In a remote corner of southern Africa there is a national park spanning 28,000 square kilometres, two rivers and only three roads. Mike Main uncovers the magic of the Kalahari.

Mix the magic of Bushmen, the Kalahari, fossil sand dunes, animals that don't drink, birds that carry water. Set them down in one of the most distant and remote corners of southern Africa in a stark and vivid landscape. Add an obscure colonial battle and forgotten graves. Do this and you can begin to imagine what makes the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park so unutterably different.

Its very location sets the tone. In the heart of southern Africa is part of the largest continuous area of sand in the world, a relic desert, the Kalahari. It is in the most arid and inhospitable portion of this desert that this extraordinary national park is found.

Strictly speaking the Kalahari is a huge sedimentary basin, dominated on the surface by wind-blown, or to use that graceful Greek word - aeolian, sands. Beginning at the Orange river in the south and extending to the Congo and the equator in the north, the sand covers some 2.5 million square kilometres, blanketing large parts of South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Angola and Zaire. In Botswana, some 80% of the country is mantled by this ubiquitous sand which covers all but a relatively thin strip in the east of the country.

In truth, the Kalahari (a Shekhalagari word meaning 'always dry') is no longer the great desert it once was. It was so called by the earliest European explorers who approached it from the south and who were struck by the complete absence of any permanent surface water. The appellation has stuck.

Obviously, reaching so far into the tropics the climate in the north is very different, but in Botswana, the Kalahari is a semi-arid area with a marked desert-like character. Temperatures typically range through more than 500C. Rainfall is low, variable and confined to five months of the year. Despite this, the veld is completely covered by vegetation. Predictably, however, the Kalahari is a very fragile environment, especially in the south.

For all its apparent hostility, the Kalahari thirstland contains unique and important features: circular, hardclay pans; long lines of linear dunes anchored tentatively by grass and shrubs; an array of extraordinary animal adaptations for life in this harsh environment; a visible testament to dramatic changes of climate and, in blood and sweat, the marks of man's attempts to claim and tame this vast wilderness.

It is as well, then, that in 1931 the South African Government and the British Administration responsible for the Bechuanaland Protectorate, agreed to create a national park that spanned their common border.

To the south-west of the Nossob River was declared the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park (South Africa) and to the north-east of the river, somewhat confusingly, the Gemsbok National Park (Botswana). From its inception to the present day there has been no infrastructure in the Botswana Park, which has remained a complete wilderness area.

At the time of writing, management plans were being drawn up to change this. Originally, the whole park was managed by South Africa but in recent years, Botswana has taken responsibility for its portion.

In order to preserve a particularly fine example of Kalahari Pans, an additional 1,800 square kilometres was tacked onto the eastern side of Botswana's Gemsbok National Park. Within this area are the spectacular Pans of Mabuasehube, Bosobogolo and Mpaathutlwa. This area was formerly known as Mabuasehube Game Reserve but is now incorporated into Gemsbok National Park and the name Mabuasehube Game Reserve is no longer used.

It is not practical to see the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park from the air. Were it so, one would look down on a remarkable stretch of African wilderness.

From Namibia and the northwest through the Park run two parallel rivers, the Nossob in the north and the Auob, which join not far from the Park's southern boundary. To call them rivers is misleading in a sense since their hard, flat, sandy beds seldom see water and yet, occasionally, experience mammoth floods. Beneath their sands, fresh water seeps and upon them giant Acacia trees cast their shade and, like magnets, draw panting animals to the shelter of their shadows.

In all directions away from the rivers a vast field of ancient sand dunes is visible. No longer mobile and held in place by coarse grass and stunted trees, the long parallel lines of undulating alab dunes map out the path of forgotten winds.

They show how, in drier times, the old desert lived and moved when the sand blew free. Oval, opalescent and strung together like pearls, lines of grey, clay pans mark the course of ancient drainage channels or punctuate the rippled landscape with patches of inviting smoothness - in sharp contrast to the chaotic tumble of trees, shrubs and tussocked grass which otherwise meet the eye.

At the close of day, when the sun works its magic with the light and long shadows etch the landscape's true nature, there can be few sights more evocative of pristine wilderness. At night, with no town or city lights for hundreds of kilometres, the canopy above is alive with a myriad bright lights that others call stars. Here, the silence is truly stunning and it is only too easy to believe the Bushman's claim that you can hear the stars sing.

The silence and immense, untroubled landscapes suggest an overwhelming feeling of peace and tranquillity. But it has not always been so. Officially, the Herero and Hottentot uprisings against German control in Namibia were ended by a 1907 peace deal. However, Simon Cooper and his 80-strong gang operating out of the wilderness north of the Nossob thought otherwise. Using hit-and-run guerilla tactics, Cooper's men murdered and pillaged a swath of terror through Namibia's eastern homesteads. As a result, one of the most extraordinary and little known military campaigns in history took place.

Determined to oust the guerillas from this waterless wasteland, Captain Friedrich van Erckert spent six months in preparation, training his mounted troops to ride specially imported camels. In March, 1908, he set out from the Nossob river. In the assault party were 23 German Officers, 373 rifles, 4 medics, 120 non-whites, 710 camels as well as horses, mules and riding oxen. Four maxim machine guns completed the force.

