Ten days in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, sandwiched between Namibia and Botswana in the northwest corner of South Africa . . . the plan was two nights in Grootkolk Wilderness Camp, five nights in Nossob Main Camp, and two nights at Polentswa Lodge (first time). We were already four nights in, and we were desperate….
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I have to admit, as a passenger, I was dragged kicking and screaming to this Land Rover Defender all-terrain experience. Not being a gung-ho, leap-into-the-abyss type ‘n all . . . But seriously, I really really enjoyed it. Recently having become the proud owners of a new Defender (secondhand, take note), H. jumped at the…
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What images does Kgalagadi bring up in your mind? Yes, it’s about the wild cats … lion, leopard, cheetah. The fierce-eyed raptors. But it’s also the rippled red desert sands of the Great Kalahari, textures of the hardy cracked-bark trees, the deepest, bluest African skies. Last remaining domain of the disappearing San culture . ….
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It’s been a long time since we’ve been to Mokala National Park, southwest of Kimberley in the Northern Cape. One of our favourite parks (granted, there are many!), we’ve been a few times . . . but not after prolonged, unusual rain. It’s a well-known fact that in 2025, Namibia, Botswana, the Karoo, Kruger, Mozambique,…
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For those who don’t follow the Quirky Girl Traveller blog, you might like to visit the site here to see what we got up to recently over a 3-week, 4,700-kilometre road trip from Kgalagadi to Fish River Canyon, then to the Richtersveld, Augrabies Gorge and Falls, and finally Papkuilsfontein, on the West Coast flower route….
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For those of you who are not following the Quirky Girl Traveller blog, you can tune in here for our trip into the Richtersveld. Some teaser photographs … SANParks offices at Sendelingsdrift, where we took the Pont across the Orange River to get to the Richtersveld entrance. A sign outside the only shop at SANParks…
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In Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park we’ve gone over to the dark side … waking up early and setting out as the gates open, resting during the hottest time of the day when most respectable cats are under a tree, sleeping. Sadly, we still go to bed late … ish. First we stayed at the Nossob riverfront…
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The best time to go to Addo National Elephant Park? Funnily enough, all the tourist websites say the Winter months. Why? Because there are fewer visitors … and it’s dry. Ha-ha-ha! They’ve obviously not heard of global warming. We’ve just returned from Addo, early June, slap-bang in winter. And it poured. Thunderclaps roared above us,…
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Our Baviaans trip Mach 2 … It begins on the farm Rus en Vrede in the Baviaanskloof Valley, after having obtained a permit for the trail at the farmhouse. We set off on this 78-kilometre track in the morning at around 10 a.m. It winds its way up and over the crests of many, many…
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We are not strangers to the Baviaanskloof valley, but we haven’t explored it for a long, long time. So we set out to put things right. Just under 200 kilometres in length, the valley is hemmed in by the Baviaanskloof mountains to the north and the Kouga mountains to the south. Our Gravel Road Adventures…
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