Overland Travel With KMcGee

We left the Namib Desert and the spectacular red dune landscape of Sossusvlei and headed a short way inland to the Naukluft Mountains and the former Naukluft Mountain Zebra National Park, now folded into the Namib-Naukluft National Park:

Once again, our visit to the Naukluft Mountains the Park was mostly a repeat of last year’s visit with Steve and Ki, the only difference being that this year we did an extra little hike from the campsite in addition to the full-day Olive Canyon hike (see below). However, in case you want to revist last year’s trip, here’s the link to the corresponding blog post:

overlandwithkmcgee.com/august-26-27-naukluft-mountain-zebra-park/

Briefly, the Naukluft Mountains form the eastern part of the Namib-Naukluft National Park and originally it was a separate Park designated as the Naukluft Mountain Zebra Park to protect the Hartmann’s mountain zebra, but it was folded into the Namib-Naukluft National Park in 1979. The mountains have a very complex geologic history and, as a result, contain some incredible rock formations. Here’s an example:

The mountains largely extend westwards from the Great Escarpment out to the Namib Desert, but they “feel” like they are part of the escarpment itself, although they are not. Here’s a few photos of the Naukluft escarpment and our entrance to the Park:

We had an awesome campsite with fantastic ablutions and, of course, another set of great meals by all parties. Here’s the campsite and Mark and Kirsten preparing another great curry dish:

Our first hike started from the campground and proceeded up a canyon to pools, and eventually to a waterfall but we didn’t make it that far in our short afternoon hike. We did encounter some spectacular Quiver Trees and some dazzling desert wildflowers, including some in “rock gardens”:

Day two included a full day hike up to the top of the escarpment and down the narrow Olive Canyon, including traversing a deep plunge pool along a steep rock face with the assist of a chain bolted to the rock – fun fun fun -, as well as some very cool wildflowers and wildlife sightings along the way, such as the Dassie Rat (equivalen to our Pack Rat of the American Southwest) shown in the photo below:

Our last day in the Park finished with a dinner at the Park restaurant (we were the only guests), followed by an evening at the bar watching the Canada versus Morocco World Cup knockout game (Morocco won). Let me remind you that we were in a fairly remote Park in Namibia, yet we managed a restaraunt dinner and a World Cup soccer game. In case you are surprised by this, I should point out that Namibia appears to model their Parks, and more specifically their Park facilities, after the South African Parks, in which the campgrounds are more often than not exceptional and the facillities first rate:

Not a bad way to finish off a great visit to a great little Park, right?. We are off to the coast at Walvis Bay for some fun in the dunes and in the Bay, but first a stopover to the small but famous little crossroads of Solitaire and Bushman’s Desert Camp. See you there!

With a bittersweet taste in our mouths, we reluctantly, but excitedly, left the Khalagadi and headed toward Sossusvlei in the Namib Desert but with a one-night stand along the way outside the small town Mariental:

Once again, I refer you to last year’s post on Sossusvlei for more background information along with photos and videos and a slide show.

Sossusvlei blog post 2025: overlandwithkmcgee.com/__trashed-4/

Briefly, Sossusvlei is without question the most iconic place in Namibia, and certainly the most photographed place in the country – for very good reason! Sossusvlei is a large salt pan (something I have talked about before several times in this blog) formed by ephemeral flooding of the Tsauchab River and the accumlation of salts in the clay topsoil. However, the red sand dunes – purported to be some of the, if not THE, highest free-standing dunes in the world – surrounding Sossusvlei are the real stars of the show, as the photos will illustrate. Sossusvlei and neighboring dunes are but a tiny speck in the expanse of the Namib Desert, which is purported to be the oldest desert in the world, with origins dating more than 40 millions ago. The Namib is the only true desert in sub-Saharan Africa, with precipitation ranging from less than 1 inch in the driest regions to a high of around 7 inches in the wetter regions. At over 62,000 square miles, the Namib extends more than 1200 miles along the Namibian coast from South Africa in the south to Angola (and beyond) in the north, and more than 30 miles inland from the coast, getting redder and redder as you move farther and farther inland as the sands get older and older giving more time for the iron in the soil to oxidize and giving the sands their picturesque red color.

