Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park

Good place fro adults and children - something interesting for everyone.

Accommodation - reasonable.
The only one thing which should be changed is the booking system for organised trips.
I made a booking for safari trip with my 2 friends which was not organised because of small group. It was one of the main reasons why we wanted to visit this park.

Escape to the beach.. without the water

Kgalagadi, pronounced by making a "k" sound followed by 2 successive throat clearings, is the real Kalahari. Real as in the small trees and bush on the nearest town on the map, a town called Hotazel, are replaced by sand. So much sand that Sand Surfing is a local sport. The temps while we were there were just over 40C during the day, a hint of sun, but luckily the nights cooled off to the low 20's- desert living at its finest.

Along with the day drives where all the animals are fast asleep by the watering holes in the rarity that is the shade, the Kgalagadi comes alive in the night time. with only 1 night in the park, to the night drive we went.

The best way to make friends when stuck in a confined space? Beer. Between a dozen people 'stuck' in the moving elevator that was the open topped Land Rover for our night drive, we were the guys dragging a cooler of beer onto the bakkie (bakkie = truck in the SA). 15 minutes in, the whole drive was friends. Sadly this was about the same time we got away from the camp and back into park. While the temperatures fell the animals rose. The bakkie was equipped with a few spotlights, so we took turns spotting the animals. Over the course of the drive, of all the animals we saw, by far the most exciting was an African Wild Cat. More rare than lions, the african wild cat was out hunting alone, had a moment in the spotlight, and was gone.

From the beachless dunes, to the black maned lion, to the beers with paap 'n vleis, the Kgalagadi was an excellent escape from anything resembling a cookie-cutter holiday package and the memories I walked away with won't be found in any other park in Africa.

Klaar

Like the remoteness and you can have the animals sittings to yourself

There is basically only one main 'road' through this park, with a lot of very deep sand roads, and you have to be lucky with the wildlife. We had some excellent cheetah and lion sightings. There is one big camp on the South African side with all the mod cons, including a fuel station, but if you want the more rugged experience camp on the Botswana side.

Excellent variety of game and bird species. Habitat is not very diverse. Very rustic camping sites.