The Camels of Tsabong

                                         

                                

P-Day Monday comes just about the time I’m needing a break from the constant texts and emails and incoming or outgoing of the energetic and utterly delightful young people we are surrounded with. They are completely adorable in every way. 

Still, it’s nice once a week to leave the office and the fires we put out on a daily basis as phones go down or routers misbehave or someone runs out of electricity. Last week, we attended church in a lovely village called Kanye about 90 minutes from our home where were treated like celebrities. I wish they wouldn’t put us on such a pedestal. 

             

And then, with permission from the president for an extended 2-night P-Day, we took off after church headed to a camel reserve. Driving here is not for the faint of heart nor the road weary. One is constantly dodging cows, sheep, and donkeys grazing within inches of the road or crossing for greener pastures. One also dodges potholes of varying width and depth as well as humans in small villages who use the road as a sidewalk. My favorite, however, is the most hilarious and precarious donkey cart which is what you use for transport when a car is beyond your economic reach. 

Finally we arrived at the end of the long road through the bush just before crossing into South Africa at the bustling wee village of Tsabong which seemed to have more military and police force than civilians due to heavy poaching activity. We pulled into the preserve after dark, and because we are in the vast and pitch black Kalahari Desert, I missed my turn for our accommodations and headed out into the desert where to my delight I saw camels in my headlights.

Realizing something was wrong, we turned around and found our way to our glamping tent. But man oh man, was I excited by the iconic picture I’d viewed of camels lined up in a head-to-toe parade across the desert sand. I could hardly sleep for excitement.

Our accommodations for two nights were called meru tents and in America would be called a glamp. It was a large canvas tent complete with a very comfortable queen bed and "ablutions" at the back otherwise known as a bathroom complete with running water and flushing toilet. It could not have been more cozy and comfortable except for one small concern, that being the frigid temps at night.  It is wintertime in southern Africa; the daytime was sunny and comfortable in the mid 60’s, but at night dropped to 27 degrees. Our tent was equipped with an air conditioner for those absurdly hot summer days, but the heating capacity of said AC was wholly inadequate to keep us warm in the winter cold. More on this later.

  

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Camels are funny creatures! I must admit to having had little exposure to them before. They are hilarious and quite the dumbest animal I’ve ever seen. There are about 400 camels roaming this small enclosed preserve, and because of the lack of predators, they multiply and thrive quite nicely here. The camels were everywhere we turned, and they share the preserve with zebra and ostrich and mongoose. Each time I left my tent, I watched these odd creatures grazing on thorn trees and scrub brush. They didn’t allow us to get too close, yet they were not particularly shy either and allowed us to watch them at quite close range unlike those silly skittish zebra.

             

             

Because this preserve in the desert is at the end of a road on the way to nowhere 6 hours from our capital city and because it is wintertime here, we were the sole visitors to the park. Our guide for the day was named McDonald, and he was not only very knowledgeable but kind and affable as could be, and he escorted us on a guided bush walk where he dug up out of the dry sand a yam containing an astounding amount of water which feed thirsty desert foxes.

               

               

Then he took us on quads for an hour ride to the far reaches of the preserve.

And finally he gave us a camel ride on what must be the most brainless creature to walk the earth. Aaron mastered the art of imitating camel speak which sounds as if one is about to vomit. 

                                  

  

McDonald could not have a more pleasant host for the day. He showed us how the preserve provides water for these animals in a completely dry desert as well as how the camels are trained for riding. We were generous with our tip to him which must have been a blessing because soon after we tipped him, he headed to the grocery store where we bumped into him while exploring the nearby town. He told us of an overnight camel-ride camping experience the preserve will put together in a couple of months when it warms up, and we can’t wait to sign up.

             

              

There is a large tent the preserve uses as its restaurant when the summer season brings visitors, but we were their sole business for two days. The dining tent, however, was not heated and when the sun went down and the temp dropped below freezing, we retired to our meru only to find the heater completely insufficient to the cold. Thank goodness the camp provided solar heated water as we could stay warm only by sitting in the hot soak of a bathtub for the evening before diving under thick bed quilts for the night. 

What a find! The Tsabong Camel Park won us over big time!