Sossusvlei and neighboring dunes are part of the Namib-Naukluft National Park, which had its origins in 1928 when South Africa, then administering these lands, declared part of the area a game reserve. The Park has grown over time and currently encompassees more than 19,000 square miles, making it one of, if not THE, largest National Park in Africa.

Our visit this year was almost an exact repeat of last year’s visit with Steve and Ki. What follows is a brief description and a few highlight photos of each activity, followed by a slideshow of the entire visit and a short video of the hike up Big Mamma dune in the windstorm.

First, to get to Sossusvlei and the Namib Desert we had to travel across the central plateau and descend through the Great Escarpment – the same one we ascended when we left the Tankwa-Karoo. This was a stunning drive down off the escarpment and the approach to the Namib Desert was tantalizing to say the least:

We spent all 3 nights in the Sesrium campground. Our campsite was close to last year’s site, only this time we secured our favorite site in the campground with a seating area and fire pit/brai stand beneath a towering camelthorn acacia with a huge spreading crown, and a circular stone wall around the tree to provide some degree of privacy.

Our day hikes involved driving 60 km up the valley of the Tsauchab River – this is an intermittent river that only rarely has water – surrounded on either side by towering red sand dunes and sparse desert-adapted grasses on the flat plains with occasional Gemsbok and Springbok herds and the odd ostrich:

Driving in this country, when road surfaces frequently change from pavement to hard gravel to loose gravel to hard sand to soft sand requires frequent airing up and down the tires. Here’s what that looked like for the guys; while the gals stood watch over the operation with valve covers in hand:

Our first hike after arriving was to Sesrium Canyon. This is a narrow gorge cut down through 20-million year old conglomerate material deposited by rivers over time. The walls of the gorge reveal 100 feet thick of river stones pressed in a mud matrix, all consoladated into a highly erodable material that makes for great canyons. This year, due to the anomalous abundant late-season rainfall, the canyon was partially flooded, so we were unable to get into the narrow part of the gorge – without wading and freezing our begeebees off – but we managed to hike the rim and descend into the lower gorge. Here’s a couple of photos (but see last year’s post for more of the gorge), and note how Mark is fearing for his life as the rest of the gang attempted to topple the mass on top of him:

One of the big differences between this year’s visit and last year’s visit was the abundance of water this year. As noted above, this region had anomalous abundant rainfall earlier in the year, leaving behind scattered pools, pans filled with water for the first time in several years, and valleys and stable hillsides with a flush of green vegetation – mostly short grasses. This made for some striking scenes, as shown here:

Of course, the highlight of our visit was the dune hikes and associated pans. Our first dune hike was Big Daddy Dune, the tallest dune in the region at over 1,000 feet, and also the dune climbed by thousands of the most capable tourists. Despite the crowds, it is still something not to be missed – and we did not! The fog and clouds of the morning eventually dissipated to provide us with stunning vistas of the dunes and pans. See the slideshow below for lots more pictures from Big Daddy:

We descended Big Daddy Dune to the most photographed place in Namibia: Deadvlei Pan. This Pan is famous for its fossilized (or skeleton) trees. These trees were established 1,000-1,200 years ago when the Tsauchab River flowed through this area and the trees got established in the floodplain zone. Around 900 years ago, climate change and a shift in the River left this area isolated from the river, and the developing salt pan killed the trees, leaving the eerie-looking skeleton trees:

Our final hike was an exciting ascent of Big Mamma Dune, made challenging by the blowing winds and sand that made walking difficult and keeping the eyes clear of grit impossible – a day later and I am still trying to wash out sand grains from the back of my eye sockets. Annette even had to resort to putting on full-length pants for the first time to keep her legs from getting sandblasted raw. The upside of climbing this dune under such conditions was that no other tourist dared the challenge, so we had it to ourselves – wonderful!

