This trip to Africa is my wife's retirement trip. We will be home almost in time to celebrate the one-year anniversary of her retirement. One of the main possibilities that put this trip at the top of the priority list is that she wanted to see Meerkats in the Kalahari Desert. So our final Safari destination for this trip was Kalahari Red Dunes Lodge on the edge of the Kalahari.
The lodge is in a fenced reserve. There are no predators. So, in the words of our guide, "the animals here die of old age". The residents include Impala, Blue Wildebeests, Black Wildebeests, Red Hartebeests, Springboks, Black Springboks (not native), ,Oryxes, Elands, Ostriches, Wart Hogs, Mongooses, Ground Squirrels, and of course Meerkats, among others. 8" long millipedes were everywhere. The most noteworthy bird there is the Social Weaver. Colonies of them build huge interconnected nests. The largest we saw was probably 4 feet high, 3 feet wide and 15 feet long. When they get wet sometimes they break the trees in which they were built. We saw one that had fallen. Unlike the area near Kruger in South Africa where you could get very close to the wildlife; and unlike Etosha where the animals ignored us when we were on the road; the animals here were very shy. They often started running from us when we were 1/4 to 1/2 mile away.
Unfortunately, we only got a glimpse of one Meerkat in the wild. Fortunately, there is a Meerkat named Toffee that prefers to spend her time with people rather than other Meerkats. Typically she shows up for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner at the lodge. When we got back from our first sundowner (game drive that ends with a beverage of your choice at a good location for watching the sun go down), Toffee was waiting for us at the feet of our guide, Usko. So my wife got her first contact with Toffee.
The following morning Toffee showed up at about 11 to get some attention from our cousin at poolside. She stayed there and hung out with any of us who were willing to scratch her tummy. When we went inside for lunch she followed us in and hung out with us before mingling with the dozen or so people in the French family that was seated around the other table. Then she came back for some more attention and a nap under our table. She stayed around until about 4 in the afternoon.
Toffee
Since this is a predator-free reserve we were free to wander. So we went looking for Meerkats in the wild on foot. We didn't find any. I should mention that Toffee seems to live near the guides' accommodation which is about 150 yards from the lodge. There is a wood walkway about 1 to 2 feet off the ground between the guides' quarters and the lodge. Toffee seemed to like to follow Usko from the guide's quarters to the lodge.
On our second evening our dinner was served in a building near the guides' quarters. When we left to go there Toffee was already at the lodge. As we walked noisily along the path Toffee kept up with us on the ground.
In spite of the fact that we did not have a quality experience with wild Meerkats my wife is very satisfied with the experience overall.
I am attaching a photo of our unit. We did not even use the sitting room. That is the module on the left. The picture window faces the large open field and the lodge which is about a 150 to 200 yard walk from our unit.
Our Unit
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For a video showing what we saw during our Namibia safari from October 16 thru October 28 and with a little bit from the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa (including Penguins) click on the following video:
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