Central Kalahari Game Reserve

CKGR = real backcountry Botswana

March wasn't the best time to go for wildlife viewing, or at least this time around due to recent rains and the high grass. We made the trek from the north all the way down and through Kutse. It's a very long way, and some hairy 4x4 off-roading. Not sure I'd make that trip again, but certainly portions of the park are worth seeing and experiencing, including camping at one of the many backcountry campsites.

An enormous, spacious, uninhabited, dry, cold and hot, real African landscape

The Central Kalahari is enormous. Driving through this Reserve, only on dirt roads, is quite an experience.
Maybe 2 or 3 other cars can be seen daily. There is a lot more chance to see wildlife than humans.
Don't expect to see animals every 10 minutes. Sometimes you have to drive some distance to see them.
Overall Botswana gives much more bush - wildlife experience than the touristic areas in Kenya.
A video of this trip can be seen on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BWD5I6YrIo

A huge area with lots of wildlife but sometimes it's frustratingly difficult to get near to it as you can't go off road. Good camping but very minimalist sites.

Very isolated - camp sites miles from each other and really in the bush with very few amenities. Birding species limited due to dry conditions - however there are plentiful and specials for the area.

The Kalahari is without doubt breathtaking: a bushy desert with a good wildlife.
There are less tourists than in the most popular parks, but spotting animals can be harder.

Unique eco-system in Botswana

We stayed at Kwando's Tau Pan lodge in the CKGR for three nights in January, 2011. The CKGR was quite different than the lush concessions up north and the differences were really interesting. The wide expanses of the pans were beautiful. It was very peaceful and quiet. We saw very few people.

We found the accommodation at Tau Pan excellent. The lodge is very new with spacious rooms. We had a large indoor and outdoor shower and an indoor and outdoor sitting room. The food was always excellent and fresh. The lodge uses new Range Rovers with roofs for transportation. Unlike the other Kwando concessions that we visited (Kwara and Lebala) there was less 'off roading' per the CKGR rules. We enjoyed seeing lots of wildlife although not in such abundance as in other parts of Botswana. The steenbocks pronking at dusk was a highlight as was hearing a lion roaring though the night. We are not 'birders' but we found the bird life in the CKGR diverse and interesting.

Our guides we excellent and we particularly enjoyed the guided walk by the bushman, Scupa. He showed us how to find tubers for water, set snares, make soap out of a plant etc.

We met another couple on the bush plan on the way out who had stayed at Kwando's other lodge, Nxai Pan and loved it.