Here’s a short video of our asscent of Big Mamma Dune in the blowing wind and sand:

Big Mamma Dune climb video (2 minutes)

For those that want to see more, here’s a 6-minute slideshow of our entire visit to Sossusvlei this year, starting with photos of our descent off the Great Escarpment to the Namib Desert and each of our hikes. However, I didn’t spend the time to put slides in chronological or logical order, so it’s a bit of a mishmash of photos. Enjoy:

Sossusvlei slideshow (6 minutes)

OK, we are leaving the Namib Desert, but “we’ll be back”, and heading into the nearby Naukluft Mountains for some exhilarating hikes and two nights camping. See you there!

After leaving the Tankwa Karoo and a brief one-night stopover near Brandvlei en route to the Khalagadi Transfrontier Park (KTP), we arrived on the Botswana side of the Park for several days of safari going before moving to the the South African side for even more fun.

For you folks that followed our travels last year, you may recall that we spent a total of 18 days in the KTP, split between the remote wilderness of the Botswana side and the rather tame, by comparison, South African side. For you newcomers, if you want to see what I discussed about the KTP, along with photos and videos of the trip, I refer you to the appropriate posts here:

First KTP post with some background info and our first several days: overlandwithkmcgee.com/september-1-2-kgalagadi-transfrontier-park-mata-mata/

Second KTP post with description of our next several days on the Nossob drainage: overlandwithkmcgee.com/september-3-7-kgalagadi-transfrontier-park-nossob-river/

Third KTP post with description of our next several days in the Botswana wilderness portion of the Park: overlandwithkmcgee.com/september-8-15-kgalagadi-transfrontier-park-botswana/

Fourth KTP ost with description of our last several days on the lower Nossob drainage: overlandwithkmcgee.com/september-16-18-kgalagadi-transfrontier-park-lower-nossob/

Understandably, if you don’t want to revist last year’s post to learn more about the KTP, here’s a brief summary. The KTP is a transfrontier park in the Kalhari Desert, which you may recall from previous posts, is a large semi-arid sandy savanna in southern Africa covering 350,000 sq mi, including much of Botswana  as well as parts of Namibia and South Africa. The KTP occupies 15,000 square miles, which is actually only a small portion of the Kalahari, and was created by combining two Parks, one on either side of the border, for a supposedly seamless management without fencing to allow for free movement of animals within the Park. So far, it seems to be working well for the ecosystem and the tourists.

For this year’s post, I am going to treat our visit to the KTP in a single (long) post, but with an emphasis on photos and videos since I already discussed a little of the natural history in last year’s posts (see above). Moreover, I am going to divide the photos into logical categories rather do a chronological listing, and I appologize for posting so many photos, but that is what most people say that want to see. So here it goes:

Campsites:

Note, we camped at a couple of great rustic Botswana campsites that had minimal ablutions, but also splurged for a couplel of luxury campsites, a chalet and a tented camp to satisfy desires for creature comforts:

Miscellaneous people pictures:

Here’s some miscellaneous people pictures from throughout our KTP visit:

Food and drink:

We all equally contributed meals, and believe me when I say that not only did we NOT go hungry, we also ate gourmet meals that you wouldn’t believe for bush camping. There were lots of amazing meals by Mark, Kirsten, John and Annette, but the photos below are biaed towards mine and Nancy’s contributions (sorry guys):

Landscapes:

Here’s a few photos of the KTP landscapes, but see last year’s posts if you want to see more. Note, the KTP is centered around the two ancient river beds of the Nossob and Auob. These are fossil river beds that formed eons ago and rarely have any water in them today, other than the maintained water holes and the occasional flows during exceptional rainfall years (e.g., once every 20 to 50 years):

Wildlife photo gallery:

Here’s a sampling of this year’s wildlife sightings:

Last but not least, here’s a composite 19-minute video of our cat sightings, with a black-backed jackal thrown in for good measure.

