Campbell to Witsand Nature Reserve

On Jacob’s advice we decided to skip Prieska and rather route to Upington via Campbell, Griquatown and Witsand Nature Reserve. After Sunday lunch at the Geel Huisie Restaurant it was rather late in the afternoon but we did not have far to travel. Campbell is only 27 km from Douglas where we planned to overnight at the Bartlett Church historical site. Jacob told us about a young guy who, without fail, materializes to open the gate and show one around for a tip. We do not know his name as he is deaf and mute, so we will call him the Gate Keeper. As expected he showed up soon after we arrived.

This was also the site of the mission house where Dr Livingstone first met Mary Moffat.

Another of Campbell’s claims to fame is the fact that the Plains Zebra was first described scientifically by William Burchell, in this area, and was subsequently named after him; Equus burchellii.

After we gave the Gate Keeper his tip and communicated with signing that we will be spending the night there, he left us, closing the gate behind him.

At dusk we witnessed a most amazing sight: hundreds of birds in a gigantic flock were flying around us! As the birds all changed direction at the same time the flock formed a dark organic cloud constantly changing shape and texture. All too soon the aerobatic display was over as they dropped into the reed bed below to roost. We are not sure what species it was but are guessing they are Pied Starlings. In the UK Starlings behave in the same way and such displays are called murmurations.

Early the next morning the Gate Keeper was back. In the meantime we sorted through our clothing and shoes and selected some items to give him, together with a little more money. He left happy, we think…

Our first stop for the day was at the Mary Moffat Museum in Griekwastad (Griquatown). We found it rather disappointing, as we do most of the historical sites. There does not seem to be too much interest in the maintenance and upkeep of the buildings and displays of these places and as the erstwhile curators leave to go on pension the degradation sets in.

What we did find interesting is that the museum has a display about William Anderson, one of the first missionaries in the area and the ancestor of Peter Anderson, Roger’s brother-in-law! Peter wrote a book about William Anderson, Weapons of Peace, which is also included in the display. Peter and Roger’s sister Geraline were missionaries in the Far East until her death, and he and his second wife Elizabeth now have a parish in New Zealand.

We thought Griekwastad was a clean, well-kept town, unlike so many other small towns we have travelled through.

Our next stop was at the Witsand Nature Reserve in the Kalahari. The reserve is situated at the foot of the Langberg Mountains and is well known for its white dunes amongst the red ones, as well as for its roaring sand (brulsand). Unfortunately it was not hot or dry enough for the sand to roar.

We were very surprised to find surface water (seeps) in the depressions amongst the dunes, hidden by vegetation! Water is trapped in the sand in the valleys between the quartzite ridges and it is the leaching action of this water as it accumulates that creates the white dunes. The underground water reservoir is vast, estimated at around 1211 million cubic metres at any given time!

Another peculiarity is the fulgurites which are shafts of fused silica created by lightning strikes into the sand.

We did a bit of walking in the area, going up the dunes at the view points, and found the entire area rather fascinating.

We spent a lot of time at the ground level bird hide which overlooks a pond, watching the species that are present in winter. Sadly we did not see any sand grouse.

We spent two very enjoyable days in the reserve before heading out again towards Upington. The 40 Km dirt road was very corrugated in places, but fortunately they were busy grading and that made the way out a lot more comfortable than the way in.