I recently took a trip to an area sandwiched between the Northern most part of South Africa, the Western part of Namibia and the South Western Province of Botswana. A place that the locals refer to as the Kgalahari Transkaroo National Park. A place of quietness. A place of stillness. A place like no other place on earth. A place where the sun shines for most of the year. A place where rain doesn't fall. A desert. A place that touches the soul. A place where the sand is red. A place where the sun shines constantly. A place where rivers don't run. A place where animals will attack if provoked. A place feared by many, but revered by most. This, is the Kgalahari Transkaroo National Park.
For those of you who don't know where the Kgalahari Transkaroo National Park is (which I will now refer to as "The Zoo" in relation to all the animals that live in the area), I have inserted a map of the area below:
We flew from our home in Alabama to some place in Europe (London) and this was the longest flight that I had ever been on. It is amazing how much sea there is between America and London and this really surprised me. After looking how close the two countries are on the map, I was truly amazed by all that sea. We then went on an even longer flight from London to Africa. I have to admit, this part of the trip probably scared me the most, having to fly over places like those central African jungle countries with all the poverty, wars and corruption. The stories that I'd heard from America about those lands were shocking. We arrived safely in a town at the Southern Tip of the vast African continent called Cape Town.
We then stayed in Cape Town for 4 days but we didn't really leave our hotel much as the amenities in the hotel were just so incredible. I thought the United States had amazing hotels, but wow! This hotel in Cape Town was amazing. We faced the mountain with the lift that goes up it, so that was really great to see. Cape Town impressed us, the staff were very attentive and the swimming pool was amazing (we stayed at the Westin Grand).
We then considered driving from Cape Town to Upington, but decided flying would be the better option. And boy am I glad that we flew because the area that we flew over seemed pretty dull and boring once you left the Cape Town area. There was just dust for as far as the eye could see. We landed in a HOT upington and were greeted by our tour guide who hired us out our 4x4. We decided that we would drive this part of the trip ourselves.
Our trip:
Night 1,2: Twee Riveren
Night 3: Nossob
Night 4: Grootkolk
Night 5: Nossob
Night 6,7: Mata Mata
We decided to camp for the most part, something that took some getting used to. But in the end, everything worked out just fine (or just about everything). The trip to "The Zoo" was just wonderful and I look forward to sharing many special experiences and some awful ones to!
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