Yikes, I forgot to include a short video snippet of an amazing sight of 30 or giraffe marching in single file with purpose. I have never seen a giraffe on a march like this before. Unfortunately, after being mesmerized for several minutes, I finally got the phone up to capture the last string of giraffes in this long column, so here’s another short 1 minute video:

For those of you that made it this far through this post, congratulations! Now I am going to reward you few, sort of, with a somewhat embarrassing story in an attempt to preempt Nancy and others from telling this story. Having been through many border crossings in Africa, and having been told that I can’t bring meat, dairy and poultry products across borders because of the risk of hoof and mouth disease, despite the fact that science indicates that there is no risk to humans and minimal risk of transmission to livestock. Nevertheless, the law is the law and I have been flirting with disaster by ignoring the law and hiding packaged cheese, yogurt and milk in my vehicle before crossing borders. Until my latest crossing, the most the agricultural agents have ever done is open the back door of the Green Dragon, look in my cooler, and send me on my way. SO, having this vast experience under my belt, I was confident that I could hide those products in the Green Dragin when we crossed from South Africa into Namibia after leaving the KTP. I even convinced Mark, Kirsten, John and Annette to do the same. John and Annette had the good sense to give me their prohibited products, and Mark and Kirsten had the smarts to hide their products in fool-proof hiding places. I, on the other hand, only took minimal measures to hide my products. Anyways, the Ag agent was on a mission and tore apart my vehicle to find prohibited products, and sure enough he hit the jackpot with me. At this point, with all watching, including other tourists crossing the border, it was announced that I was hiding prohibited products and would face the option of 2 years in prison or 8,000 dollar fine (several hundred USD). You can imaging what happened next. Every tourist starting throwing prohibited products out the window left and right. After much scare-tactics and scolding, and with a little pleading on our part, the Ag agent let us go with just a verbal warning! Wow, we (I) got off lucky. I should note that the Ag agent wanted to know who, Nancy or me, was responsible for the deception. Nancy volunteered, thinking they would never put her in jail, but I quickly confessed that it was solely my fault, thinking I would just pay the fine. Anyways, lesson learned – it’s not worth it violating the law to save a package of cheese and half-gallon of milk.

OK, that’s all she wrote for the KTP. We are off to the Namib Desert and the famous Sousouvlei dunes. See you there!

After getting our fill of South African wines at the Spier Winery in Stellenbosch, we headed inland to Tankwa-Karoo National Park:

Here’s a link from last year’s post on the Tankwa-Karoo, which provides some background information on the natural and cultural history and, of course, pictures of our visit:

http://overlandwithkmcgee.com/september-20-21-tankwa-karoo-national-park/

In case you don’t review last year’s post, briefly, the Tankwa-Karoo is part of what is referred to as “Succulent Karoo”, which is dominated by succulent plants prevalent in the western region of the Karoo, and it is also within the “Lower Karoo” as it is located below the great African Escarpment. In fact, the Park is sandwiched between the Great Escarpment, specifically the Roggeveld Escarpment, on the north and the Cape Fold Mountains on the south.

Any visit to the Tankwa is special for lots of reasons, but its roads are notorious for tearing up tires. We succumbed to the treachery of the these roads shortly after getting there, but our crew pulled together and changed the flat at a speed that would make a Formula 1 pit team jealous:

Despite the challenging road conditions, we managed to get in a little 4×4 driving in to add to the fun:

Our campsite this year was in a spectacular setting at the end of a 4×4 road at the base of the Roggeveld Escarpment, and at the site of an old homestead. And the hot showers were to die for:

