birds. We drifted past jewel-like Meyers parrots with bright turquoise rumps and big green pigeons.

The feather in the birding cap was an excellent sighting of a Pel's Fishing Owl, Scotopelia peli. This is the first time I have seen this beautiful large brown owl which is often difficult to find. In fact it took quite a while before our guide managed to get us to see it high up in the branches of a large tree. Apparently Pel's are spotted fairly frequently at Kanana. We got to climb out of the mokoro and stand under the tree it was perched in. These wonderful nocturnal hunters are caring parents and the adults apparently pair up for life. The wingspan of a Pel's Fishing Owl is about 5 ft and the height about 2ft. Our group saw the owl again the following morning on our game walk.

Game walks on the island near Kanana are definitely above average.

The mokoro is the traditional dugout canoe of the Okavango. This is the classic way to enjoy the tranquility of the water ways. Our guides at Kanana were lovely, telling us the names of anything looked at, while quietly poling us along the edge of a lagoon. A couple of us tried our hand at poling the mokoros ourselves - which was great fun and requires some careful balancing!

XAKANAXA LODGE

The 'x' is pronounced with a click like the type one uses to coax a horse, in the side of ones mouth. Xakanaxa is a VERY difficult word to pronounce properly for those who don't naturally speak with clicks!

Xakanaxa Lodge is one of the pioneer camps of the Okavango Delta. It began as a family retreat and has been revamped into a luxury lodge. It is one of those places that feel like home. At least to me! It is very comfortable but at the same time rustic and natural with lovely wood and walk ways that blend the environment with a luxury lodge. But one where the staff feel like friends and you can pour your own hot water from the giant camp kettle that sits on a small permanent fire in the centre of camp. We met wonderful people here including Lettie who has been there for some 16 years, the owners daughter, Nini who was visiting and has known Lettie all her life and Daniela, a wonderful woman from Germany who was our incredible hostess.

The eli spotted the people first...

...about to see the elephant...

Xakanaxa Camp - lagoon and jetty.

Several birds would fly into camp at tea time to collect crumbs. My favourite were the comical Black crakes - of the lily trotter family, which would zoom around like odd little chickens with their long red toes and lemon yellow beaks.

Many beautiful game drives... below: A sundown break on Dead Tree Island near Xakanaxa. Nini, the owner's daughter is posing next to the vehicle, Frank & Lisa are inside.

Elephantoms

Xakanaxa Camp has decks that weave the forest and living spaces together in a wonderful way. The fire deck out over the water is under a giant old Marula tree. This is a fabulous spot for bird watching and enjoying the reflections of the Xakanaxa Lagoon.

The tents look west out over a private bit of the watery landscape where bee-eaters and king fishers flit.

Special touches include candles and paraffin lamps ( no electricity here!). When I arrived there was a dainty bush buck with white spots on her rump grazing around the Marula tree, a yard or so from my tent. The scent of ripe marula berries perfumed one half of my bedroom. The next day there was a baboon eating the berries. And the following morning I heard something running on the roof. I managed to open the bathroom door fast enough to see the tail of a large spotted Genet ( looks like a long cat) disappear over the wall. The Genet came to the dinning area that night and Lettie put the candle down so that we could see it better.

LUNAR ECLIPSE

We went from that to roughing it African Essence style: A 7ft canvas tent, a bed with down duvet and down pillows...

...in the fence free wilds of Moremi and Chobe National Parks. It is a 40 metre walk to the bathroom facilities.

One night with a full moon, we were sitting around the fire at night, listening to a pair of lions roaring on the road about 100 metres away. The whole campsite was lit up and beautiful - tall Camel thorn acacia trees and a forest of small Rain trees. The moon began to look odd and we realised it was eclipsing! Big and orange. Before our world became too dark to see the creatures, we zipped ourselves safely into our tents.

Savuti lioness

SHONGWE VILLAGE

From Kasane in the north eastern corner of Botswana we crossed over the Zambezi in a motor boat. From the middle of the river one can simultaneously see Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Zambia. On the other side we were collected and taken to Livingstone, Zambia. Here we went to see the Victoria Falls. The river was very high at this time of the year and at some look out points one could not see the falls for all the spray that comes up! The spray is what gave the falls their African name, Mosi oa Tunya - 'The smoke that thunders'. Emmanuel, our host at Kwando safaris' Songwe Village' says Vic Falls is the cloud factory of the world and that the wind blows the clouds off to wherever they are needed. There was a continuous hard rain above the falls and floods of water on the paths. Anyone without a rain jacket was drenched! It was seeing people from all over the world including local Zambians enjoying this natural spectacle so much.

Songwe Village itself was a treat... after passing through the actual village (below) we got to the lodge which is perched on the edge of the Songwe Gorge - above rapids 10 & 11 of the famous Victoria Falls river rafting on the 'mighty Zambezi'.