The wisdom of von Erckert's decision to use camels was justified: water restrictions did not hamper the group's movements, most of the camels going 12 days without water.

Cooper's force was found and a dawn engagement took place. The outcome was by no means a foregone conclusion. Records show that 13 Germans were killed, including Captain von Erckert himself, 19 were wounded and 58 of Cooper's men were also killed. Cooper escaped but, after this, was no further trouble to the Germans.

All that remained of the conflict was the silence and more than 70 graves. Where, beyond the Nossob, those graves might be, is not known.

Although Botswana's part of the park is still without roads and therefore inaccessible, vehicular access for the park as a whole is good. From the only entry point, on the Nossob river, very good gravel roads follow the two rivers as far as the Namibian border (where there is at present no exit). A single track connects the two river roads. Following this allows for a sense of penetrating the dune wilderness that surrounds the rivers and gives an extraordinary feeling of remoteness. Along both rivers run a series of artificial waterholes that help make game viewing easy and satisfying.

There is a paradox in wilderness: by our very presence we change it, yet, if we do not enjoy it, it will be lost to future generations. Above most, the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park, stands least spoilt. Here, in summer heat or under arching, cobalt, winter skies there can be a sense of oneness with the land, a sense not easily equalled elsewhere.

Kalahari Notebook

Flora and Fauna

In this nearly 28,000 square kilometre national park, 170 bird species have been spotted, including the remarkable social weaver whose communal nests weigh tonnes. There are also many large birds of prey. You can expect to see a wide variety of herd animals including springbok, blue wildebeest, eland, gemsbok and red hartebeest as well as lion, cheetah, leopard, brown hyaena, caracal, bat eared and silver fox, jackal and a host of smaller mammals. Animals you will not see here because it is too dry and far beyond their normal range include elephant (except for the once in a century stray), buffalo and crocodile.

Trees to watch out for are the Grey Camel Thorn (Acacia haematoxylon) which with the Common Camel Thorn (Acacia erioloba) dominate the river beds and the Boscia trees under whose low sweeping branches one looks for game, especially lion and cheetah, during the heat of the day. One of the thorny shrubs you will notice because of the prominent, upright seed pods is another Acacia, the Candle-pod Acacia (Acacia hebeclada).

Travel Factfile

Three full days are a recommended minimum for a visit. Open all year round. No season can be specially recommended; there are always plenty of animals. Summer will bring heat, possibly rain (sometime between November and April, maybe), fantastic sunsets and cloud formations as well as a 20% discount between November and February. Winter will have cold nights, clear days and game concentrated around the waterholes.

The park can be entered at Twee Rivieren gate from either Botswana or South Africa. It is 380 km from Kuruman on a good gravel road. The majority of visitors are in self-drive sedan cars; a fourwheel-drive is not necessary. There is a landing strip.

There are three camps with 6-bed family cottages, 3 or 4 bed chalets and caravan parks. The main camp, Twee Rivieren, has air conditioning, swimming pool, restaurant, petrol and diesel, and shop. The other camps, Nossob and Mata Mata, have ablution blocks, kiosk and cooking areas. As there are no facilities yet in the Botswana side of the park, reservations can be made by phoning the National Parks Board of South Africa in Pretoria on (+27-12) 343-1991 or by writing to P 0 Box 787, Pretoria 0001.

Fees and accommodation rates are extremely reasonable: R12 per adult and R20 per vehicle. Cottages range from R85-R340, depending on the number of persons. A two person camp site is R33 per night. Children under two years old are free.

Many operators conduct tours regionally and into the park. Consult your African travel specialist or regional tourist office.

Gaborone-based Mike Main has travelled extensively throughout southern Africa. He is the author of two books, Zambezi, Journey of a River and Kalahari, Life's Variety in Dune and Delta.

How Animals have adapted to life in the Kalahari

The fauna here will never equal in quantity the hoards elsewhere in Africa but each creature has evolved extraordinary means to survive in this marginal habitat. Many animals have learnt to do without surface water, managing on the natural water content of their food or prey.

Lifestyles are adjusted accordingly; some are nocturnal, others spend the heat of the day underground or rest in deep shade. The beautiful springbok orientates its body to the sun according to the heat they wish to absorb or avoid. Gemsbok and eland browse on leaves when dew has fallen. Gemsbok and some other ungulates have an astonishing mechanism for protecting themselves from overheating. Before entering the brain, the blood is cooled in the nasal region, keeping the brain safe while body temperature can soar to what would be lethal levels in other mammals.

Apart from making full use of body fluids in their prey, lions lick the dew-drenched grass stems. Hyaena and antelope eat the tsamma melon which has a moisture content in excess of 80%. Jackal and hyaena are deft thieves of ostrich eggs with their huge supply of protein and liquid.

Birds too display remarkable methods of overcoming the difficulties of life in so stressed an environment. Perhaps the most extraordinary is the sandgrouse, whose water-dependent chicks survive because the males carry water to them, flying as much as 160 km a day. Watch the males drinking and you will see them dipping their chests into the water. Special, spring-like helical feathers react to the moisture, tightly curl and allow the bird to fly away carrying 20-40 ml of liquid. Chicks have been found with as much as 3ml of water in their crops, an amount almost equal to 30% of their body weight!

Published in Travel Africa Edition One: Autumn 1997.Text is subject to Worldwide Copyright (c)