The difference between this year’s visit to the Tankwa and last year’s was the vegetation. Last year, albeit 3 month later in September at the end of Winter here, the ground was practically barren of vegetation – think moonscape. This year, the region had way above average precipitation and abundant rainfall just 3 weeks prior to our visit. The result was a sort of mega-bloom of wildflowers. The basin was awash with grass and forbs and colorful wildflowers – a greenscape to behold. Here’s a few pictures to wet your appetite:

Our exit from the Park involved driving up to the top of the Roggeveld Escarpment via Ganaga Pass, which is a marvel of 19th century engineering built on the backs of convicts with pick axes and shovels, but nonetheless breathtaking:

OK, we are off to the Khalagadi Transfrontier Park for a wildlife adventure, hopefully to match last year’s sightings. See you there!

Nancy finally arrived after an agonizing 2-day delay in transit (Argh!) and we met up with Mark, Kirsten, John and Annette to begin our journey – the first leg of this year’s overland for me. Our first destination was Cape Point and Table Mountain National Park, with a brief visit to the African Penguin colony at Boulder Beach.

Does this portion of the trip sound familar? It should, as this is identical to what Nancy and I and Steve and Ki did last year at the end of our trip. Here’s a link to the post from last year that covers things pretty well and includes lots of pictures.

http://overlandwithkmcgee.com/september-22-24-cape-point-and-table-mountain-national-park/

The penguin colony at Boulder Beach is a must stop, because penguins are really cool, but the viewing is quite commercial – one of those places you have to stop at and simply accept that it is not going to be an intimate wildlife experience, kind of like stopping at the south rim of the Grand Canyon and looking over the edge with the throngs of other tourists. I have no new photo to offer this year as I was busy picking up Nancy from the airport while the rest of the gang visited the penguins, so check out last year’s post if you want see penguin photos again.

We stayed two nights at Smitswinkel out on the Cape next to the entry to the Park at Cape of Good Hope. You may recall that this is a really nice site in the trees, with beds in tents for each couple and a full kitchen and louge area – pretty easy living, and an easy transition into the campground camping coming up next. Here’s a reminder of what this site is like:

Next, of course, were the hikes out on Cape Point. Spectacular setting, of course, and some wildlife and Fall flowers to boot. Here’s a few shots:

OK, that’s it for the Cape. Next stop, Stellenbosch and the Spier winery for a very “soft” segway into the Wild country ahead! This was a bit of overlanding South African style (i.e., spare no expense at comfort):

Are you now rethinking doing some overlanding yourself? OK, enough of the easy life; we are off to the Tankwa Karoo to experience some real remote and wild country. Try See you there!

With time still on my hands, in part because Nancy got stuck in airport hell on the east coast and was delayed in transit for 2 extra days – argh, I took another short 2-day expedition to the Cape Fold Mountains, this time to the Jonkershoek Nature Reserve just outside of Stellenbosch, about 45 minutes from Cape Town.

I don’t have much to say in this post other than to point out again that there a quite a few private “Nature Reserves” in the Cape Fold Mountains. I put Nature Reserve in quotes because these Reserves are truly multi-use and not always primarily focused on preserving nature. Jonkershoek, for example, is a mountain biking meca, with many miles of tracks, ranging from easy to insane, but it also has some hiking trails too. Some of these Reserves include tree plantations, orchards and other land uses besides just protecting areas from further development. You might notice in some of the pictures below that this Reserve includes non-native pine plantations. On the positive side, the area “protected” by private reserves is substantial and adds to the national Parks and Reserves in a non-trivial manner. On the downside, you have pay for a permit to enter each of these reserves. Here’s some photos to make you Dolores hikers – you know who I am talking too – jealous (at least a little):

Next stop, Cape Point, with the whole gang. See you there!

Cheers

After several days of “taking care of business” in Cape Town (i.e., a few improvements and servicing of the Green Dragon, purchasing supplies, and getting the vehicle registered in my name, FINALLY), I had some free time before Nancy, Mark, Kirsten, John and Annette arrive to explore more of the beautiful Cape Fold Mountains that lie just north and northeast of Cape Town.

