We set off before breakfast, having snatched a rusk or two with our morning coffee in the room. Little did we know that vast quantities of food awaited us for the rest of the trip, and an unnecessary panic could have been avoided! A strong wind was blowing and cloud building up as a cold front moved in from the West. As this was my first trip to the Karoo in some 40 years, it came as a surprise that the skies would be cloudy, but it turned out to be in our favour, retaining a little warmth at night and preventing the plumbing from freezing. The small birds were sheltering from the wind on the ground, not ideal for a birding tour, but nevertheless a good number of species were spotted and the birders seemed satisfied. My main interest in the tour was to take photos of the landscape, collect rocks and absorb the light and scents of the wide open spaces into my being. There would be plenty of all that, and all kinds of interesting experiences to come.
We travelled in two 4x4s past dry grassland, kopjes and sad, self-destructing small towns. And sometimes past small towns that have survived the exodus to cities and still retain their charm. A stop at the dam at Victoria West was breakfast, and we would find out just how efficient Karoo Birding Safaris are! A full breakfast of cereals, yoghurt, hard-boiled eggs, hot beverages, rusks, cold meat and fruit appeared from huge coolers, and the remnants stowed away almost imperceptibly, as the group got to know each other in the area overlooking the dam. We would be waited on hand and foot for the next week, from the back of two 4x4s! Our first stopover would be two nights at the Karoo Gariep Hippo Conservancy/New Holme Karoo Guest Farm, and we arrived after a long day on the road (birders are prone to sudden stops and much reversing) just after sunset.
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