Kalahari!

Well, I survived my weekend camping in the Kalahari...and I didn't even have to perform any lion-wrestling!

We left as a large caravan of 3 macho 4x4's, including Jason's kick-ass Land Rover. It was 17 people in all (2 of which were less camping-inclined than the rest of us and opted to stay at the nearby lodge). It was a 4-hour drive to the Khutse Game Preserve, smack dab in the middle of the Kalahari Desert. We then proceeded to snake through the meandering paths of the Kalahari looking for game. It's actually quite a draining experience: you are sitting on the top of a Land Rover going 40 kilometers an hour over a bumpy, punishing terrain, all the while with a scorching sun and blinking the dirt out of your eyes. We did a pretty good job on the animal sightings, though--the highlight of which was a veritable shitload of giraffes. There were about a dozen of them milling around at our campsite, which was conviently located near the main waterhole. During the course of the weekend we also saw several hemsbok, springbok, kudu (all varieties of antelope), ostrich, jackals, and a variety of interesting birds. We camped out beneath one of the most amazing starry skies I've ever witnessed and had a fabulous meal over the campfire.

Another lesson I learned this weekend: ostriches are stupid. During one of our game drives we encountered a group of 3 adult ostriches and 6 baby ostriches. They took off down the road (they are pretty fast, too--even the kids!) and we followed at a distance. You could tell the ostriches were distressed, but it took the adults about 10 minutes of sprinting down the dirt road that perhaps they should try getting OFF the road to avoid being chased by our Land Rover. And it took the poor babies about 25 minutes of us chasing them before they managed to get off the trail...

Still having problem with the photos...but I'll try and put them up eventually!!!