The Central Kalahari Game Reserve. South of Maun, west of Rakops. Botswana. Given the name, you might think it is an extension of the Kalahari Transfrontier Park. No, no, not quite. For starters the CKGR is far more remote. And if this is the center of the Kalahari, it stands to reason that being here is akin to being in the center of nowhere. It is a huge game reserve, one of the largest in the world. And as you might have learned from Wild Kingdom or NatGeo, the Kalahari might look lifeless but it is anything but.

Camped at Sunday Pan, the isolation we felt here is not apparent from the TV shows. There are very few roads and fewer vehicles. If you are going way out, it is a very long drive. We really are out there. An undulating sea of grass waves its way to the far-off horizon. It is still but it is not quiet. The bird songs and insect hums ebb and flow. Our camp looks out on an endless view. The shower contraption is too far away to feel safe walking to in the dark so we shower at the truck. No one cares. In the morning we will go out early and see what’s what.

Bat-Eared Fox aren’t really foxes at all, they are more in the jackal family. They pair for life – and yet they look like they are having such a good time this morning. Just like me and Jim, right? After all this time, 70K+ kilometers in the truck, days (and nights) spent living outside and we are still digging every second of it. Bat-Earred foxes simply add to the wonder, as does the exquisite Violet-eared Waxbill. How is it such a brilliantly colored bird lives here in this grassland – he looks like he belongs in the tropics. As a seed-eater he is more at home here where the seeds never end. His cousin on the rock is the Black-cheeked waxbill, a different color scheme and every bit as gorgeous. Bring on the birds by setting out water, three or four bowls scattered about will do. Try not to suck up all the digital in the world taking pictures.

Pale Chanting Goshawks often dog the Honey Badger.  What luck to find them together, two badgers and two goshawks having a final snack before retiring for the afternoon. We wandered about as well, eating breakfast in the truck and pondering the next move. Makgadikagadi Game Reserve is calling us. It is closer to the edge of nowhere rather than the center but still crazy solitude awaits.