Since this is my first real post on this year’s African journey, I should refer you first-time blog followers, or those with a short memory or wanting a refresher, to my post of a few years ago on the country of South Africa that presents some interesting facts about this country and its history. In case you are interested, here’s a link to that post:

http://overlandwithkmcgee.com/may-5-south-africa/

During my “free days and nights” I ventured into the Cape Fold Mountains outside of Cape Town. Some of you may recall that I did the same last year while waiting for my vehicle registration. The Cape Fold Mountains are a series of mountain chains two or three deep running parallel to the western and southern coast. The name of these mountains suits them well, as they are literally a series of folded and faulted moutains, as if they were crumpled up, created by extraordinary tectonic forces some 250+ million years ago when the tectonic plates collided to form the supercontinent of Pangea. The mountains are dominated by mountain fynbos vegetation, which is low-lying shrubby and herbaceous species of extraordinary diversity (many of which are endemic), whereas the lower-lying areas support more succulent karoo vegetation that is also low-lying shrub and herbaceous species but of a slightly different mix. Well, in reality, most of the low-lying valleys have been converted to vineyards and orchards, so there is actually very little of the natural succulent karoo vegetation left within the Cape Fold Mountains outside of the few parks and reserves. The landscape is quite stunning, with rugged mountains rising above lush valleys with small settlements interspersed throughout to support the region’s booming wine and fruit industry.

My first venture was for two nights to a place called Simonskloof nestled in a valley at the end of a 10 km gravel drive. Not surprisingly for this time of year, I was the only visitor, so I had the small campground to myself. I switched sites between nights because of the frost covering on everything in the open to a site nestled under a 300-year English Oak tree. This tree, obviously planted by the earliest colonial settler to this place, was a stark reminder of the dark and bloody history of this country, in which the technologically superior white settlers (initially the Boers of Dutch origin, but later on the Brittish) displaced, enslaved, and massacred the natives – an all too familiar story throughout history and across the planet that I won’t reflect on further in this post. Here are some photos of my campsite:

On my hike, I was delighted to get a small taste of the last of the Fall wildflowers in the mountain fynbos:

The hike to the ridgeline and peaks above the campsite afforded me some great views of the landscape:

OK, that’s enough for this post. See you on the next Cape Fold mountain.

Cheers!

To all my Africa overland blog-followers, welcome back to my not-so-conventional travel blog for my 2026 overland adventures in Africa! For you followers of my African travels over the past few years, you may recall that this blog is very light on travel logistics (in contrast to your typical travel blog) and heavy on wildlife sightings and observations of stunning landscapes, with a smattering of observations on the human cultures encountered, and a sprinkling of pictures on the campsites and companions.

Importantly, this year, with a few exceptions, I will mostly be revisiting places that I have visited before and have already described in this blog. For you followers of previous years, I don’t want to sound like a broken record and repeat the background information on the natural and cultural history of the Parks and Reserves that I visit again this year. Therefore, for your benefit, I will go very light on these topics in this year’s posts. Instead, I will try to refer you to the relevant past posts and instead focus on what’s new this year, as well as perhaps more of a focus on people pictures and any special landscape and wildlife photos and videos. We’ll see how it goes. I just don’t want to bore some of you with a repeat of all that background information on the places I visited before.

Now, a couple of repeat business items pertaining to this blog. If you are subscribed to my blog then you are receiving email notifications of new blog posts. If you no longer want to receive these email notifications, then simply click on the “unsubscribe” link located at the bottom of the email notification (in very small print) and you will no longer receive these automated emails. Of course, you are still free to visit my blog site at “overlandwithkmcgee.com” at any time to view any posts whether you are subscribed or not. Also, as per last year, I love to hear from you via comments on a post (and it keeps me motivated to continue this blog), but rather than replying to you in the post (which would require you to return to that post to see my reply), I will generally respond via email directly to you and only you. Now, on to my plans for this year’s journey.

