Before coming I had heard that the sunset in the Kalahari Desert is spectacular. So of course I had to go on a sunset game drive with a ranger the only night I had in town. After booking I was picked up at the camp, and off we went, in an open truck, with 7 loud, and inconsiderate, Italians for company. I could easily see this might rub me the wrong way 😀 As we got going I was glad the lady at the park reception had told me to bring warm clothes, and a good thing I listened. When the sun sets, it gets a lot colder, and with the wind blowing while driving, it gets close to freezing. If the blankets the Italians were stocking up on was for everyone in the car, or just for them, I am not sure, but in the end one of the guys offered me one, while the two women on either side of me were sitting on one and covering themselves with one… After putting in my earplugs and cranking up the music, and luckily tuning out the Italian talking over my head to her friend on my other side (I had asked her to move into the middle seat, but she didn’t want to leave her “window” seat), I was able to shift my attention to what we were here for. But unfortunately I was kind of disappointed. First of all the sunset is nothing to write home about. Turned out the sunrise the next morning was much, much better. Second, since it is pitch black the animals are not possible to spot, unless you have a flashlight to search the grounds with. We did see a few species/small predators, but sticking them to photos was not easy 🙂 All in all must say not the most fun… What was kind of fun, was the men’s reaction to the ranger asking them to get out of the car and push it, when it broke down, in the middle of the bush, in pitch black, with just the flashlight to fend off whatever might lurk in the bushes 😀 They were not eager to say the least. The women the ranger didn’t want to leave the truck… After calling for help, the truck miraculously started by itself, and we were able to get home for dinner, instead of being dinner 🙂
Website: sanparks.org/parks/kgalagadi
Amazing!! I never thought about doing a game drive at sunset! What a cool idea. The sights you saw must have been incredible!
The idea is super, but I was a bit disappointed, not much/hard to see animals. Better luck next time, I guess.
Glad to hear you made it out alive, Bea! You really don’t want to be in a broken down safari truck in the middle of the African night! Hope you had better game drives during the day. Thanks for sharing on #FarawayFiles
I’ve always been told you don’t step outside the safari vehicle, so when she wanted the guys to get out, especially in the pitch black, I was a bit surprised. I guess she knew what she was doing. Had much better drives during the day, but unfortunately there were not much animals out and about, but I was happy still.
It’s a shame you didn’t see a great sunset or many animals. I’ve had some amazing experiences on night time game drives. And also lots that were similar to yours… Whether you get lucky or not is part of the fun! #FarawayFiles
This was my second time on a safari, and I guess I got spoiled rotten on my first. Yes, it is kind of hit or miss. Still had a great time in the Kalahari, just not so much on this particular game drive. Will never grow out of safaris though 🙂
Love it! The earplug thing jumped out at me b/c I just wrote a blogpost about that! 🙂
Sometimes earplugs can be the best friend 🙂
Its a jungle, eh desert out there! LOL
Yes, apparently 😀