Songwe village

The dinning area at Songwe Village ( Lodge)

What I really like about the lodge at Songwe Village is that it is 'so southern African'. The enamel hand basins, the red polished floors, the thatched round huts - a mix of new and old. Special touches such as a kettle of boiling hot water waiting outside your bedroom hut in the morning - for washing. And the traditional dinner that the chef cooked up had the best mopani worms I have ever had! Emmanuel's wife, Dorothy had as all wear brightly coloured traditional cloth (kangas) to dinner and we danced and sang in the dining hut.

Abu, one of the guides walked me to the village in the late afternoon. Along the way he showed me trees and explained their medicinal uses. He also told me of his heritage as part of the Royal family that came from Namibia and settled at Songwe. After an hour we got to the village and he introduced me to Martha, the head woman. She is an incredible 80 year old lady, elegant, wizened and wise! Her ingenious way of punishing villagers is to make them fill a drum with water from a well, one cup full at a time. Apparently they seldom want to do that twice!

I asked Abu if I could meet his family, so he took me to greet his mother and 93 year old father who is blind and came out of his hut to say hello. Everyone thanks one for coming! And especially walking there - that is unusual for a tourist! After meeting more (polite and fairly shy) villagers and buying a carving of a Nyaminyami at the little craft village, we walked back at sunset. The visit to the village was moving. A reminder of how so many people in the world live with so little..

Without running water for example, never mind hot water on a chilly winter's night, which it was! I was cold because I didn't put my extra blanket on, but the water was still hot ( fire boiled) at one of the bathroom huts the next morning so I enjoyed a hot bubble bath, in one of the bathroom huts that perch on the edge. Take your binoculars with you for bird watching!

WILD ART - KURU PROJECT AT D'KAR

I think the work of the 14 or so artists who are part of the Kuru Art Project at D'Kar, Botswana speaks for itself. I was delighted to finally see it for real, and not just in the calendar I bought at the Cape Town museum last year.

This is a unique and successful development project involving Dcui and Naro artists in the Kalahari desert of Botswana. When I visited everyone was preparing for the exhibition that opened in Gaborone, the capital on June 1st.

Coxae's work ( about 2' x 3')

Art by Gamnqua hanging in the studio. Frames drying in the foreground.

Coxae at work in the studio - bushman style ( sitting on the floor)

JACI'S LODGES

More contrasts await...

This time at Madikwe Game Reserve, South Africa, on the border of Botswana.

What is really special about a private reserve like this is that the rangers can go off-road to get closer to the major animals (the big 10). This works because there are only rangers driving in the park and they have rules about how many vehicles are allowed in sensitive situations (such as young animals).

Since we could go off-road we got to follow 3 two year old lions, one male and 2 females through the grass, seeing their breath in the morning air. After a while they began to hunt! and killed a huge warthog right in front of us! We also ended up right in amongst a pack of wild dog that had lost their prey when it swam across the river. It was fantastic to have them jumping around and running up and down doing their thing about 10ft from us, with out even seeming to notice us! Smelly creatures though!

Wild dogs are fascinating - such communal animals and very successful and brutal hunters. The hunt twice a day generally. Madikwe has two packs of these highly endangered canines. One has 11 individuals and the other 21. We saw the pack of 21. Our ranger pointed out the alpha male and pregnant alpha female. Often they are the only ones to breed. Each animal has unique painterly markings. Some of them look like they have been 'marbled'.

I saw brown hyena for the first time and we also saw black & white rhinos, elephants, gemsbok and others. Beautiful giraffes!

Wild dogs - a photo by Joanne & Andrew Fogarty which I took off Jaci's Lodges website

Another plus for Madikwe is that it is malaria free. And close to Johannesburg ( 3 hrs).

The two lodges were a treat too - very beautifully designed and decorated by the owners, Jaci & Jan - with contemporary South African fabrics, raw silks, etc. Great for my 'Art Safaris'! & the bath tubs are incredible! Excellent food too. This is a 5 star lodge though with a lovely earthy feel.

Jaci originally came from Zimbabwe and showed me the influence of the painted patterns that Zimbabwean women do on the outside of their huts - on the walls of Tree Lodge's bar. She also loves the Kudhunda potato printed fabrics which I used to sell at the Tesuque market in Santa Fe. She covers furniture in their prints.

Jaci's Safari Lodge won Best Lodge in the AA Accommodation Awards 2003 and Jaci's Tree Lodge has won it this year.

The more classic 'Jaci's Safari Lodge'.

And the zany 'Jaci's Tree Lodge'.

The front and sides of these rooms open up onto the deck and forest... so one can let the 'outside' in