PHOTO TIPS GETTING THERE. FIND THE BIG CATS lions, leopards & cheetahs FOOD. PEOPLE Who was Roger Malkop Jackson? from the experts

Transcription

1 YOUR JOURNEY STARTS HERE PHOTO TIPS from the experts GETTING THERE Where to stay and stock up FIND THE BIG CATS lions, leopards & cheetahs R42 (VAT included) Other countries R36.84 PEOPLE Who was Roger Malkop Jackson? FOOD Plan a Kalahari camp menu

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3 EDITOR S LETTER The call of the red sand COVER PICTURE NIGEL DENNIS Gemsbok babies are born in August and September in the southern Kalahari. EDITOR ANDREA WEISS ART DIRECTOR LYNNE FRASER DESIGNER ASHWELL PRINS COPY EDITORS MARIJCKE DODDS, MARTINETTE LOUW PICTURE EDITOR SAM REINDERS CARTOGRAPHER FRANÇOIS HAASBROEK GO! EDITOR-IN-CHIEF BARNIE LOUW GO! ASSISTANT EDITOR JON MINSTER PUBLISHER LYNETTE HARDING GENERAL MANAGER JACQUES BREYTENBACH CEO, MEDIA24 MAGAZINES JOHN RELIHAN ADVERTISEMENTS DIRECT SALES MANAGER (LIFESTYLE) DANIE NELL danie.nell@media24.com SALES REPRESENTATIVES LIZEL KOK lizel.kok@media24.com VERNETTE RAUTENBACH vrautenb@media24.com ANNEMIE VAN WYK annemie.vanwyk@media24.com JEANINE KRUGER jeanine.kruger@media24.com SANETHA MEINTJIES sanetha.meintjies@media24.com CONTACT US CAPE TOWN DONVÉ MYBURGH donve.myburgh@media24.com POSTAL ADDRESS go!, PO Box 740, Cape Town, 8000 STREET ADDRESS 4th floor, Absa Building, cnr Adderley and Riebeek streets, Cape Town, 8001 JOHANNESBURG ELÓDIE BOOYENS elodie.booyens@media24.com POSTAL ADDRESS go!, PO Box , Sandton, 2146 STREET ADDRESS 5A Protea Place, Protea Park, Sandown, 2146 To order a copy of go! Kgalagadi 2013, contact Monique Russell ; ; verkope@media24.com PUBLISHER Media 24 Lifestyle Magazines RETOUCHING Media 24 Magazines PRINTING Paarl Media Cape All rights reserved DISTRIBUTION On the Dot PICTURE TIMOTHY GABB Nothing puts more of a song in my heart than to hit the road to the Kgalagadi. Give me half a chance and I m in the car heading north, scanning the landscape for the first sociable weavers nest on the road between Brandvlei and Kenhardt, then on to Upington and beyond. And when I get back home, the urge to turn the car around and head straight back is almost overwhelming. My first trip was back in the late 1980s when the road from Upington had not yet been tarred. It was like sailing over a sea of dunes up and down, up and down for almost 300 km. I think it was late summer because the dunes were covered in waving grass and the bright yellow flowers of devil s thorn. There were pools of water in the river road leading to the gate and the giant camel thorn trees alongside were heavy with seed pods. Inside the park, herds of springbok grazed in the Auob River valley, as if in the Garden of Eden. It was love at first sight. Since then, I have been back more times than I can recall, had many adventures and seen the park evolve from a remote destination to something entirely more accessible with a tar road all the way to the Twee Rivieren gate. (Ironically, though, the roads inside the park were more accessible to sedan vehicles back in the day when the corrugations hadn t taken over.) Sometimes, I worry that the park is being overrun, particularly when reading about all the new developments planned for it but I guess one should look at the bigger picture and trust that the authorities will protect this extraordinary place. And my love affair with the Kalahari is certainly far from over. If you ve been to the Kgalagadi before, you ll know exactly what I m talking about. And if you haven t, go now! It s never too late to fall in love. Editor s Letter 3 Copyright Weg!/go! All rights reserved. Total or partial reproduction of the content without prior written permission of the editor is prohibited.

