4 days along the Molopo
When travelling from Gauteng to the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park and the Richtersveld, you’d probably take the quick and easy N14 through the southern Kalahari. There is, however, an alternative to this dead-straight highway: a dirt road less travelled that follows the Molopo River.
The Molopo is rather enigmatic, as nobody is certain where its source lies nor how old it is. Geologists suspect that the Molopo River as we know it today is relatively young in geological terms. At one of its possible sources, it flows strongly and then it suddenly recedes in a clump of reeds. A few kilometres farther, its dry bed winds through a valley that could only have been carved by a giant river – something the Molopo isn’t. At one point the Molopo disappears utterly after it flattens out on a pan surrounded by dunes… and just a few kilometres on, the river pops up again amid rocky ridges.
We followed this vague and furtive river to see if we could make sense of it.
THE ROUTE STARTS at Lichtenburg in the North West Province. There are a few fountains in and around this town, and any (or all) of them could be the true source of the Molopo River. The river flows mostly underground and only occasionally comes up for air.
Take the R505 regional road northward for 30 km until you reach a signpost
