Today I presented my article which was about tracking the origin of the high amount of sediment in the Orange River. The Orange River is the most turbid in Africa and the fourth most turbid in the world. A lot of the sediment comes from Karoo sedimentary bedrock and soil. We stopped in Upington in the morning for provisions for the next two days for in the Kalahari Park. Along the drive, it was interesting to see the soil/sand gradually change from light brown to reddish.
At an intersection with a side road there was an indigenous San man (also known as bushmen, a slightly more derogatory term) named Petat. He had two little straw huts set up and he was selling trinkets he made: beaded necklaces, beaded artwork and keychains, animal skins for clothing, and painted bones. It was interesting to see how he adapted to modern life; for instance, traditionally the San would have no need for a keychain, let alone know what it was.
Petat went to school so he spoke pretty good english, but he was more comfortable talking in Afrikaans with Peter translating. He told us an entertaining story about how the cheetah got its spots and the zebra got its stripes via a tortoise’s painting skills. He said kids go to normal school and also to a place to learn traditional San practices. The San hunt small animals once in awhile, but the national park has largely restricted their hunting. Petat was wearing traditional clothes, which included a springbok skin around his waste.
There were two boys at the camp, but they were both wearing modern day clothes. The whole situation felt a little sad. In order to survive, the San people have to portray and sell themselves as exotic. They have been kicked off their land by farmers and by national parks. We have had a few debates about conserving habitat and removing people from their land. The Mier people are an example of another group that has been displaced, they are early European settlers that had livestock. This group has received far less attention, possibly because they are not exotic enough for NGO’s to care.
This afternoon we entered Kgalakgadi Transfrontier Park (aka Kalahari, or KTP). The transfrontier refers to the fact that this park covers three different countries: South Africa, Botswana, and Namibia. This afternoon we weaved in and out of Botswana and South Africa. We saw extraordinary wildlife on our game drive! There was a koribustard which is a funny looking grey bird, larger than an eagle but smaller than an ostrich. I saw three giraffes; females horns point inwards and males point outwards. Additionally, I saw a gemsbok and a large grey antelope with long horns; they have slits in their forehead to keep their brain cool.
Springbok were the most common animal. They are a brown antelope and their babies are super cute especially when the run with springy hops. Wildebeast were everywhere as well. They are either blue or black and their babies are called fouls. I saw some ostrich, the males have black and white feathers and the females are brown, the way the walk is hilarious with an exaggerated neck bob. A few other animals we spotted were a blue headed lizard, ground squirrel, meerkat (but might have been a ground squirrel, hard to tell the difference if you can’t see their tails), namaqua doves, crows, sociable weavers (little birds that make huge nests), eagles, and a pygmy falcon.
We stayed at a SANParks unfenced tented camp, so at night we were not allowed to walk around outside the fenced in huts. We had to be driven to the hut we were sleeping in. During our wonderful braai we saw two giraffes walk to a watering hole below our huts. A baby jackal enjoyed coming close to our camp. Most likely other people feed it at the tents, which is frowned upon. A lizard crawled up the side of the tent and we saw it eat some bugs in live action. We concluded the evening with some relaxing star gazing.
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