4 CONTENTS CONTENTS 4 Contents PICTURE TIMOTHY GABB MORNING MOONLIGHT. A pair of red hartebeest greet the day at the lookout point beyond Nossob as the full moon sets, just before sunrise. For starters 3 FROM THE EDITOR 5 CONTRIBUTORS Meet the people behind the scenes 6 KNOW BEFORE YOU GO Plan your trip to the Kgalagadi 10 EAT & SLEEP Great stops and useful shops 14 WEIRD AND WONDERFUL Amazing sights and sounds of the Kgalagadi 18 TAKE FIVE Special things to do while you re there 22 FAREWELL, OLD FRIEND We remember Oom Piet Heymans of Ousus fame Features 24 SCOTLAND IN THE KGALAGADI Just who was Roger Malkop Jackson? 28 SURF THE DUNES Tackle the only guided 4x4 trail on the South African side of the park Photography 34 HANNES LOCHNER He s sleep deprived but still going strong 40 TOP SHOTS Readers share their best Kgalagadi photographs Food 46 PLAN A CAMP PANTRY Recipes and tips to wow your fellow travellers Camp guide Pick a camp for your next stay 54 MAP 56 TWEE RIVIEREN 60 NOSSOB

5 CONTENTS Contents 63 MATA-MATA 66 WILDERNESS CAMPS Let s go on a game drive A waterhole-by-waterhole guide to the park CONTRIBUTORS 5 74 AUOB RIVER 86 NOSSOB RIVER SOUTH 92 NOSSOB RIVER NORTH 102 DUNE ROADS 104 PICNIC SITES Parting shots 112 I SPY A spotting game for kids of all ages to help keep boredom at bay 114 KGALAGADI AT ITS BEST It s every photographer s dream to capture a memorable moment like this VILLIERS STEYN, who did the lion s share of work for this guide, started his career as a nature conservationist and spent a practical stint in the Kgalagadi. He is a regular contributor both in words and pictures and a familiar face on nature programmes on TV. Most of the pictures in this guide, unless otherwise noted, were taken by Villiers. What do I like about the Kgalagadi? The lions! I love to track them. I love to photograph them. And most of all, I love to hear them roar. I even love it when they bite my tyres or when they hide away for days on end. On my last trip to the park, I saw 46 in two and a half weeks! TIMOTHY GABB, a freelance media producer from Cape Town, visited the Kgalagadi for the first time on assignment for this special edition. He is a writer, photographer and filmmaker with a special interest in telling stories from the margins of society. See more of his work at gabfly.co.za My impressions? Dreamy! The entire place was otherworldly, like the surface of some distant planet. The animals, the landscape, even the friendliness of everyone we encountered throughout the park will stay with me. I entered another world altogether and I loved it.

6 KNOW BEFORE YOU GO 6 Know Before You Go CHECK IN. The reception area at Twee Rivieren is where you do all your paperwork before entering the park. If you are planning to exit the park via one of the border gates into Botswana or Namibia, you will also have to clear customs here. Know before you go DISTANCES TO THE PARK Upington to Twee Rivieren 265 km Kuruman to Twee Rivieren 383 km Kimberley to Twee Rivieren 621 km Cape Town to Twee Rivieren km Johannesburg to Twee Rivieren km Durban to Twee Rivieren km Keetmanshoop to Mata-Mata 280 km When is the best time to visit? Just right. Autumn (March to May) is popular because it s starting to cool down and the veld still has a green flush. There may even be baby springbok and other young animals around. Dry and cold. In winter (June to August) temperatures sometimes dip to -11 º C! But it s usually pleasant during the day and, because it s dry, the animals are forced to come to the waterholes. Waiting for rain. Spring (September to November) is often hot and dusty before the rains arrive. Stormy weather. In summer (December to February) temperatures can spike to above 40 º C, but if you can tolerate the heat you may be treated to a dramatic thunderstorm or two. Dust storms and downpours can make it difficult for campers, though. What s the best way to get there? Many people choose to spend their first night at Twee Rivieren. Alternatively, you can sleep over in Upington, do your last-minute shopping there, then aim for a camp deeper into the park. If you re coming from Namibia, you ll enter via Mata-Mata (see accommodation suggestions on pages 12 and 13). How far is it? Twee Rivieren is almost equidistant from Gauteng and Cape Town (about km), but calculate slightly longer travelling time for unexpected roadworks. The gate is 265 km from Upington and the road is now tar all the way. Will I be able to draw cash, fill the car, make a call? Only the main camps Mata-Mata, Nossob and Twee Rivieren have a shop

