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A new gem waiting to be discovered in the Kalahari

On the edge of the mysterious desert wilderness in the Kalahari that was once packed with fortune hunters searching for diamonds a new gem in the tourism industry has emerged. The Diamond Route is one of the many manifestations of a well known family’s long history of passion and action towards environmental conservation issues and tourism.

The original Diamond Birding Route was an initiative to link nine properties owned by two prominent South African families through a tourism route focussed on the niche birding market. The project recruited people from the local communities to provide them with specialist bird guide training. With varying degrees of success, it brought publicity and visitors to each of the sites. It became apparent that the diverse assets of these properties went well beyond birding. And so evolved the Diamond Route, freed of the limiting constraints of a birding focus and geared to the full range of possibilities from culture and history to all aspects of the natural environment.

The route covers a diverse set of habitat types ranging from mopane woodland, riverine forest and savannah at Venetia in Limpopo province to a mosaic of highveld grasslands, bankenveld and riverine bush in eastern Gauteng at Ezemvelo Nature Reserve. Added to this are the historic gardens of Brenthurst, the Namaqualand Diamond Coast, the unique Karoo/Kalahari interface in the Kimberley area, and the Kalahari dunes of the desert. This Kalahari Desert Lodge boasts 70 species of mammal including lion, cheetah, desert black rhino, sable and roan antelope. More than 200 species of bird can also be found. The initial birding focus provided a foundation framework, on which other stunning tourism offerings could develop. The Kleinzee seal colony, the petroglyphs and Cecil John Rhodes’ “Shooting Box” at Rooipoort, the amazing variety of rarely-seen small mammals on night drives at Benfontein, the impressive wilderness of the Kalahari at Tswalu to the Wild Dogs of Venetia and Japanese Garden at Brenthurst.

The Diamond Route provides a common thread of communication between these destinations, training guides for birding and in other specialties, whilst marketing their assets, and helping the destinations to develop new products. The Kalahari Desert with it’s well-known game reserve being the highlight of this route is surrounded with the incredible beauty of the Kalahari and has a great variety of wildlife that makes a safari at this Kalahari Desert Reserve an unforgettable experience. Here is the opportunity to observe many endangered animals in their natural habitat and see a variety of birds, insects and desert vegetation.

The Diamond Route is an interface with the general public, showcasing the commitment of two families to the environment and to people, whilst developing self-sustaining tourism operations. Along this route you will step into a past that is rich in history, and includes highlights like birding tours, Wild Dog tracking tours, Namaqualand flowers every August, Mine Tours, archaeological sites, and the meeting of local Nama people. Don’t miss out on all these wonderful adventure.

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Visit the Tswalu Kalahari Reserve, an up-market luxury game reserve sitable for a futures broker, on the edge of the mysterious desert wilderness that is the Kalahari. Tswalu has the largest private concession in Sub-Saharan Africa, boasting 70 species of mammal including lion, cheetah, desert black rhino, sable and roan antelope. http://www.tswalu.com