Lost Cities 31
A relic, may be, of a glorious past, a city once
grand and sublime, destroyed by earthquake,
defaced by the blast, swept away by the hand
of time.It’s unclear when Joshua found out about the Lost City
of the Kalahari Desert, or why he became interested in
finding it, but he did everything he could to find it. He and
his family made several expeditions through and above the
desert.^90
The expeditions covered large areas, and Joshua par-
ticipated in sixteen expeditions. “We flew 8 400 miles [13
500 km] altogether in our aerial search, most of it at 200
feet [61 m] and 300 feet, and sometimes down between
the peaks of the sand-dunes,” he said. “There are possibly a
hundred prominent sand-dunes in the area. We have even
seen ostrich eggs on the ground – but on the other hand
we had to make three passes before all three of us in the
plane could spot a ten-foot animal hole in the side of a sand-
dune.”^73
They didn’t always fly on the expeditions - they could
also use trucks and Willy’s Jeeps from the Second World
War. There were no roads through the desert, so they had
to use a compass to navigate.^90
With them on these expeditions, Joshua and Wyn often
brought the children. The smallest children had to sleep
in the larger trucks to avoid the risk of being eaten by
a wild predator during the night. “We had lions in the
camp so close my father could almost touch them,” Scott
said. “The camps were often surrounded by hyenas, jackals