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came up empty handed, so we learnt as we went along.

From Cape Town, the Kgalagadi was really a long drive. Being in a car with children aged 6 and 9 meant I had to be prepared to keep them entertained for two days of solid driving (yes two days, we were travelling at a slower speed — no Landie jokes please).

For each child, I bought an empty book and filled it with activities they could do in the car, leaving lots of space where they could enter their own ideas. Each child also had a map with our route laid out to see where we were going.

We had a few audiobooks on CD and subscribed to for some extra listening. That turned out to provide some special family time as we could all listen together while taking in the scenery alongside the road — and time seemed to pass so much faster.

Children under 12 may only stay in the three main rest camps because they are fenced. These are Twee Rivieren (southern entrance), Nossob (north of the South African side) and Mata Mata (at Namibia’s border). Yes, this limits the route one can take in the park but we were also reassured that, once in the campsite, we could relax with our children with no fear of visits from lions.

Each rest camp has a swimming pool — an enormous blessing in the sweltering heat — and we gave all the kids a little allowance to spend at the shops during their holiday and they could choose what they wanted to buy. This is a freedom not had in the city.

The bread baked locally at the campsites is legendary and made for a tasty, fresh addition to our meals.

I acquired copies of the Kgalagadi game list to paste in each activity book. The children were able to read about each animal and there was great excitement when they spotted even the tiniest gecko to tick off the list. Let’s be honest: sitting in a slowmoving car is never easy for children. They don’t experience the thrill of sitting quietly at a waterhole waiting for action.

We made small trips in the cool early mornings, packing breakfast snacks to enjoy. Then we let them play for the rest of the day.

The lion action at the camp’s hides added to the experience. In addition, the black-backed jackals and ground squirrels in Nossob were exciting — and the children loved watching the interaction between the ground squirrels and yellow mongooses.

As a protective “city mom”, I had to put all my fears aside if I was going to grow wild Kalahari children. We had packed lots of caps and sunblock and drank lots of water to keep hydrated.

Together, the eight cousins had lots of freedom to move about in the camps.

There was tons of sand to play in and following little animals around the campsite must have felt surreal to them.

I heard fellow campers referring to our children as having “played themselves into bed at night”. They were brown with dust and smiling from ear to ear. — © Jeanne Bonnema

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