Kalahari Nights

It’s cold. I can see his breath as he exhales next to us. His black mane, silhouetted like a halo, shines in the spotlight as he sits quietly, not 10 metres away from us. We are stunned into silence at his magnificence and his proximity. Pride is etched into every single whisker of his regal profile. A dull thud as he flops to his side, the dust scattering as his great head lands on the hard baked, cracked earth. He sighs audibly, his open amber eyes giving away nothing. His tail is still, his breathing deep, and a sense of wonder builds as we share his world for a few precious moments. “Look up.” I urge quietly after a few minutes. Tearing our eyes away from him, on this crystal-clear winter’s night, 2,500 jewels of the Milky Way hang glittering, suspended above us.

A roar from the south heightens our senses. His females are on the relentless search for more prey. Springbok and kudu no doubt remain still to avoid detection; their large, beautiful eyes, always wary. He will of course follow, but for now we simply relish his extraordinary presence as thoughts of home, trappings of another world fall away, insignificant when faced with his primeval existence. In one fluid moment he stands, answering a silent communication, and walks away from us. His disappearance elicits complex emotions - overwhelming elation, awe, and a sense of peace juxtaposed with a tinge of melancholy for his threatened and vanishing world.

Over the last few months, whilst our ability to experience such moments first-hand has been temporarily out of reach, I have often replayed this sighting, along with many others, relishing the emotions generated by the mighty Kalahari. I yearn to breathe its air, to feel its dust between my toes, to feel the velvet crescent seed pods of the camelthorn, to contemplate the absolute majesty of oryx horns silhouetted against a never-ending sky. I long to watch the sun rise and set, a huge orange orb bathing the sky in exquisite colour as it slowly sinks beneath the horizon. But primarily I want to just sit amongst wildlife, absorbing the moment, watching and contemplating its ever-present quest for survival.

This may be a desert, but it’s far from devoid of life so when you find water stay by it, and if you’re lucky, let the magic unfold. You may not find the quantity or volume of species here that other, less harsh environments support, but you will find quality. And you will find the unusual. Aardvark, pangolin, honey badger, brown hyena, caracal, African wild cat, black rhino, striped polecat, aardwolf, raptors, bat-eared fox, wild dog, Cape fox, cheetah and meerkat to name but a few. All you need to do is choose your preferred style of travel and we’ll get you there.

Choose from mobile camping, combining the Central Kalahari Game Reserve with Lake Ngami and the incredible Makgadikgadi Pans on Botswana’s Rare Mammals, or head south across the border to South Africa. From there, join our Kalahari Conservation Experience to get your hands dirty and be actively involved in wildlife management for the country’s largest Big Five Private Reserve, or consider South Africa’s Rare Mammals for possibly the best chance of adding aardvark, pangolin and wild dog to your species lists whilst staying at an incredible private lodge. I don’t know about you but I’m already packing!

Contact our expert team to experience the magic of a safari to Botswana or South Africa yourself.