ADVENTURE
NORTHERN CAPE
GO WITH THE FLOW
The Green Kalahari in the Northern Cape offers visitors exhilarating adventures set against an otherworldly landscape
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ithin hours of arriving in the frontier lands of the Northern Cape, I’m clam- bering barefoot towards a river bank to tackle
a course of rapids. I’m fast discovering the contradictions, dangers and devastating beauty of this rugged desertscape. “Look where lightning struck that rock,
right
where you’re walking,” my guide Danie van Zyl says, adjusting the canoe balanced on his head. The boulder under my toes is black- ened, scarred and scorched. But it’s not the oddest feature of the terrain. That would be the Orange River: a sparkling blue incongru-
ity amid the red valleys of the Kalahari. Lush grasses and trees sprout on the banks. “Wel- come to the Green Kalahari,” Danie says. Out on the water, as the first set of falls
approaches, Danie offers some advice from the rear of the canoe. “A lot of people tend to grab hold of the side and shout like it’s a roller coaster. But you need to keep pad- dling. The moment you’re the same speed as the current, the water will take you and push you down the shortest route. Although, fall- ing in is part of the experience.” I nervously adjust my grip on my paddle. We head for an opening between the rocks, then the current yanks us down-
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stream. I paddle hard, whooping at the thrill of it all. And then, suddenly, we’re through, mopping our faces as we bob around in a placid eddy. “Onwards?” Danie asks. “Onwards,” I agree, eyeing up the next rapid. Danie’s passion for adventure goes
beyond the outdoors activities he caters for on his 312-acre farm, Khamkirri; it’s a philosophy he and his family live by. “No television. No internet. This is a place where people can reconnect to themselves and nature; where kids can run wild,” he explains back at the camp, as we watch his three young sons fly fishing. “Here you can go hiking, or hit our mountain biking trail. And the Orange River is the holy grail for sport fishing. They call our largemouth yellowfish the fish of a thou- sand casts. You have to cast at least a thou- sand times before you get a bite of one of those, and it’s a memorable moment when you do hit one of those big slabs of Orange River Gold.” His youngest reels in a mud-
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