The wanderpadle reference was an inside joke for some colleagues not meant to offend. It turns out I’m an Africanist with a sense of humor… I think I addressed that in a comment.

I’ll have to check .. If I said or implied that the kalahari extended to the Atlantic, i’ll modify that because it doesn’t!

I’m glad you enjoyed the post. Have you boon to Augragies?

The one hundred or so kilometer-wide strip directly along the Atlantic coast, from the Gariep (or Orange) river in the south to the Okavango river in the north (all along the coast of Namibia) is called the Namib desert. It’s by far the oldest of all the deserts in the world. There is a wide region of semi-arid lands between the Namib and the Kalahari deserts. Nowhere does the Kalahari actually come even close to the Atlantic ocean.

The second point might be regarded as nitpicking, but you call yourself an Africanist and as such you should be aware of how often people from the North (my own Afrikaner people included) have insulted and dehumanized the indigenous people of Africa in so many ways. One such way is how Northerners seem to ignore the local names (and the way they are spelled) due to ignorance or laziness. What you call the ‘Dassie Wanderpadel’ is in fact spelled as the ‘Dassie Wandelpad’, which is the Afrikaans for ‘Hydrax Hiking Trail’.

I do not mean to offend you in any way whatsoever, but as a local and a devoted South African (and yes, a ‘white’ African), it really irritates and frustrates me when Northerners won’t make the effort to get their facts right.

Other than that, thank you for a truly beautiful article, and your pictures are really superb. I shall certainly make a point of following any further postings on your website.