The Kalahari...?

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Last weekend, Todd and I packed up the Kia with all of our camping gear and heading about 4 hours south of Windhoek right outside a town called Mariental in the Kalahari Desert in Namibia. The Kalahari Desert stretches across three countries (Namibia, Botswana, and South Africa) and the Kalahari Basin extends its reach up to Angola and across to Zimbabwe. The Kalahari, originally named the Kalagari “waterless place” conjures images of extensive and endless fire red sand dunes and camels and other desert-baron like stuff. The Kalahari does, in fact, have extensive fire red sand dunes (smaller than one would imagine); however they are covered in grass and bush, and slightly resemble the landscape of Windhoek. I looked at Todd and said..."this is the Kalahari?"

Despite our surprise, we are never ones to miss out on an adventure, so Todd and I booked the 6 am game drive Saturday morning and we headed off into the desert. Despite my argument that small game would necessitate big game that eats small game, our drive featured springbok, oryx, wildebeest, dixdix, and large group of flapping ostriches -which did, in the end, prove to be very entertaining, if not deadly killers.

The game drive took us over the dunes to some cleared areas where the true radiance and beauty of the Kalahari could be seen in the sand beneath us. These bare and beautiful dunes were few and far between, but seeing them this way made it seem like we had stumbled upon the secret of the beauty of the Kalahari—which you have to experience to know was even there.

Without dune hiking and lion spotting to keep us busy we headed over to lounge around the resort making use of their pools.


For dinner, Todd managed one of his best camping masterpieces yet…steak, corn, and rice-yum!
While this trip may not have been our most exciting yet- it is always fun to get out of the city and camp in the fresh air…and you know us- doesn’t take much for us to have some fun!