7 and a filling station. All the filling stations accept petrol cards, but not credit or debit cards. Take cash in case the machines are not working. Only Twee Rivieren s shop accepts credit and debit cards, and also has a mini ATM. (Once again, this machine isn t always online.) Twee Rivieren is also the only camp with cellphone reception, public telephones (card and coin) and a restaurant. All three main camps have a swimming pool and a campsite with power. Kalahari Tented Camp is the only wilderness camp with a swimming pool. Book well ahead The park s growing popularity means you will have to book well in advance for premium months as occupancy is high year-round. See our camp guide for recommendations on where to stay. (Turn to page 54.) Contact: sanparks. org or call the reservations office in Pretoria on KNOW BEFORE YOU GO RECOMMENDED READING The Official Information Guide to the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park is for sale at the Twee Rivieren entrance gate. Barry Lovegrove s The Living Deserts of Southern Africa (Fernwood Press) focuses on the desert systems of southern Africa and how the fauna and flora have adapted to survive in these harsh landscapes. Hyena Nights & Kalahari Days by Gus and Margie Mills (Jacana Media) Read the fascinating story of Gus and Margie Mills s 12-year study on brown and spotted hyenas of the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park. Prof Fritz Eloff, who studied the lions of the Kalahari intensively, is remembered by one of his zoology students in Pretoria for coming into class, putting down his briefcase and saying: Let s rather talk about the Kalahari. At the age of 93, Prof Eloff, who was also chairman of the National Parks Board for 16 years, published a book called Kinders van die Duine. In it he pays tribute to the Bushmen and their stories. For more information about the book go to kejafa.co.za

8 8 Know Before You Go GATE TIMES Jan/Feb 6:00 19:30 March 6:30 19:00 April 7:00 18:30 May 7:00 18:00 June/July 7:30 18:00 August 7:00 18:30 September 6:30 18:30 October 6:00 19:00 Nov/Dec 5:30 19:30 THE PERMIT SYSTEM You ll get a park permit when you enter. This permit has to be collected before you go out on a game drive and handed in afterwards. That way, if you don t return your permit in the evening, they will come and look for you. If you do have a breakdown, don t panic. Stay in your vehicle and send a message with a passing visitor to the nearest camp. Never try to walk back to camp! Always keep extra water and food in the vehicle for emergencies. SPOT THE DIFFERENCE. The cheetahs CAPTION Igeni to odis cus, et fugiatintur, elluptia velictorat la volore custibus of the volorem Kgalagadi am have been extensively studied, hence the collar here. Inside the park The riverbeds The Kgalagadi s main infrastructure is focused on the two dry riverbeds of the Auob and the Nossob, with two roads that link them (the Upper and Lower Dune roads). The Auob and Nossob are fossil rivers basically shallow valleys that run for hundreds of kilometres through the red dune fields of the Kalahari. When there s heavy rain there can be flooding, but generally it s bone dry. The Auob and Nossob converge about 5 km north of Twee Rivieren at a place called Samevloeiing. In parts, the Auob is so narrow Herschelle Gibbs could throw a cricket ball from one side of the dunes to the other, but the Nossob is much wider, especially in the north. Border crossings Botswana: The Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park has no fence between South Africa and Botswana, and animals move freely between the two countries. You can go into Botswana without a passport provided you have a booking and don t leave the park boundaries. (In other words, you must exit again via Twee Rivieren.) Namibia: If you plan to enter or leave via Mata-Mata into Namibia, you must spend at least two nights inside the park. In Namibia, you must have a black-and-white ZA sticker on your car. A road levy of R120 per trailer and R240 per vehicle will also be payable at Namibian immigration. There is a onehour time difference in winter. What can I expect to see? The park is home to 59 mammal species including lion, leopard, cheetah, spotted and brown hyena, as well as several reptiles and close to 280 bird species. Animals that rely on lots of water (like elephant, buffalo and rhino) do not occur here. And the road conditions? Ordinary sedan vehicles might struggle because the roads are prone to corrugations even though they are graded regularly. It s best to reduce your tyre pressure to as low as 1.6 bar at the filling station at Twee Rivieren when you enter the park. The speed limit is 50 km/h in the park and 20 km/h in camp. Clickety click. The Kgalagadi is the most photogenic of our national parks. When drama happens here, it s often spectacular and the dunes, camel thorn trees, colours and light make it different, especially in the early mornings and late afternoons. Bring your camera. Have fun. Dream of working with David Attenborough

