We spent one night in Augrabies Falls National Park, seeing the impressive waterfall as well as some very special scenery. Then we moved on to the Kalahari-Gemsbok park where we stayed at two different camp sites. The scenery is usually semi desert, but due to lots of rainfall this year it had turned into dry savannah. It looks quite similar everywhere but it is really pretty in its own way. Temperatures do get very extreme and it is very impressive that animals can survive under conditions like these. Although we didn't see as many animals as in the Kruger, we saw quite a lot, including lions and cheetahs very close to car. The Kalahari desert definitely shows another side of South African scenery and wildlife that is not to be missed.

November 20, Monday

The bus arrived in Upington at 05.00 and we were met by a woman from Yebo Backpackers. The two other people on the bus that were going on the tour were Vanessa and Matthew (Mash) from London. We were driven to Yebo where we could "rent" a bed until the Livingstone group came to pick us up. This only cost us R20 per person. Jan Arild and I tried to get some sleep while the others just stayed in the kitchen.

Around 07.00, Petro, our guide for the Kalahari arrived and we got ready to leave. The funny thing was that Petro was the guide who had been in charge of the group we had to change cars with in the Kruger Park. It's a small world! Also coming on the tour was Kylie from Australia (who also had been in Petro's group in the Kruger), so in total we were only 5 people and a guide.

We then more or less drive drove straight to Augrabies Falls National Park, where we were camping for the first night. It took a few hours to get there, but the scenery was very interesting and it was exciting to see how it changed. The scenery was at first glance brown and dull but when you looked again there were actually many colours to see.

It was a relief to finally pay for the trip so we didn't have the responsibility of the money any longer. We put up our tents and had brunch (sausages with bread and salad). All of us did the dishes together before setting off to explore the area. It was very hot outside the shade, so we didn't go further than to the nearby waterfall. It was quite impressive, but not the nicest I've seen.

There were some really strange multicoloured lizards running around the area, though, and I tried to get a good picture of one. In the camp there were also lots of animals that looked like a mix of bears and hamsters running around. They were called dassies and were allegedly a close relative of the elephant, which one would never have guessed. I had trouble believing that, but after coming home I saw a TV program that confirmed this.

From 12.00 to 13.00 we relaxed in our tent because it was too hot to be outside. Later we drove to a vineyard for some winetasting. It's amazing that they can have winefarms in such a dry area as this. Unfortunately, the winetasting was poorly organised, and they just put different bottles of wine on a table and told us to help ourselves. It would have been more interesting if somebody could have explained a little bit about the different wines, like when we were in Stellenbosch last year. Anyway, I didn't like many of the wines, so, unlike the others, we didn't buy anything.

Shortly after returning to the park, we set out on a game drive. We saw quite a few animals, including klipspringer, gemsbok, springbok and baboons. Impressive animals, I thought, to survive in this environment. They looked so perfect in a way. A little before 18.00 we got back to the camp and spent the rest of the evening sitting around the fire and talking. Petro made dinner (grilled chicken, rice and vegetables) and we enjoyed ourselves.

Everybody was tired and wanted to go to bed early, so by 22.00 we were all in our sleeping bags. It took a while before I fell asleep, though.

November 21, Tuesday

Jan Arild and I woke up at 06.50 and did our entire packing. Unfortunately some of the others were very slow and we had to wait for them. Breakfast was bacon, scrambled eggs and toast. It was okay, although I don't really like fried food in the morning. The time was almost 08.30 before we were in the car ready to go.

First we drove back to Yebo backpackers to pick up the final member of our group, a Dutch girl who had missed her bus to Upington and therefore arrived late. Before heading for the Kalahari we also did some shopping at the local "Pick n` Pay". We stopped along the way to have lunch, but other than that we only drove for about three hours. One amazing thing about the drive was that although the road was in very good quality, we only met a handful of vehicles going the other way. Clearly this area was not very populated!

Around 14.30 we entered The Kalahari Gemsbok Park and stopped at the Twee Rivieren camp. We pitched our tents under some trees, trying to achieve maximum protection from the sun. On doing this, it was important to think about which direction the sun would move during the day, so that our tents would be in the shade in the afternoon as well.

I had expected us to go on a short game drive in the afternoon, but it turned out we weren't doing anything for the rest of the day. This was rather boring and it seemed like a waste of time to just sit around in the camp doing nothing.

Since it was so hot we just relaxed in our tents for a while. Later we visited the shop to buy some cold drinks and went for a short walk around the camp area. However, with regards to scenery, there was not much to see, except for sand and some dry grass. One good thing was that everywhere in the camp, there were little squirrels running around. They were so cute!! :-) One of them was especially interested in us and came close to our tent, standing on two legs and looking in through the opening to see if we were eating without sharing :-)

At 19.00 we had dinner, which was lamb chops with corn on the cob and baked potatoes. We sat around the fire eating and talking. Despite us basically not having done anything the whole day, everyone was tired and already by 21.00 we were in our tents.

