SILENCE IS GOLDEN: “KALAHARI SAFARI OF SILENCE”

LONDON, England (01/2012)- EXPERT AFRICA, one of Southern Africa’s leading designers and operators of personalized tours, is offering a Kalahari Safari of Silence in response to a trend to escape the noise of everyday life. “Botswana’s Kalahari is a vast and often silent wilderness. We believe that it’s an ideal place for those seeking solitude,” says EXPERT AFRICA’S Managing Director, Chris McIntyre.

The thirst for silence is evident in the rise of travelers looking for “retreats,” places free of TV, Internet, computers, cell phones and other electronic devices, where luxury is the location. Some of these are “reading retreats,” others are spiritual; still others are trips into the wilderness, such as EXPERT AFRICA’S Kalahari Safari of Silence (see rates and details below). A recent column in the New York Times lamented the absence of silence in our lives, saying, “There will be fewer and fewer of what Virginia Woolf called ‘moments of being,’ intense sensations that stand apart from the ‘cottonwool of daily life.’”

One place to experience “moments of being” is in the middle of the northern Kalahari, an area of huge, flat saltpans. The Makgadikgadi and Nxai pans were at the center of a great lake that dried up thousands of years ago, leaving behind some of the largest saltpans in the world. It’s a harsh, sparse landscape, but it offers isolation as complete as anywhere in Southern Africa, and a wealth of hidden treasures. The pans play a vital role in the area’s ecosystems; their geology is unique, their history is fascinating, and they’re incredibly photogenic.

There’s a saying that the silence is so complete in the vast, silvery-white Makgadikgadi Pans that you can hear your own blood flowing. Occasionally, the pans host fleeting herds of Kalahari game, but essentially this is a wilderness. For most of the year, these great pans cover some 3900 square miles of the Kalahari in a thin crust of salt. It’s an eerie, other-worldly environment. “Around January to March, if the rains have been good, the pans flood,” says McIntyre. “Then grasses spring to life, and often flamingos arrive, together with a huge migration of zebra and wildebeest. Although unpredictable, this is one of Africa’s great wildlife spectacles.” Another spectacle is the millions of stars that can be seen through the pollution-free environment.

McIntyre’s expertise is based on years of travel and research within Southern Africa. He is the author of more than a dozen guidebooks to Southern Africa, from the first English-language guide to Namibia and Botswana, first published more than 20 years ago, to all three editions of the Botswana guidebook published by Bradt Travel Guides.

KALAHARI SAFARI OF SILENCE

Rates for the 10-night safari that includes Botswana’s Nxai and Makgadikgadi pans as well as the Okavango Delta start at US $5,183 per person sharing.

Flights ex-Maun, Botswana
4 nights Nxai Pan Camp, Nxai Pan
3 nights Kwara Camp, Okavango Delta
3 nights Camp Kalahari, Makgadikgadi Pans

Includes:
All flights and transfers, starting in Maun and ending in Maun.
All meals, non-premium drinks (including South African wine, beers and local spirits) and activities.
All park fees.

Excludes:
Flights to and from Maun, Botswana
Any fine wines, champagnes and premium spirits

For more information, visit: www.expertafrica.com or + 44 20 8232 9777