2- Karas region

After the safari, the next day we went to the "farm" where we were going to be almost all the time for 3 months. I say farm in inverted commas because it was a huge territory without cattle exploitation, but had a conservation purpose.

We had to take the bus to Karasburg and there a car to the farm.

The trip consists of a shuttle that goes between 9 and 12 hours on an endless straight road, with a stretch of 200km totally without curves, the longest straight in the country. The length of the journey depends on the number of stops you make for the people on it, as you pick up and leave people on the way.

We were lucky and the bus left almost on time and only took 9 hours.

It was a long and hot trip inside the vehicle, but finally we arrived at the farm after doing some shopping in Karasburg. From there to KumKum there was another hour and a half of travel, but after the trip, it became really brief.

And when we arrived there, Clara and Alba were waiting for us, whom I was so looking forward to seeing. The house was very cosy, so it was not difficult to feel comfortable and to get used to it.

We arrived at night, so there was not much to do but unpack, make dinner and enjoy the re-encounter. And we were greeted with one of the best things in the country, a braai. It's their way of calling the barbecue, but they do it in a way that deserves its own name.

In the south of Namibia and with the current drought, the animal that is most raised and consumed is the sheep, as it is almost the only one that can withstand these conditions, although they also consume meat from wild ungulates as game meat.

On that day we were delighted with sheep meat and springbok, spiced with the typical braai seasoning.

For those of you who asked, it didn't taste like wool at all and it was very good.

With that we started the custom of making braais with meat, potatoes, gemsquash and butternut, a type of pumpkin with a sweet taste and soft texture when prepared on the coals. Without a doubt it was a great reception.

In the morning light, we were finally able to see the farm, and the landscape was really crazy. An immensity of sandy plains with scarce vegetation that suffered from drought, and an endless number of mountain ridges as far as the eye could see surrounding the plains.

And between the mountains, they crossed like veins the dry riverbeds that a couple of days a year after the rains would be filled with water flooding the landscape with life.

In the following days we accompanied Alba and Clara in their work to recognize the terrain.

They had to check their camera traps, placed with sardine oil as bait to attract the small carnivores, the focus of their work. It was exciting to see the first klipspringer shaping the mountain in the distance, and also the images captured by the camera traps, with photos of mongooses, jackal, bat-eared fox, cape fox, caracal, zebra and orix among others.

From left to right: aardwolf (Proteles cristatus), brown hyena (Hyaena brunnea), slender mongoose (Galerella sanguinea), caracal (Caracal caracal), black eagle (Aquila verreauxii) and aardvark (Orycteropus afer)

And something I also liked very much is that this sandy substrate was very suitable for footprints. We found tracks everywhere, you could see how orix, zebras, kudus, klipspringer, mongooses and leopards had passed through there. There were footprints even a few metres from the house. Those elusive animals, that during the night pass closer than we thought, taking advantage of the night darkness as their greatest ally.

Leopard footprints. For identification by guides, it is necessary to have a size reference in the image.

And of course the excitement of finding the first gecko, the first Trachylepis or Pedioplanis, totally new for us. Some reptiles that the first days came out briefly between the rocks when the sun warmed a little, each one with its own appearance and different behavior.

The western sand lizards (Pedioplanis inornata) surprised us with their dance moving their front legs as if they were crawl swimming and their fast sprints that only left the long red trail of their tail for a few instants.

Western rock skinks (Trachylepis sulcata) were calmer, robust and flirtatious, with a huge difference between males and females.

And the geckos (Chondrodactylus sp.) very elusive with the winter temperature, were rarely shown, but they were quick and courageous when they came out, always climbing the walls.

From left to right: Pedioplanis inornata, female of Trachylepis sulcata, Chondrodactylus turneri, Chondrodactylus bibronii.

As the days went by we found one of the animals I wanted to see the most; the horned adder (Bitis caudalis). Beautiful, with bad temper...all a beauty. Those horns that gave her an appearance of ferocity, the vertical pupils that made her look a serious warning, the scales so carinated that they gave her an elegant suit, but at the same time robust... everything in her fascinated me.

It was like looking at a being from another world, a wonder taken from fairy tales or ancient mythology. No doubt this animal was moving away in my mind from the word snake that people use to describe these reptiles with a derogatory tone. I felt that the piece of desert we were in belonged to her, as did the sunset, which shone only for her, showing us all who ruled that place despite its size. She slipped through the rocks. I only wished to meet her on more occasions.