January 17th – Day 2

The first stop of day two was in Pofadder. The town name symbolizes “middle of nowhere.” There was no more granite to be seen; we left that behind in Springbok. We have now entered the summer rainfall region (previously having been in the winter rainfall region). We have also left the succulent Karoo region and are in the greater Karoo region, the southern tip of the Kalahari. The orange coned sand in patches has been transported by wind from the Kalahari desert. 

We learned about an aloe tree, called the Quiver Tree, that is iconic of Namaqualand (north western region of South Africa below Namibia). Essentially global warming is causing biodiversity to fall. We also learned about the soils of Namaqualand. The setting did not change much as we traversed Namaqualand and the north eastern part of the Great Karoo to our accomodations for the night at Oranje Rus, close to Upington. Oranje Rus was right on the Orange River, and swimming in it was incredible.