© Lonely Planet 148 Kalahari KALAHARI KALAHARI Botswana’s landscapes are primeval, recalling in stone, thorns and brush the earliest memo- ries of the human experience. But even in this country there is a space older than space, a land that speaks to some deep-seated essence within the DNA, a hearkening back to a sort of racial infancy. This impression of whence time began is utterly realised in the hot winds and snap of thorn bush under a tracker’s feet in the Kalahari. The Tswana call it the Kgalagadi: Land of Thirst. And this is dry, parched country. If not a land of sand dunes, then it’s certainly a land painted by a sand palette: blood and mud reds and bleached bone yellow; dust that bites you back as you taste it in the morning. But come the nights this hard end of the colour wheel shifts into its cooler, sometimes white-cold shades: indigo nights that fade to deepest black, and blue stars ice-speckling the impossibly long horizon. Indeed, the local San insist that here you can hear ‘the stars in song’ behind the dark. The Kalahari’s 1.2-million-sq-km basin stretches across parts of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Angola, Zambia, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and South Africa. The land is harsh, but it is also covered with trees and criss-crossed by ephemeral rivers and fossilised watercourses that burst with life when kissed by the rains. Was this once the Garden of Eden? In some ancestral memory, perhaps. The land feels ancient, as do the San, its indigenous peoples, although the latter are also admirably adapt- ing to the realities of the 21st century while trying to maintain the old ways. Visit them, and look into yourself in an elder place that makes you feel very, very young. HIGHLIGHTS Feeling the wind strip you to primal happi- ness in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve D'kar ( p155 ) Watching the moon rise as the sun sets and Central Kalahari Game Reserve vice versa in Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park ( p152 ) Khutse Game Reserve Getting a taste for the Kalahari at the small Kgalagadi Villages but accessible Khutse Game Reserve ( p154 ) Learning at the feet of one of mankind’s Kgalagadi Transfrontier oldest cultures in D’kar ( p150 ) Park Exploring the Kgalagadi Villages ( p151 ), one of the most remote population centres in Botswana Book your stay at lonelyplanet.com/hotels KALAHARI •• Ghanzi 149 ὈὈὈὄὄ KALAHARI 0 100 km KALAHARI 0 60 miles To Maun (286km) D'kar De Graaf N A M I B I A Grasslands Ghanzi Safari Lodge Talismanis Dqãe Qare Helena Game Farm Rietfontein Molapo GR Game Reserve NP National Park ὄ ὈὈὈὄὄὄὄCentral Karakubis Tshootsha Kalahari Xanagas Xaka GR Mamuno Okwa River Buitepos Xade Makunda To Windhoek Gope (290km) Menatshe Takatshwaane Bibe Bore Quee Pan Mothomelo Moriso ὄKule ὈὈὈὄLokalane ὄKikao ὄ Ncojane Palamakoloi Kukama Ukwi Ohe Tropic of Capricorn Tsetseng Khutse GR Salajwe Kang Khudumelapye Dutlwe Lehututu Takatokwane Oorwinning Hukuntsi Morwamosu Motokwe Letlhakeng Tshane Mboane ὈὈὄὄLokgwabeὈὈὈὄὈὈὄ See Kgalagadi Transfrontier Ditshegwane Tshatswa Park Map (p153) To Molepolole (10km); Gaborone (48km) Closed Gate Kgalagadi See Central Kalahari Game Reserve Map (p156) (No border Villages crossing) Sekoma Jwaneng Gasese Kaa Khakea Union's End Moshaneng Maokane Grootkolk Kanye Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park Mabuasehube ὈὈὈὄὈὄGemsbok Sectionὄὄὄ Langklass Makopong Werda To Gaborone (Two Rivers) Molopo (96km) Kwang Section Kalahari Bray River Gemsbok Marie Se Draai Phepheng NP Khisa Pitshane Moloporivier Cheleka Maleshe Mata Mata Nossob Closed Gate River (No border Kamqua crossing) Tshabong ὈὈὈὄPulai Ὀὄὄ McCarthysrus Montrose Voorspoed Khawa River Twee Rivieren Dikbos Two Fly's Kop Rivers Molopo Middlepits S O U T H A F R I C A Aroab Vanzylsrus ὄὈὈὈὄBokspitsὄMmalogong ὄ Vryburg GHANZI Sleeping The ‘capital of the Kalahari’ isn’t much more All of the below options can hook you up than a break in the dust. It may be difficult to with wildlife drives, San cultural activities understand how a town could prosper in such and the like. inhospitable terrain, but it helps that Ghanzi Interesting alternatives to staying in Ghanzi sits atop a 500km-long limestone ridge con- are the Dqãe Qare Game Farm ( p151 ) in taining vast amounts of artesian water. nearby D’kar and De Graaf Grassland Safari Although the town is not without a certain Lodge ( p151 ), 60km east. outback charm, travellers stop in Ghanzi ei- Thakadu Bush Camp (%659 6959, 7212 0695; www. ther to fill up on petrol and stock up on sup- thakadubushcamp.com; camping per person P30, s/d chalets plies, or to break up the monotonous drive P200/330; s) This popular campsite is a fun between Windhoek (Namibia) and Maun. place to stop for a night or three, enjoying Interestingly enough, the name ‘Ghanzi’ the boozy, friendly ambience and letting comes from the San word for a one-stringed the stars soar overhead. There’s a refresh- musical instrument with a gourd soundbox ing swimming pool on site and a pub-style and not the Tswana word gantsi (flies), though restaurant and bar. The rough access road this would arguably be more appropriate. is just passable to low-slung 2WD vehicles – .