Saturday

Leave Pretoria early morning and drive on the N4 via Rustenburg and Zeerust to Mafikeng . About 40km from Mafikeng we turn off towards the Bray border post, driving on a good sand road (192km) and a good introduction to the Kalahari.

At Bray we fill up the fuel tanks and the guests coming from other directions will be met at the Bray border post at 15h00. We will overnight the first night at Cornwall Ranch, owned and managed by the Strumpher family. Cornwall is a 10-bed Lodge with camping facilities, a beautiful swimming pool, and with the ‘best’ of the best T-bone steaks around. Jannie and Heather are also people’s people. Warm and genuine. That night around the campfire we will discuss the finer detail of our safari with Jannie and his Bushman’s. They know the concession area like the palm of their hand and will advise us where the big herd of game and the lions are to be found at that specific time of year.

Day 2

Sunday

Early the next morning we leave via Kang and Hukuntsi for our first bush camp where we will overnight. An area known for all the small pans with game in summer time.

That night we will all sit around the campfire having a sundowner together, accompanied by an unbelievably spectacular view of the Kalahari plains while the local Bushmen community entertains us with traditional bushman dances.

Day 3
Day 4

Monday and Tuesday

The next two days will be hard driving as we will head into the red Kalahari sands… At Towe Pan we will tackle one of the highest dunes in this vast area… and after cresting the dune, we will be rewarded with the most spectacular view of this Jewel of the Kalahari.

 With two local Khoi San as guides, we will be taken to the dunes, driving through some of the most spectacular scenery on earth. We will look for the herds of gemsbok, rooi hartebees, and some of the biggest eland that one can lay one’s eyes on.  Late afternoon we will look for a grouping of camel thorn trees, and start setting up camp. Our two Bushman’s, Benjamin Springbok (nicknamed “Mr. Man”) and his sidekick James Kartze will collect some firewood, and before long, we will be settled in next to the campfire. That night, camping in the wild, the vocal talents of a forlorn jackal, and his other wild counterparts can entertain us.

Day 5

Wednesday

The next morning at dawn, we will head out, eager to explore and see as much as possible. The knowledgeable “Mr. Man” will every now and then halt the convoy to point out a fresh lion spoor, in the soft, red sand. We will continue through the dunes until we came across the twee-spoor turn-off to Heinie’s Camp. On one of our previous visits we discovered that we were not the only souls suffering in the heat… the lions have moved into the camp, seeking fortification from the relentless sun. The big male lay calmly in the dining room, as if he was expecting to be served a leg of springbok. Two females were stationed on the porches of the camp’s Meru tents, which cast the only other shadows in the camp. We will set up camp at Heinie’s Camp and use the lounge as a communal dining area for the evening. This is lion country. Real lion country. Mr. Man related the story of one of the workers who had built the camp. During the night a lion had apparently taken his blanket off him, but he had lived to tell the tale.

Day 6

Thursday

After breakfast we will take down camp and drive all along the cut line in an eastern direction to Khokhotshe Pan where we will join the main road again to Werda and the, by now well known Cornwall Ranch where we will spend our final night telling stories and sharing our memories of this place that will stay with all of us forever. It is a truly spectacular place, all four million hectares of it.

Day 7

Friday

After a farewell breakfast we will all say goodbye and everybody will head back home or for a weekend destination somewhere in the Kalahari.