Expert Africa Kalahari Safari of Silence
Expert Africa is offering a Kalahari Safari of Silence that provides the opportunity to escape the noise of everyday life. “Botswana’s Kalahari is a vast and often silent wilderness. We believe that it’s an ideal place for those seeking solitude,” said Expert Africa’s Managing Director Chris McIntyre. The thirst for silence is evident in the rise of travelers looking for “retreats,” places free of TV, Internet, computers, cell phones and other electronic devices, where luxury is the location. Some of these are “reading retreats,” others are spiritual, and others are trips into the wilderness.
A recent column in the New York Times lamented the absence of silence in our lives, saying, “There will be fewer and fewer of what Virginia Woolf called ‘moments of being,’ intense sensations that stand apart from the ‘cottonwool of daily life.’”
One place to experience “moments of being” is in the middle of the northern Kalahari, an area of huge, flat saltpans. The Makgadikgadi and Nxai pans were at the center of a great lake that dried up thousands of years ago, leaving behind some of the largest saltpans in the world. It’s a harsh, sparse landscape, but it offers isolation as complete as anywhere in Southern Africa, and a wealth of hidden treasures. The pans play a vital role in the area’s ecosystems; their geology is unique, their history is fascinating, and they’re incredibly photogenic.
There’s a saying that the silence is so complete in the vast, silvery-white Makgadikgadi Pans that you can hear your own blood flowing. Occasionally, the pans host fleeting herds of Kalahari game, but essentially it’s a wilderness. For most of the year, these great pans cover some 3,900 square miles of the Kalahari in a thin crust of salt. It’s an eerie, other-worldly environment.
“Around January to March, if the rains have been good, the pans flood,” said McIntyre. “Then grasses spring to life, and often flamingos arrive, together with a huge migration of zebra and wildebeest. Although unpredictable, this is one of Africa’s great wildlife spectacles.”
Another spectacle is the millions of stars that can be seen through the pollution-free environment. McIntyre’s expertise is based on years of travel and research within Southern Africa. He is the author of more than a dozen guidebooks to Southern Africa, from the first English-language guide to Namibia and Botswana, first published more than 20 years ago, to all three editions of the Botswana guidebook published by Bradt Travel Guides. Rates for the 10-night safari that includes Botswana’s Nxai and Makgadikgadi pans, as well as the Okavango Delta, start at $5,183 per person, double occupancy.
-
Mufasa budget safaris Location: Maun, Botswana This is an 8 day camping tour in an adventure... Read Full Story » -
Delta Faucet 50560-SS Wall Elbow for Handshower, Stainless Delta – click on the image below... Read Full Story » -
Mufasa budget safaris Johannesburg to Nairobi Johannesburg To Nairobi accommodated 29 day tour... Read Full Story » -
Mufasa budget safaris OKAVANGO DELTA AND KRUGER NATIONAL PARK The Okavango is a labyrinth of... Read Full Story »
