Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park

I have explored part of the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park. I have driven through the harsh road from Kokotsha to Mabuasehube. In Tshwaragano ward in Kokotsha, the warm Ovaherero people have told me of the Bimbo family found in Kokotsha and Tsabong.

I did not only learn how to pitch a tent in Kokotsha but slept in it for the first time in my life. It was also here where I learned that there were Basarwa; Macoloured and Baherero people in the village. I listened with great interest as our host elaborated that she had notified the ward kgosana that there would be some visitors in her yard. She went on to state that hosting people was a blessing and that the makgoa tourists had pitched tents in her yard too.

With birds flying by, in impressive formations; I marvelled at three grazing ellands on the Tsabong-Mabuasehube road. I have whistled with great joy as the Pajero engine roared through the Kgalagadi sand enroute to Mabuasehube from Tsabong. Of course, I have connected with the Kgalagadi soil as I dipped my feet deep in the sand.

I took a full bath under the stars at the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park Entrance Gate Campsite 03. I also enjoyed tasting the salty water at the Mabuasehube Entrance Gate. On the way to Matopi 2, I marvelled at ostriches racing on the Bosobogolo pan. Cross-legged, I lied with my back on the Mabuasehube pan.

I took great joy in digging the Mosokelatsebeng medicinal root for children on the gruesome road from Matopi to Nossob. Yes, I have been humbled by the road and with my hands, dug out heaps of sand from around our vehicles’ tyres right under the Kgalagadi heat. At Nossob, I very much enjoyed a 20 minute hot shower after 4 days of bathing in rationed water.

On the sandy gravel road, as we drove from Nossob to Two Rivers, I marvelled at a group of springboks relaxing on the Dikbaardskolk pan. At the Kamqua Picnic site where we stopped for coffee, I read of “The Grootkolk-The Forgotten Story”. I was reminded of legends in the Nama resistance against racist German oppression, Captain Hendrik Witbooi and Captain Simon !Gomxab Kooper.

We went down to the beautiful Rooiputs Lodge owned by a lady from Norway. At the Lodge, I spoke with three staff members. One came from “Bokalaka”, and two from Struizendam. It is just outside the Lodge where we finally saw the majestic lion.

At Two Rivers Border Control, I enjoyed my conversation with two Batswana immigration officers who clarified that we have been travelling on and around the man-made Border line separating Botswana and South Africa. As our three 4 by 4’s drove outside the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, I looked back and knew, very well, that I’ll be back.

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