Deserts and daisies pre trip

[ali-s]

Deserts and daisies

We've been home a month and I'm only just starting my trip report. This was our second trip to South Africa, last time we did Cape Town and Kruger, this time I wanted to see the spring flowers on the west coast, this has been on my bucket list for over 30 years, but it's a long way to go to see flowers that may or may not be in bloom when we get there, so I added another bucket list experience, spending some time in a desert, namely the Kalahari .
The closest airport to the Kgalagadi transfrontier park is Upington, so we started there. Our itinerary was
1 night Upington
6 nights Kgalagadi
1 night Upington
3 nights Springbok
3 nights Clanwilliam
2 nights Langebaan
Fly home from Cape Town

It was just me and 23 year old son travelling. We flew indirect as usual, Birmingham to Johannesburg via Paris and then an additional flight Johannesburg to Upington , which is the nearest city to the Kgalagadi transfrontier park. As usual with our indirect flights, nothing went according to plan. Our Birmingham to Paris flight was delayed, which meant that even with a 4 hour layover we missed our 11pm Paris to Johannesburg flight. Air France put us in an airport hotel for the night where, at 1am I was frantically rebooking our flights to Upington, luckily getting 2 of the last 3 seats , .and a night in a Johannesburg airport hotel to replace our first night in a b&b in Upington . Next day we were on our way to Johannesburg, via Amsterdam! Arriving in Johannesburg 11pm Friday night 13 hours after we were supposed to land. Unfortunately our suitcase didn't arrive with us, Air France promised it would be flown out next day - when we were on our way to Upington, no problem, they would fly it to Upington, but we would then be enroute to the Kalahari, no problem, they would courier it to us. Long story short, we were reunited with our suitcase on day 13. Luckily I always pack a change of clothes in hand luggage and this time I must have had a premonition because I packed 2 changes of clothes each. But still, there are no clothing shops in the Kalahari, it's hot during the day, but nights and early mornings are chilly and I missed my fleece. The worst was wearing the same shoes for 13 days. I'd also packed several items especially for our stay in the Kalahari, a detailed Kgalagadi self drive guide book that I had flicked through in the UK, but planned on reading more thoroughly once in the park, a thermos flask - no cafes in the park, you want a hot drink during the day, you take it with you , a clothes hanger and laundry liquid ( no washing machines either) and other stuff. All minor inconveniences but they added up.