Kgalagadi 2014

November 20, 0640

Long, long but uneventful travel. Long haul to Amsterdam. What looked like a relaxed layover in Amsterdam actually turned into a fast walk and on to the next flight to J’burg. Long, forever flight in half-full 777. Arrived at JNB at 10:15 pm, quick run through Immigration, shuttle to hotel, forever to check in and a few hours sleep. Great buffet breakfast, Albie’s there, load into Toyota, drive for 8 or 9 hours to Van Zylsrus, a small town in the Kalahari ecosystem, where we checked into the Van Zylsrus Hotel.

And that’s what I want to talk about. This is an amazing, funky, awesome place. It’s hard to describe but it’s like someone with a funky arts/crafts OCD went crazy. It’s half-Africa, half-Key West or something. The grounds are beautiful and there’s something to look at and grab your attention every direction you look. It’s like this great mystery to us – someone must have devoted thousands and thousands of hours in the place, this little hotel out in the middle of nowhere, hours down a gravel road. Everywhere you look, every inconspicuous corner, someone has invested the thought and time to put something there to catch your attention.

When we arrived, we were so tired, so brain-dead, that we could hardly talk or comprehend it. But getting up this morning, after a jet-lagged sleep where you wake up at 1 AM thinking it was sunrise, after that sleep we can see so much more of this place and appreciate it that much more. It’s not full – there seemed to be a great herd of huge Afrikaner men, sunburned and half-drunk, who were on some trek to follow the course of some river down to the Orange River and then out to the Atlantic. What?

And now we sit in the patio, across the street from an elementary school where kids are making a racket, it’s cool though presaging a hot day. Birds are making a noise and it’s just a beautiful way to start the day. I wish Aislin was here to see this. I think she’d love this place.

So today we have a late breakfast, pack up and do 200 KM of gravel road into the park. We’ll set up, rest and do first game drive tonight.

Every plan has a hole of course. I’d arranged to rent 600mm/F4 lens to use but there was a misunderstanding and all they had was a Nikon 600. Since I shoot Canon, that wasn’t going to work, but Albie arranged for a Nikon D3 body to go with the lens. So, after a lifetime of shooting Canon, I’m going to have the opportunity to try some Nikon equipment and I’m pretty excited about it. It’ll feel clumsy I’m sure, but I’m anxious to give it a try. I’m sure Paul Webb would be pleased.

The road….