Week 2: An enchanted excursion up North

Week 2 has been by far one of the most memorable weeks of my life! This week we took an excursion up north to visit the Swartland, West Coast, Namaqualand, the Kalahari, and Tankwa Karoo Districts. The theme of the field excursion was “dynamic environments of the arid zone of South Africa.” During our excursion we visited several different landscapes and examined natural and human-induced environmental changes. Each of us were assigned a reading to present based on the locations we were visiting, and the days basically revolved around those readings. A large majority of the trip was spent on the road, however we stopped somewhere new every night, often sleeping in very nice lodges.

A few of us took porcupine quills home with us and instantly regret it after being stabbed (I was one of the few).

Linda a.k.a Launder! President of Charlton House

Day 1 was spent driving past the wheatlands and vineyards of Swartland, and hiking up to Elands Bay Cave, which is among the most important late Quaternary fossil sites in the Western Cape. The sights from the cave were beautiful, and on the walls were cave paintings from thousands of years ago of handprints and animals, including the Eland. It is theorized that the San people used this cave for sacred ceremonies. That night we stayed in a lovely lodge called the Kamieskroon Hotel, where we were served a 3 course meal.

A unique and fruity take on cheesecake

The next day was spent traversing Namaqualand and the North eastern part of the Great Karoo, where we learned about the changing vegetation and climate of Namaqualand, and its abundant diversity despite being such an arid area. We spent the night at the Tshahitsi Lodge in Upington, which was super beautiful. Due to a change in climate there were butterflies everywhere through the rest of our trip which really made things feel like we were in an enchanted garden. There were Springbok roaming the sprawling green lawns of the lodge, which seemed out of place considering the arid climate of the region. As we moved from extravagant lodge to extravagant lodge we couldn’t help but to be aware of our position of privilege, which I will definitely be discussing more in later blogs.

Somehow the native Americans as a mascot trope made it all the way to a popular South African Chain called “Spur.” They sell an assortment of western foods

Days 3 and 4 were perhaps the most exciting, as they were spent in the Kalahari. We travelled northwards to the Kgalakgadi Transfrontier park, but first we stopped to meet representatives of the Khomani San people. The Khomani San people encompass several of the South African idigneous tribes, including the well-known Bushmen. It was also my day to present, which involved talking about the Khomani San people in front of these two representatives, which was a bit nerve-wracking. I read a single article and presented on the issues of South African land retribution policies and how they clash with traditional San governance. To my relief, the presentation went well and a great conversation with Dirk, one of the representatives, ensued. We once again felt strange driving through the Khomani San community, only to travel to another luxurious, animal skin decked lodge clearly meant to serve wealthy european tourists, where we presented and discussed our articles. However, later that day we went on a game drive where we saw plenty of antelope, birds, and giraffes, and if you were lucky you got to see the lions (I was not one of the lucky few, but I did include a picture anyway). Our tented camps were situated right on a large expanse of arid land where giraffes could be seen drinking water in the distance. At this lodge we were not allowed to walk to each other’s tents after dark because the animals could literally walk up to the cabins. We were visited by a mongoose and a jackal that night! The African sunset was also unbeatable.

The bottoms of the clouds are tinted pink due to the reflection of the red Kalahari sands

Mama and baby Springbok

Our Mongoose friend happy someone threw him a piece of bell-pepper from our Braai (bbq)

My view that morning

They dared me to put on this kids shirt, so I did.

Pic credits to Kendall a.k.a Kelon-j

Lion King vibes?

The rest of the days were spent in a similar fashion. We would drive to our location, with several little stops in towns, we reached our lodge, and did our presentations. For the rest of the trip we pretty much had no service and were left to entertain one another. During that time I managed to give everyone (all 14 plus professors) an alternative nick-name which we still use today. Thanks to wine-filled dinners, late night swims, and long hours spent in the car, our group quickly bonded, and soon we found ourselves longing to return “home” to Charlton House. The ride home was one of the most beautiful car rides I’ve ever been on. We drove through the Cape Fold mountains, which are seriously beautiful even if you’re not into geology, and I definitely hope to make another trip to see them before I leave here!

A huge postbox, possibly the largest?

Has to be some of the prettiest bills I’ve seen.

We were stopped for about 30 minutes after running into a fatal car accident. We happened to meet this man with a pet meerkat. The meerkat was very noisy and bite-y.

After ordering a wine that claimed to be the drink of “fun and friendship” we were given this wine by the waitress instead. It’s perhaps the best wine any of us has ever had and is now lovingly called “the ultimate wine” by our house. Many more bottles were bought and brought back to Charlton House (only $4 folks).