My Kalahari Adventure #2

The Karoo has a magnetic beauty that pulls you back again and again – for me it is about the rocks and geology which show the upheavals the land went through when forming millions of years ago as part of the earliest landmass to emerge from the ocean. The road from Beaufort West leads us deep into dinosaur territory, where fossils of these ancient beasts are strewn across the landscape, identified by those who know when a rock is not a rock, and an excellent display of some examples can be found in the Karoo National Park just outside the town. The flat-topped buttresses so typical of the Karoo towered on either side as we ascended Ou Kloof and up onto the escarpment, stopping for breakfast by the currently dry riverside among the dolerite outcrops. These smooth and rounded boulders beg to be stroked, and their weathering over aeons has formed fascinating patterns to delight the eye. Our first bird sightings were made – I had no difficulty with the Verreaux’s Eagle perched majestically against the skyline before taking to the skies in search of early morning prey, but it soon became apparent that I was going to struggle with the Little Brown Jobs, as everyone trained binoculars and long lenses on targets I had no hope of seeing with my less than 20/20 vision (the left eye sees far and the right eye sees close, and both have varying degrees of astigmatism). I had to rely on movement to spot a bird, and so missed many an opportunity to tick off the list. However, birding was not my main motivation for the trip; a guided tour would be the only way I would ever get to explore the north-western areas of South Africa, and fulfil a longstanding desire to visit the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park. Karoo Birding Safaris hosted my dear departed Dad on a number of bird tours that he enjoyed so much later in life when he was unable to travel alone, and so it was without hesitation that I booked my seat on the adventure bus.