9 KNOW BEFORE YOU GO TRAVEL TIMES INSIDE THE PARK Don t attempt to drive too far in a day it takes much longer than you think to get anywhere at 50 km/h. Ideally you should be driving slower than that. The times listed below are minimum travelling times, not accounting for game-viewing stops. Twee Rivieren Kieliekrankie ±45 km (1½ hours) Twee Rivieren Urikaruus ±67 km (2½ hours) Twee Rivieren Kalahari Tented Camp ±113 km (3½ hours) Twee Rivieren Mata-Mata ±117 km (3½ hours) Twee Rivieren Nossob ±160 km (4½ hours) Twee Rivieren Bitterpan (via Nossob) ±213 km (7½ hours) Twee Rivieren Grootkolk ±267 km (7½ hours) Twee Rivieren Gharagab ±319 km (9½ hours, not possible in one day) KGALAGADI BY NUMBERS 12 May 2000 the date when the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park was officially proclaimed km² total area of the transfrontier park (slightly smaller than Switzerland) km² the amount of land within South African borders 150 mm 350 mm rainfall range in the south-west and north-east respectively

10 EAT & SLEEP EN ROUTE You re in meat country now 10 Know Before You Go SLOWLY DOES IT. There are lots of excellent butchers en route to the Kgalagadi. Where should we buy our chops? Voorsorg Vleis in Brandvlei is a good place to buy meat if you re driving from Cape Town. This tidy butchery will cut your chops to order and coil up enough of their special wors to feed your army. Call ahead to place your order and pick it up on your way through. Where? As you leave Brandvlei in the direction of Kenhardt, it s on the right. Contact: , (Mariane), (Lenie) Kalahari Vleishuis in Keimoes is the home of the legendary Flip se Rib and Flippen Boud. Both are deboned and marinated, and those who ve sampled them say they re the best in the country! You ll have to ask when you enter the butchery as they hide away the stock in a freezer marked private. Where? On the right-hand side of the road after you cross the last bridge over the Orange River on your way to Upington. Contact: Upington Butchery in the CBD is best known for its boerewors Eben se wenwors (around R70/kg) and preservative-free biltong (R175,95/kg). It also offers a selection of German sausages and cold meats. The butchery opens at 7 am, six days of the week, so even if you want to make an early start you can pop in on your way to the park. Where? 24 Scott Street Contact: ; dalene@uptslaghuis.co.za Wickens Vleismark in Upington is tucked away in a small side street behind Kaap Agri, but offers some of the best buys in town. Try their biltong (R170/kg), boerewors (R68/kg) and beef sosaties (R75/kg). For a small fee they ll also vacuum-pack your meat. Where? 4 Kowen Street, behind Kaap Agri in Swartmodder Road (now Anton Lubowski) Contact: Chicken is a vegetable Upington s Kalahari Pick n Pay Centre is your last chance to stock up on everything from fresh vegetables to 5 l bottles of drinking water. Don t forget the water as some of the water in the park is so salty it s undrinkable, especially the further north you go. Where? The shopping centre is off Le Roux Street, now called Nelson Mandela Drive (follow the signs). Just 5 km outside Twee Rivieren is a new development the Kgalagadi Lodge with a shop that stocks fresh goods. If you forgot to buy bread, stop here. There s also a restaurant, bar and swimming pool, as well as a campsite and chalets for those who are aiming for deeper in the park, or missed the gateclosing time. Contact: kgalagadi-lodge.co.za Mom, I m very, very hungry When you enter Upington on the N14 from Olifantshoek, you ll spot the Bi-lo Bistro and Pub on the left, where you can stretch your legs and have a bite to eat. Enjoy a steak (R90 for 200 g) and milkshake (R19) while the kids play on the jungle gym, feed the Koi fish in the pond and watch emu, ostrich and springbok in a camp next door. You can also stock up on chips and cold drinks for the road in the adjacent grocery store. Open every day from 7 am 10 pm. Where? 9 Groenpunt Road, Keidebees Contact: For a hotchpotch of flavours and a casual atmosphere, drop in at Bubbas. The menu includes Mexican tacos, quesadillas and WHAT S IN A NAME? Like elsewhere in South Africa, Upington is going through a few name changes. chilli-cheese fries, as well as American steakhouse staples like ribs and pork stackers. Open Monday to Saturday from 11 am. The kitchen closes at 9 pm. Where? 94 Schröder Street, Upington Contact: Oh, no, we ve got a flat Upington is the centre of the universe when it comes to fixing exhausts, tyres, shock absorbers and any other carrelated mishaps. We lost a tyre outside Keimoes and were quickly helped back on the road by Nick Borman at Hi-Q. Nick s philosophy? It costs nothing to be friendly it just makes life easier. Where? Corner of Le Roux and Kort Street in Upington, but you ll find just about anything you need in town, and if not, they ll call your dealer. TYRED OUT. Long roads and lots of dirt can take their toll on your vehicle, but Upington is well geared.