Kgalagadi National Park

This park lies in South Africa's hook, the point in the NW of the country at which there is a common border with Botswana and Nambia. I had never been there before, and it was a long ride. Worse, the web site warned "the roads in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park are not sedan friendly" and since the car I was in, a sometimes-faithful sometimes-not Ford Escort was the ultimate sedan, I was not confident that I would be able to see anything there without being stuck in a bed of soft sand. But I took the chance anyway and drove the 200 km through the Kalahari desert to the park from the Northern Cape town of Uppington.

It was really worth it. The roads were corrugated but otherwise very navigable in the Ford. And the scenery was dreamlike: softly undulating hills of bright green 'sour grass' shimmering with thousands of butterflies, and large herds of Gemsbok, Springbok and Gnu roamed alongside the road.