Kalahari Overland Driving - Jul '24

I had said in my earlier blog that my wish (or rather a goal !!) is to do at least one driving expedition in a year that is unique and interesting. Nomadic road announced their first edition of a driving expedition through The Great Kalahari in Africa, an adventure into the uncharted savannahs of the Kalahari desert – spread across Botswana, South Africa and Namibia. The expedition started from Maun, Botswana and ended in Windhoek, Namibia. After the initial trip in Botswana focussing on wildlife (Blog --> https://www.gopsview.com/post/botswana-jul-24, Album --> https://botswana-wildlife-j.gopsview.com/), I embarked on the second part of the trip, an epic overland drive across three countries.

Tour Date                    : 17th July ‘24 to 29th July ‘24

Company                     : Nomadic Road

The driving expedition covering a distance of about 3000 KMS was definitely a unique one. Driving through national parks with wildlife sightings, dusty and thick sand tracks, tracks with abundant trees and grass on either side and winding tracks was definitely an unforgettable experience.

We were provided with Ford 4 x 4 vehicles, one that can be driven in any terrain. It is practically impossible to drive a normal 2 wheel drive vehicles in this terrain. These cars are fitted with roof top tents which was the home to sleep during the camping days. I opted for a ground tent as I wasn’t comfortable with the experience I had with roof top tents in my Namibia trip.

Expedition car with my driving partner Karan

Itinerary and Driving statistics :

We camped for 7 nights. The campsites were in designated areas inside the park which has to be pre-booked. The locations of these campsites were outstanding - in total wilderness, abundant nature, surrounded by forests, scenic and absolute quietness. On almost all days we reached the campsite well before sunset so that there is enough light to pull out the tents. As soon as the sun goes down the temperature drops to the extent, that we need to quickly get on to our warm clothes and sit around the bonfire. Worst was the early morning time when the temperature ranges between -3 and +3. Getting ready in the morning to start our day was definitely a challenging task. During the night time it was very common to hear the sound of hyenas, owls, elephants etc. As the "jobs" have to be done only in the bush, our lead Rob, constantly advised us to carry a torch / headlamp and watch out for wildlife. During the camping days, every meal was freshly cooked / made. Thanks to our Chef Gibson and Kakale for providing us with some amazing food.  

Camping in Kalahari though tough, is definitely a worthwhile experience.

Near Khutse campsite we were lucky to sight a male lion with a kill of an Eland. After sighting the lion we came to our campsite with the hope of seeing him again. Around 345 AM, when we were in deep sleep and absolute quietness, we heard him roar. It was so scary to hear this and that too from a lion that is probably a kilometre or so away from the campsite. Yes we went again that morning and lucky to see him again.

Africa besides wildlife is also known for it's landscape. Though we did not have opportunities to see great landscape, we still enjoyed what we saw. Here is a glimpse of the wildlife and landscape we encountered.

Wildlife ....

Landscape .....

One of the interesting phenomenon (not sure if it is right to call it interesting !!) that we saw while driving were a few burnt cars. I was told that these cars might have carried combustible chemicals in summer and the heat would have ignited the fire.

And some interaction with South African bushman ..

Like minded people who made this trip interesting and an unforgettable one ...

Nomadic Road, as part of the team have a professional Photographer / Videographer. Thanks to Paul and Nomadic Road for putting together these amazing videos. This gives a complete view of the experience that we had. Definitely a must watch videos.

To view the album --> https://gvgops6.wixstudio.io/kalahari-overland-dr