It took a while before I fell asleep and unfortunately I woke up again at 02.30 needing to visit the toilet. Unfortunately, the bathroom building was rather far away and I wasn't that keen on going alone, especially since there were no lights on during the night. On my way back to the tent, I almost got lost, probably because I was concentrating so hard on where I put my feet (to avoid accidentally stepping on a snake or a scorpion), that I didn't see in which direction I was heading. Fortunately, I got back to the tent in the end and slept well for the rest of the night.

November 22, Wednesday

Petro came to wake us up at 05.10, but I was already awake. It was rather chilly outside this morning, but we figured it would soon enough get hot and tried to enjoy it. Most of us got organized quickly, but two of the girls were slow and absolutely had to take a shower before we could leave the camp. This was a little annoying; it's not like the animals would care what their hair looked like. Well, at least we had plenty of time to enjoy the sunrise while having breakfast.

The gates had opened already at 05.30, but it wasn't until 06.00 we left the camp. We drove around until around 09.10 when we stopped to have brunch (hamburgers and salad). This rest stop was not fenced in so in theory lions could come and eat us...but we only saw mice there. They were attracted by the crumbs that fell to the ground and there must have been at least ten of them swarming around our feet. They even ate from the hand.

On the drive we saw: gemsbok, wildebeest, springbok, cape fox, bat eared fox, lots of jackals, African wildcat (which is very rare) and lots of squirrels. It was further between the sightings than in the Kruger, but the happier we were on seeing something. The scenery was very nice, but it was clear the Kalahari was a place where only the strong survived. I nodded off a few times in between the animal sightings; there's just something about a warm car and lots of driving that makes me sleepy.

We arrived back at the camp at 13.00. Everyone was tired and wanted to relax in their tents. When that got boring we visited the small shop; we did that several times actually, just to pass time. Besides, the shop was air-conditioned which made a nice change from the burning heat outside. The difference between the night and day temperatures in the Kalahari were really enormous, quite unlike humid Southeast Asia where the temperature only dropped a few degrees at night.

I also had a long shower and "washed" some t-shirts by hand. The water was a bit strange, almost being a little slimy, so that I felt I never really got my body properly clean.

The same squirrel came to our tent that day as well. It stood in the opening, wagging its tail and looking in to see if we had anything to eat. She was so cute that I gave her a biscuit. I know you are not supposed to feed the animals, but this one seemed to be used to it, so I couldn't resist :-)

At 18.00 we were going on a night drive organized by the camp. It sounded very exciting and we were looking forward to it. We packed warm clothes, plenty to drink and of course camera and video camera. The vehicle was a real safari truck with seats high up. Fortunately, we weren't too many people going, so everybody got good seats. Our guide was called Megan and she certainly knew a lot about the Kalahari and its wildlife.

We drove until sunset, only stopping when Megan wanted us to see something and tell us about it. We saw the sunset from a top overlooking a valley. It was very pretty! After that it got dark (naturally) and we then started using two large spotlights, one on each side of the truck, to scan over the surroundings. I got to hold one and took my responsibility very seriously :-). We were able to spot the animals by the reflection of the light from their eyes. I was very lucky with my side and spotted many animals. It was fun so I was almost a little sad when we arrived back at the camp around 21.30 and it was all over.

Despite the sun having set several hours ago, it was still quite hot outside, which made it a little difficult to get to sleep.

November 23, Thursday

Petro woke us at 04.45. The morning routine went very quickly and soon everything was packed, including the tents. We then had a quick breakfast (tea and rusks) before leaving "Twee Rivieren" (which means two rivers because the camp is close to two rivers. The road is really on the riverbed, but it very rarely flooded). Today we were going to another camp site called Mata Mata, located next to the Namibian border.

It didn't take long before we saw two parked cars with people hanging out the windows. This is usually an indication of something interesting, so all of us got excited and we were not let down! On coming closer, we saw five lions lying in the shade of a tree, roughly about ten meters from the car. We sat there for a long time just watching them. The lions seemed quite lazy and only moved when the shade moved. However, when they got up you could see how full their bellies were, so they had obviously hunted during the night. I took lots of pictures, maybe even too many :-) (But in order to get one good picture you often have to take ten bad ones..) No one wanted to leave the lions but in the end we had to move on.

Around 09.20 we stopped to make brunch (sausage and rolls) and that was good because I was very hungry. Back in the car it didn't take long before our next exciting encounter. Again a car had stopped ahead of us, this time because of two cheetahs under a tree. They were partially hidden behind some small branches and not that easy to spot, but sometimes they put their heads up to see what was going on.

