Weather and Landscape
What an exciting month this turned out to be. And what a privilege it is to be part of a new camp in a new area. This was only the second month that the newly located Kalahari Plains camp was open - and we are slowly beginning to understand the great Kalahari. It has been much like turning the pages of a thrilling novel and never knowing what the next chapter will bring. 

The huge plain in front of our camp stretches out like a giant canvas upon which the desert sketches her ever-changing kaleidoscopic art. The Kalahari's drab winter coat has been replaced with her summer finery, and the humid air is fragrantly impregnated with rich and spicy desert odours. A sense of the antiquity and wildness of this largely unexplored area is tangibly present. This area is one of Earth's last and greatest wilderness areas, ranking with the likes of the icy wildlands of Alaska.

Wildlife
Early impressions during the building of the camp revealed low and extremely skittish game populations. A handful of springbok, red hartebeest and oryx (gemsbok) were occasionally spotted on the vast plain in front of camp. But these were very shy and would disappear in a cloud of dust as soon as any interest was shown in them. The plain was desolate and the two small pans, Khudu and Korhaan, nothing but cracked and flaked ghosts of what they once were.

And then the rains broke! Up until this point we were driving long distances to Deception Valley to be assured of predictable game sightings. The game viewing in Deception was great - and cat sightings (cheetah and lion) regular. Then we started getting our first showers. Before the rain we had pretty much forgotten that lion even existed in the Kalahari and were walking around camp at night without a worry in the world. But slowly, with the rain, the game began to appear - at first as a dribble and then as a flood. The herds became more and more settled and soon we were driving through big herds of springbok and oryx right near the camp. Red hartebeest were also appearing in small numbers.

And then came the cats! We started seeing cheetah on the plain in front of camp. The first sightings revealed a group of five: three adult males, an adult female and a youngster. These became regular sightings and soon many drives destined for the valley were cut short and the guests kept busy locally.

In early January the Plains Pride started to make its presence felt. We had only seen them once before, towards the end of December. On this occasion they peered shyly at us over the silky bushman grass before stealing away. Now they were back, and the nights were split asunder with their roars.

We are getting to know them now: two large black-maned males, three adult females, two sub-adult males and one sub-adult female. They frequented our plain for three days before disappearing for another three days, and then appearing again. We are slowly getting a handle on their movements and range.

Other highlights for January included two aardwolf sightings on our plain, an adult female leopard on the road to Ostrich Pan, and a brown hyaena also on the plain in front of camp.

January proved a great month for game viewing and we look forward to revealing more secrets of the Plains as the months unfold.