You may recall that my original plan for overlanding Africa was a three-stage, three-year journey through sub-Saharan Africa. In 2023, I traveled from Cape Town South Africa north through the inlands of South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Tanzania, and Kenya, ending in Nairobi at brother Mark’s house. The trip took me a little over 4.5 months and I visited some 35 or so National Parks and Reserves. My focus was on traversing up the middle (or inlands) of south and east Africa, with a strong emphasis on seeing as much African wildlife as possible. I commented frequently on the landscapes and the people, but I devoted most of my commentary, pictures and videos to my incredible wildlife encounters. And you may recall that I traveled in my fully kitted out Toyota Land cruiser troopie, affectionately named the “green dragon”, camping along the way in the Parks and Reserves, and sometimes in very remote places well off the beaten track. Visit the 2023 Route page on this website for more details, including a map showing the approximate route.

In 2024, I departed from Nairobi, Kenya with Nancy, Caitlin, Mark and Kirsten in tow and eventually returned south to Cape Town, South Africa, this time heading down the east coast of Africa, focusing on the Parks and Reserves located on or near the coast. Specifically, I toured parts of Kenya that I missed in 2023, the coastline of Tanzania, with a short excursion to Zanzibar, the safer parts of Mozambique (i.e., avoiding the northeast province), southern Malawi, Lesotho and the east coast of South Africa. My trip was a little shorter in 2024, lasting a little over 3.5 months, owing to a later start. In addition, this trip featured more landscapes and hiking, but with some wildlife parks thrown in to keep me motivated. Visit the 2024 Route page on this website for more details, including a map showing the approximate route.

In 2025, I departed from Cape Town, where the Green Dragon overwinters comfortably in storage, and headed up the west coast of South Africa through the Western Cape Province en route to Namibia. There, I was joined by Nancy for a few weeks touring northern Namibia before we hooked up with our great friends Steve and Ki for 6 weeks of exploring more of Namibia, the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park in northwestern South Africa and southwestern Botswana, and then back to Cape Town and a week on the coast before calling it end to the trip. Visit the 2025 Route page on this website for more details, including a map showing the approximate route.

The original three-year plan is now obsolete, as it is now 2026 and I have returned (on June 2) once again to southern Africa to what has become my second home – or at least it seems that way. For the first leg of this year’s journey I will be joined by Nancy, brother Mark and wife Kirsten, and friends John and Annette Gerard for about 5 weeks as we visit Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope, then the wine country north of Cape Town, then Tankwa-Karoo National Park and the Khalagadi Transfrontier Park in northwestern South Africa, then the Namib Desert on the coast of Namibia, before making our way to Windhoek, Namibia, where Mark, Kirsten, John and Annette depart home. Nancy and I continue on through part of the central Kalahari Desert in central Botswana before meeting up with great friends Frank Isaacs and Jane Olsen in Maun, Botswana. First, we head to Nxai Pan National Park en route to Parks in northwestern Zimbabwe, before reaching spectacular Victoria Falls. After getting soaked by the spray of the Falls, we head back into northern Botswana along the Chobe River front and then do the long and remote overland drive down through the interior of Chobe National Park and through the Moremi Game Reserve in the lower Okavango Delta, before returning to Maun. Nancy, Frank and Jane depart to home from Maun, while I head on solo to Gonarezhou National Park in southeastern Zimbabwe, before crossing back into South Africa in Kruger National Park, after which I make my way back to Cape Town and the end of the trip.

By now, most of you know me well enough, at least from this blog, that not much gives me more pleasure than spending time observing diverse landscapes and wildlife in Africa (and elsewhere), especially when sharing my passion with others – this year including Nancy, Mark, Kirsten, John, Annette, Frank and Jane in person, and all of you reading this blog virtually. Hope you enjoy this year’s postings, but it won’t match my pleasure in actually being here.

See you on the never-ending journey!