KALAHARI DREAMS

The Kalahari Desert is a place for artists, poets, adventurers and the extremely stubborn generational farmers. The endless stretch of reddish undulating sands will either delight your imagination or send you in desperate search of the nearest oasis. And yet the vast plateau is home to all forms of life - and used to be home to thousands of Bushmen. The San people are the indigenous people of the Southern tip of Africa and survived in these extreme and adverse conditions. To me the Kalahari is synonymous with the San Bushman. Sadly however they were "resettled by the government". Many of the more remote areas of South Africa still carry the signature art work of this remarkable desert people.

You must know how much I love my husband to agree to him leaving for a week to the Kalahari - with my camera! I had major withdrawal managing one week without either of them. But my husband has returned safely. And with him my camera has a few photos, destined for Steemit. So please enjoy the short journey through one of the world's magnificent Deserts. The Kalahari.

At the end of his 10 hour drive from home, Farmer Buckaroo was given a special tour around one of the Kalahari's generational sheep farms. While here on our homestead 4 hectares is able to support a small flock of sheep. There 4 hectares are allocated per sheep. It is that sparse, and that dry! That said; they receive as much rainfall as we do in our semi-desert home. An estimated annual 300ml in a good year - and if there is no drought. Like us they are also a few years into a severe drought and it is taking its toll on both man and beast. The old farmer showed my husband a most intriguing historical find.

The Bushman adapted many survival methods by studying the animals in the Kalahari. There are certain succulents that, while appearing virtually dead have deep roots which hold enough water to survive. These the Bushmen search out, dig up and drink off to quench their thirst. When the San people came across water (or could harvest from the rain) they would store the water in hollowed gourds. Or ostrich eggs! These they emptied (ate) and then filled with water, using a little grass stopper to prevent loss. Dozens of precious ostrich shells were then carefully buried in the sands. In this manner the San saved life giving water and kept it safe and scattered throughout their homeland.

The water in these ostrich shells is long gone as are the nomadic desert tribes. But the hiding place is carefully preserved and few know about it. The old farmer says that the Bushmen left the area over 200 years ago. Which makes these water storage shells no less than 2 centuries old! It is a lesson about life and the precious commodities which we need to appreciate and protect.

Strictly speaking the Kalahari is not a true desert as it receives a higher rainfall than your average desert. It looks pretty desert like to me! Incredibly it is home to a vast array of animal life. From buck to reptile to predator to bird life. On the massive farms thousands of cattle and sheep or goats survive on the sparse vegetation.

The Kalahari takes up most of Botswana and a third of Namibia. The northern tip South Africa's Northern Cape is also Kalahari. And the coastal desert of Namibia merge in the south, with the Kalahari.

Years ago, when I hiked Namibia's Fish River Canyon, we drove for hours on end through the Kalahari and into the Namib deserts. It seems a barren wilderness with only an occasional handful of ostriches flitting across your path or a lone giraffe searching for shade. The beauty of the red sands, which rise and fall in gentle dunes, is breath taking. The heat is also breath taking. Huge community nests are built in the occasional trees by the sociable weavers. They resemble a messy haystack and grace every telephone pole for miles and miles. These little birds, as their name testify, are very community minded and one nest can support up to 500 birds! That is truly harmonious living.

Farmer Buckaroo was intrigued by the unique trees in the Kalahari. This labyrinth of roots supports a tree of a couple centuries of age! The Kalahari, despite being a desert, indeed supports all forms of unique fauna and flora. There is so much to be learned in the desert. It is a great tragedy that the San no longer roam and that there are far less animals than once graced the Kalahari. We have lost a rich heritage and generational blessing. To end this post I will share a poem written in 1900.. It epitomises the Kalahari as it once was. As it still should be.

The Bushman Speaks:
This desert is our life.
From the dry earth we gather roots and melons.
Over the endless sands we hunt the gemsbok and the springbok.

Sometimes the ga roots are shriveled and bitter.
Sometimes men are sick with thirst and hunger.

When there is water we drink and sing and clap our hands.
When there is food we eat and dance and clap our hands.

The eland does not come to us and ask to be eaten --
one must know how to make the arrow and poison it
and where to look and how to hide and shoot. . . .

What man is so foolish as to expect more? To expect
the rain to be always falling, his eggs full of water and
his stomach full of meat?

You have strong animals to carry you.
You have much food and water.
Your digging sticks are hard and sharp.
Your shooting-sticks are like lightning.

You are a powerful man and a good man.
I can see that in your eyes.

But what you offer is a dream.

You can give us water and meat.
You can fill our hands with tobacco and perfect beads.

But you cannot give us happiness.

A man can only drink so much and then he is full.
If a man is always eating honey, he tires of it and becomes sick.

And even if all life were sweet --
what man is not food for lions and dogs?
A man who has tasted in his life no bitterness will find death very bitter.

My mouth longs for sweetness
but sweetness brings bitterness
and in the end they are one.

So I ask you:
Take your digging sticks and your shooting-sticks.
And do not leave them behind.
Go to the green lands you came from.
We shall walk in this desert as we always have.

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