MY NAME IS !XOPAN
KGALAGADI (BOKSPITS) Animal tracking in an old desert
ʻI know these dunes; theyʼre like the streets in my hometown. I walk here, because I grew up here, a true Kalahari Child. I am proudly Bushman. I am !Xopan.ʼ
It was an icy day when we met !Xopan in the dunes of Erin Game Ranch, a !Khomani San Community Farm near Bokspits on the Northern Capeʼs Red Dune Route. He works as a guide with the inimitable Vinkie van der Westhuizen, and they spirited us away on an authentic animal tracking experience in the Kgalagadi.
It was freezing cold and at one stage, !Xopan had to borrow my down jacket to keep the biting cold at bay, as he was only in a loincloth to show us how his forefathers hunted a few hundred years ago. His spirit and smile never wavered, and that night he regaled us with impossibly tall Kalahari tales as we tucked into traditional Noord-Kaap fare around their flickering fires.
Khomani means the 'forgotten people', and – as with the blood-orange sand of the Northern Capeʼs rural Red Dune Route – youʼll find it impossible to erase them from memory once youʼve experienced their encyclopedic knowledge of the arid veld and witnessed their rich, yet humble and unfettered lives.
DO IT
Authentic Kalahari Experiences offers animal tracking, game drives and a host of interactive cultural activities with the San community near the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park entrance. khomanisan.co.za.
For animal tracking (R350pp), contact Vinkie on 072 977 0120.
STAY HERE
Erin Game Ranch: semi-luxury tent - R350pp sharing; rustic campsite with own tent and equipment – R180 pp; 087 285 4299 or 072 948 4713