We reached Mata Mata, our new camp 12.30. Once again we had to pitch our tents, but now that we were almost professional tent pitchers, it didn't take long. The camp was next to the Namibian border and from our tent we could see through the fence and over to Namibia. It looked very similar to South Africa, though :-) This camp was also filled with those cute squirrels, which sometimes were acting a little bizarre. They were just as interested in food and not shy at all. For some reason, they sometimes would dig a small hole in the sand to lie in, and then try to cover themselves with sand again. It looked funny :-)

There was not much to do in the camp except relaxing and buy cold drinks in the small shop. Around 17.00 we went on a short evening game drive. We were getting quite used to seeing springboks, gemsboks and wildebeest by now, but suddenly a giraffe appeared, our first in the Kalahari! It was alone, but looked like a giraffe with a plan :-). The giraffe made a perfect picture in the middle of the savannah. It was about time we met a giraffe in the Kalahari, I thought, because it's my favourite animal and I had been looking for it for days.

We were back in the camp at 19.10, all of us feeling very hungry; after all we hadn't eaten since brunch at around 09.30. Petro made spaghetti for dinner, and it turned out to be very good! Everyone was tired and we went to bed about 21.00. It was still hot outside and I had some difficulties falling asleep. Finally a cooler wind came, it started raining and I eventually fell asleep.

November 24, Friday

When Petro did her wake-up call at 04.45 we were already awake, and had been for quite a while, because a cricket had been making a terrible noise since 04.00. The packing went quick and so did breakfast. At 06.00 we left Mata Mata and drove back the same road towards "Twee Rivieren". This was our last day in the Kalahari. We saw all the usual animals on the way and took some last pictures. On reaching the camp we bought some cold drinks before continuing towards Upington.

On the way, Kylie suddenly remembered that her flight out of South Africa was tomorrow at noon, instead of in two days, as she had first thought. "How on earth is that possible?", we thought to ourselves. Anyway, if we now went by our original tour schedule, we would only arrive in Gauteng tomorrow afternoon and she would not be able to catch her plane! Petro said that she could reach her plane if we started driving towards Gauteng today, instead of staying the night in Upington, and they more or less, without consulting us, decided to do just that. When Petro later remembered that me and Jan Arild were going back to Gauteng as well, she asked if their arrangement was fine by us. This didn't really leave us much of a choice other than going along with their plan, even though it meant missing out on some things we were supposed to stop and see on the way back. We dropped the rest of the group, who was going back to Cape Town, off at Yebo Backpackers, took a group photo and said goodbye before continuing driving.

We drove all the way to Vryburg, where Kylie bought us dinner at Wimpy`s since the whole thing was her fault. Petro then stopped at a camp site where we were supposed to pitch our tents again. However, it turned out to be a creepy place with lots of drunk people, so we ended up paying a little extra for a cabin. The cabin was run down and full of bugs, but at least it was safer than the tent. Jan Arild and I had a room of our own and we talked for a while before falling asleep. I slept very well.

November 25, Saturday

Petro woke us at 04.30 and all of us were ready to leave at 05.00. We only made some toilet stops and a breakfast stop before reaching Johannesburg Airport around 10.00. We said goodbye to Kylie before Petro drove us back to Kia-Ora, where the trip ended for us. It was kind of good to be back.

We were really satisfied with the Kalahari tour, and thought Petro had done a reasonable job. However, I probably liked the Kruger safari even more, one of the reasons being that I thought the people on that particular trip bonded much better as a group. I also thought Yogi was a more natural leader than Petro, which might have contributed to the group functioning so well.

Back at Kia-Ora we moved into our old room, Drolpeer, since we had liked it so much. After getting organised, we wanted to find the Greyhound office and buy bus tickets to Piet Retief. However, we discovered that these were sold at Kia-Ora and the owner was more than happy to help us. He made the calls and organized the whole thing for us, charging no commission at all. He even had to call them twice when we found out they gave a student discounts of 10%. He also booked a tour to Soweto for us tomorrow.

Having already seen much of Pretoria, we decided to go down to Ster-Kinekor to catch a movie if they were showing anything interesting. For lunch we bought sausage rolls at King Pie to smuggle into the cinema. It was not allowed to bring your own food into the cinema, so I had to laugh a little when a woman and some children in front of us brought along two large pizzas. The woman insisted she was taking the pizzas home after the movie, and they eventually let her in! :-) Yeah, that sounds logical: First buy some hot pizzas, then take them to the cinema, and finally go home to eat them for dinner :-) We chose a film called "Bless the child", which I thought was one of the better films I've seen lately.

The rest of the evening we spent at Kia-Ora. We checked e-mails and found out that our parents had gone to Denmark for a few days, which explained why they weren't answering the phone. I also called Borgny to tell about our arrival on Monday, so someone had to pick us up in Piet Retief. She said we were lucky to have gotten through to her because the phone had been out of order for the last week. After that I had a shower, and then we ate another excellent dinner in the restaurant/bar.

Later in the evening we discovered that there was a pool table at Kia-Ora where you could play for only R2 per round. I had only tried playing pool once before with no immediate success, but I was willing to give it another try. It turned out to be a lot of fun :-) Jan Arild knew the rules and taught me how to play the right way. We played two rounds while the rain was pouring down outside and there was lightning and thunder also.

We went to bed early and fell asleep quickly.