Ponies in Lesotho, Big Hole, Augrabies and on to Kgalagadi.

Augrabies Falls National Park

Ponies in Lesotho, The Big Hole, Augrabies and on to Kalagadi Transfrontier park

14 to 22^nd March 2011

After a fabulous run in the hills and a wealth of game including Eland, we farewell the red cliffs of Golden Gate national Park and arc around the kingdom of Lesotho, to enter via the capital Maseru. The border crossing is a breeze and I have to smile at the official’s total disinterest in the fact that, as a family, we are travelling on passports from three different countries. Maybe this will come back to bite us later though! We avoid Maseru and head instead for Malealea, about an hour towards the foothills of the mountains, where we are welcomed by the “Gates of Paradise Pass” which indeed provides a vista that is a taste of what is to come.

Horse trek in Malealea

Our delightful hosts allow us to camp next to one of the chalets as the campsite is full with “Contiki-type” over-landers and we are able to use all the excellent facilities. This place is a gem, calm, clean and colourful with a local band and choir performing each evening. We waste no time and give in to the girls pleading to go riding and set off on a two day trek the following morning. Our Basutho ponies are perfect with docile temperaments, which makes me feel a little bit happier about cow-girl Zara being on her own. The first descent and river crossing, however, had even Ilda and me gulping back a hint of anxiety, but the girls handled it, like the ponies, in their stride.

Zara with locals on overnight camp

The experience is unforgettable with panoramic views of Drakensberg-type mountains, numerous clear river crossings and lots of opportunity to interact with the locals as we pass through their villages. Sadly my Sotho is limited to “Dumela” which gets us an enthusiastic response anyway. We overnight in a mud hut with the locals and Margot and Zara defy linguistic barriers and are building forts and dams with the local kids in no time at all. A stroll around the village is rich for the cultural experience; an elderly ‘gogo’ inhales vigorously on her snuff and outlines the production process; another ‘mama’ leans over her black pots which steam with delicious concoctions which Margot pleads for instead of our stodge; herd-boys return home with their bell-ringing goats and cows and, while the women labour, the men chatter idly under a brush shade that serves as a chicken roost at night.

Bushman's painting

We return home the next morning via some exceptional Bushmen paintings which incredibly are about 23 000 years old and depict beautifully the life of these first settlers of Southern Africa. Back at Malealea our hosts invite us to braai with them and a rainy rest day is perfect for the girls to get back to school.

Basutho boy

Basutho hut at overnight camp

Back on the road we elect to head back into SA and west to Bloemfontein and get there late thanks to continual roadwork which plagues SA roads right now. The stop is worth it though and I am relieved to pick up my credit card and we visit the world renowned Oliewenhuis Art Museum which houses a fabulous selection of South African art. After a good coffee in the gardens we continue our sojourn west towards Kimberly where we camp for the night.

Margot showing distances covered from Mseleni to Kimberley

Kimberley Big Hole

An early start sees us first in the queue to visit the Big Hole which is the biggest manually dug hole in the world. The diamond rush in the late 1800’s triggered SA’s industrial revolution and De Beers is still today one of the leading diamond producers world-wide. The 800m hole is impressive and a viewing platform gives us a bird’s eye view but it is the short movie in a spanking new theatre and the underground mining experience with noise and blasting included that gets the girls vote. Margot and Zara now know that the 4-C’s of cut, colour, clarity and carat is what diamonds are all about. Good luck boys!

School at Golden Gate

We follow the sun traversing the Northern Cape and then following the mighty Orange River (a tributary of which we had crossed on our ride in Lesotho) to Upington. This is a part of SA that I have not visited and conjures up memories of military call-ups in the bad days. The country is arid but cultivation is rich along the river with miles of vineyards and is now Irish green. We refuel (at nearly R10 per litre!) and push on to Augrabies national park, so named by the Khoesaan people for whom “Aukoerbis” meant “place of great noise”.

Looking down towards the valley of the Orange River

This is familiar territory for me having been here in my varsity days when a white water kayaking trip nearly went badly wrong and watching the incredibly powerful, surging brown water made the hair stand up on the back of my neck

Augrabies Falls- 600 cumec's

The falls are staggering in their might and signs of the recent 6700 cumec flood abound with trashed viewing platforms and walkways and driftwood perched high and dry. Half the campsite is closed thanks to the flood carnage but we find a grassy patch under some trees where school can happen once again. Ilda does magic with the school programme and miraculously keeps the girls attention. They revel in the swimming pool with the outside temp at 35degrees Celsius and I enjoy a sunrise run along the Dassie trail with lots of rocks and river crossings and spectacular views of the gorge. A large troop of baboons prevents me getting to Arrow point but the walk onto Moon Rock for the sunrise is spectacular.

Orange river gorge at sunset

We once again squeeze everything into the Pathfinder and drive due north. The scenery is stark and so it is a relief to arrive at the Kalagadi Transfrontier Park which straddles Namibia, South Africa and Botswana. Rains have been good and so the grass is long which makes for difficult game viewing but excitement abounds in the campsite and there is talk of numerous cat sightings. We rise early for a spectacular sunrise and are treated to a large herd of soaked Springbok and sightings of the majestic Gemsbok with his sword like horns. Signs in the park point to camps nearly 250km away which reminds us of the enormity of this amazing wilderness. Tomorrow we dive to Nossob camp on the Botswana border about 150km away and from there on to Namibia.

Mighty Orange river at sunset