Leaving Deception Valley

It’s not called Deception Valley for nothing.

Camping in the bush is by far the best way to see African wildlife. Being able to examine lion footprints from the night before right outside your tent is exciting enough, but being able to meet some of the smaller creatures; desert mice which nest under the tents (and nibble cables), African wildcats which come to catch the mice, curious hornbills and the African stink ant, one of the largest ants in the world, all contribute to the experience and understanding of how the ecosystem works. But camping is usually best in warmer climates.

Two days ago, another Antarctic front arrived, not that it wasn’t already very cold at night. Now the temperatures dropped to below zero on the valley floor - and when the vehicle moved, the windchill dropped the temperature to as low as -15. This was itself is a major problem for us. The clothing we needed to stay warm was very restricting and batteries of all kinds ceased to function properly. But it was the lions which were our biggest problem now. We noticed with the thermal camera that the tops of the dunes on the valley* edges were a couple of degrees warmer than the valley floor. On very still nights (most nights), a clear thermocline (A clear boundary between gas or liquid of two different temperatures) was visible. Cats don’t like the cold, and it looks as if our lions had disappeared into the dunes - where we can neither film nor follow them - until either the weather warms up, or a breeze breaks up the thermocline and warms the valley floor again. For three days we found no signs of lions that we could film, heard no roaring (one of our main means of finding them), and saw no tracks or kills. It was time to leave the Kalahari...

*Using the term 'valley’ loosely here. The ‘valleys’ around here are usually about a kilometre wide and completely flat on the floor where short grass grows. On either side are fossil sand dunes covered in scrub, which rise as much as 20 metres, but are generally about 10 metres high



these images are made using our image-intensified camera, the 'starlight camera' can film clear images at night using only the light of the stars.

Here Comes The Flood

Our first night out was just before the full moon which gave us loads of light for the night-time cameras and some incredible images of oryx, aard wolves,and springbok.























3 nights later...

I’m writing this from camp in between reading one of the few books I have ever taken on location with me, The History of the World in 10 ½ Chapters by Julian Barnes. Anyone who has read it will know that the first part is all about Noah’s Ark and a great flood told from the point of view of a very small creature. Oddly, the only reason that I have time to read at all is because of a great amount of rain – in the Kalahari Desert, in the dry season. It’s been raining and generally storming on and off for the last 2 days. Just now the sun showed its face for the first time since the clouds arrived. The occurrence of rain here at this time of year is so unheard of that we didn’t bring any real protection from rain. Tents intended for dry sandy conditions leaked - any gear not in Pelican cases is now thoroughly damp.

It looks like we’ll be able to go out tonight regardless of the weather. And lions love a bit of a storm.