“The spirit of man is nomad, his blood bedouin, and love is the aboriginal tracker on the faded desert spoor of his lost self” …

Laurens van der Post

The quote above is from one of South Africa’s greatest writers, and arguably one of the leading experts on the #Kalahari desert. His words echoed inside my skull for the past few days as we explored the amber dunes of this arid Northern Cape Tourism desert region.

We managed to squeeze in a couple of top destinations in the second province along our Beyond Expeditions #BeyondLockdown adventure: Kalahari Trails Nature Reserve, Molopo Kalahari Lodge and the incredible Khomani San community on Erin Game Farm. And I cannot but help think that Van Der Post was speaking about the Bushman people when he penned the above words …

‘Khomani’ means the forgotten people, but – like the Red Dune Route sand – you will find it impossible to erase them from your memory once you’ve experienced their encyclopedic knowledge of the veldt, or witnessed their rich, yet humble and unfettered, lives.

The same can be said for the delightful little denizens ruling the Boesman grass plains at the #meerkatsanctuary. We burrowed in the sand with them; tracked into the ancient dunes, and went free-range on an exhilarating desert #trailrun. And we ate like kings, and sat around many a fire, listening to tall tales or just letting the desert night wash over us.

Please make a point to #playlocal & #staylocal to support local tourism at grass-roots level, and help change the lives of those thousands of people dependent upon your contribution to the local economy. Tomorrow, our ‘Long Drive to support SA Tourism’ meanders all the way south onto the edge of the Free State,where we will visit the Karoo Gariep Conservancy for our next adventure.

None of this would have been possible without the exceptional support of Isuzu South Africa and their kickass vehicles, or Dunlop Tyres SA – thank you 🙏

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