Tag Archives: Wildlife Conservation

Africa, Birth Place, Blessings, Grace, Gratitude, Nature, Reflection, Storytelling, Travel, Values, Wildlife Conservation

Wanderings Day 26

Botswana Part 1:

So I got to call beautiful Botswana home for a few years. In particular, Maun and the heart of the Okavango Delta.

This isn’t just a travel memory. These next 3 days of virtual wandering are about highlighting moments in a chapter of my journey. A chapter that has shaped me profoundly.

Most of these “shaping” moments involve magical wildlife encounters. But this is also about people. People I still miss every day.

These “shaping” moments are bitter sweet. They are about love and they are about loss. A chapter of my life truly lived.

To me Botswana has a deep beauty. A rawness to her purity. A pure wild heart. I have never felt more myself anywhere, ever so at home. Here my soul sings.

My time in Botswana taught me this (even though I didn’t have these words then):

Life’s beauty is inseparable from its fragility

Susan David PhD, author of Emotional Agility
Africa, Birth Place, Blessings, Dreaming, Gratitude, Health and Wellness, Holidays, Mindfulness, Nature, Reflection, Storytelling, Travel, Wildlife Conservation

Wanderings Day 7

So we are back on the Panorama Route headed towards one of my most favourite places on earth.

Many happy childhood memories spent driving this route.  Our end destination today, Hoedspruit, holds a particularly special place in my heart. 

Wind your way along the R532 which hugs the edge of the escarpment.  Definitely a stop at the Three Rondavels lookout for photos of these iconic mountains and into the Blyde River Canyon below.  Mariepskop in the distance. 

The Three Rondavels with Mariepskop in the distance
Blyde River Canyon

The R532 meets up with the R36 at the Abel Erasmus Pass.  This pass takes you through the last of the mountains past interesting vegetation and rock formations.  As you are nearing the J G Strydom tunnel there’s a pretty waterfall if you know where to look amongst the cliffs.  Peregrine Falcon breeding spot apparently? 

The other side of the tunnel you will start a sharp descent into the lowveld of the Limpopo Province, the Olifants River to your left.  You gain a different perspective of those same mountains and cliffs of the escarpment from below. 

Another view of Mariepskop
Unique Kadishi Tufa Waterfall which you can see from a Blyde Dam boat cruise
Leaving Hoedspruit looking back at the mountains of the escarpment

Drive past the game farms and citrus orchards until you get to Hoedspruit.  So much to see and do in this area.  I highly recommend staying for a while. 

One particular recommendation is a tour around the Moholoholo Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre…. And yes, that is a pic of the famous Stoffel, the honey badger Houdini.

Africa, Gratitude, Health and Wellness, Holidays, Reflection, Storytelling, Travel, Wildlife Conservation

Wanderings Day 5

Today, a few photos from a trip along South Africa’s Atlantic coast from Lambert’s Bay south to Eland’s Bay, the Postberg Flower Reserve, West Coast National Park arriving in Cape Town. 

Wild… a different sense of isolation from the Kalahari desert we have just left behind. Wild winds, wild waves, wild flowers.

Rich… steeped in history both natural and cultural. Cave paintings and interesting archaeological sites. Incredible birding opportunities.

Africa, Blessings, Gratitude, Holidays, Nature, Quiet, Reflection, Storytelling, Travel, Wildlife Conservation

Wanderings Day 4

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Its our last day in the Kgalagadi.  Time for one more little adventure – the Nossob 4×4 Ecotrail.

A perfect way to meander through the dunes on the tracks less travelled.  Stop to investigate the less iconic wildlife often overlooked. Hear stories about the unique plants including surprising flowers that bloom in the desert. Climb a dune to drink in the view to infinity. 

Making camp in time to enjoy a spectacular Kgalagadi sunset before enjoying an evening round the fire.  Going to sleep to the screech of an owl or the jackals calling. Wondering what the rustle in the bush close by is during your midnight toilet break only to discover the leopard tracks in the morning.  Kgalagadi magic!

Africa, Blessings, Creativity, Grace, Gratitude, Health and Wellness, Human Wildlife Coexistence, Mindfulness, Nature, Quiet, Reflection, Storytelling, Travel, Values, Wildlife Conservation

Wanderings Day 3

Day 3 and we are still in the Kgalagadi. This time highlighting landscape, light and colour. 

Light and colour would change constantly during a day and with the seasons or the mood of the weather.  I was profoundly captured with each change – a spiritual experience.  More a feeling than just using my sense of sight.

And the stillness, the quiet was incredible too.  Standing atop a red sand dune staring at the infinite horizon – serenity… You need to be comfortable with silence in the Kalahari, in my experience. 

There is a purity here I have never felt anywhere else – it is a soul journey. 

My Kgalagadi time actually inspired the name of this blog. 

But it wasn’t always serene.  There is a harshness here too.  It is a place of extremes and paradox… as so much of the human experience is.