At Eye Level with the Kalahari’s Sentinels
The Anderson Expeditions team escaped the office for an extraordinary week at Tswalu in the Kalahari, a remote stretch of wilderness in the Northern Cape of South Africa.
Tswalu is a place of many contradictions. We found this typically arid landscape carpeted in seeding grasses and wild sunflowers, the oryx, kudu, giraffe and mountain zebra fat and happy and the cheetah, wild dog and lions thriving.
We spent a few afternoons quietly observing curious meerkats follow their daily rhythms. These fabulously social creatures completely ignored our presence as they busily went about their everyday tasks of hunting, preening and housekeeping. What great fun to watch!
We’re a society that’s desperate for wild and remote open spaces and meaningful interaction with wildlife and people. The landscape paintings of Bruce Backhouse – previously artist in residence at Tswalu – offer a snapshot of how Tswalu provides that in spades for guests at their three lodges, splendid Kalahari tones, radiant sunsets and night skies and immense, bending horizons. It’s true magic at scale but also at a micro level, close and considered observation of the desert life revealed two wonderful stories for us…
We witnessed a spider-hunting wasp expertly prepare a larder for its prey. Drawn to the active digging in the sand, we stood by and watched the diminutive wasp scuttle off from its excavation only to return to its recently dug hole with its prey of an enormous Golden Orb Web spider, forcing the large arachnid into the burrow – an incredible piece of drama unfolding on the Kalahari floor and one we would have missed entirely had we not stopped for a moment to leave the vehicle and explore.
Stopping to examine the remarkable architecture of an enormous Sociable Weaver nest we suddenly spotted the tail of a Cape Cobra disappearing into the woven grasses messily hung together. We watched as the lithe body slithered in and out of the many nest holes in search of its next meal. A remarkable sighting and a moment of quiet contemplation at the marvels of nature.
Equally fascinating were the cocoons of the African silk moth that we found expertly spun on the branches of the camel thorn trees. These cocoons are removed and used by the indigenous San people to craft shaker instruments – reminders that the desert’s stories are woven into its people as much as its wildlife.
And then there were the African Wild Dogs, always a most thrilling encounter on any safari and this time was no different. After a long and dedicated search for the elusive canines, we found the pack mid-hunt, following them as they pursued a small herd of kudu through the ochre sands and then up onto the ridges of the low rocky mountainous outcrops. The kudu evaded the dogs this time and then the dogs gave us the slip too, but the sense of intrigue and mystery was again made palpable.
Tswalu offers a range of accommodations from the exclusive use homestead of Tarkuni, to the Motse lodge and also the most recent addition of the villa-style Loapi luxury homes in the desert. Rooms and luxuries aside, it is the stillness and the vastness of this special part of the Kalahari that make Tswalu a worthy addition to any safari-goers bucket list.
