5-night self-drive itinerary Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park
Just to let you know… This post (probably) contains affiliate links, including Amazon Associates links, and we may receive a small commission if you click one. This is at no extra cost to you and allows us to keep our blog running.
Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park is located within the southern Kalahari Desert and is the first transfrontier park. Since 1999 the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park in South Africa and the Mabuasehube-Gemsbok National Park in Botswana became one park.
The current size is 38.000 sq km, which makes it larger than Etosha, Kruger National Park and the Serengeti and is one of the largest National Parks in Africa. From these 38.000 sq km, three-quarters lie in Botswana and one-quarter in South Africa. But while it's one of the largest parks, there are not nearly as many roads in the Kgalagadi if you would compare it to Kruger National Park.
There are 2 main roads on the South African side leading you towards the main camps, but some of the wilderness camps can only be reached by 4WD. And while most of the park lies in Botswana, this part of the park has even fewer roads, is only accessible with 4x4 and it is recommended to be with at least 2 cars.
So this makes Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park a great location if you want to go off the beaten track or don’t want the crowds of Kruger National Park.
In this post, we will walk you through the 5-night itinerary for a self-drive safari in Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park that we used on our 2nd trip to the park. The itinerary is based on renting a 4x4 with a rooftop tent and a combination of camping and a camp that offers safari tents. The main camps also have chalets, so you can easily use this itinerary if you’re not camping.
We are starting this itinerary at O.R. Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg. So you will need to add days to get to Johannesburg and to travel back to Johannesburg. If you want to know about more options to get to Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, have a look at our Ultimate guide for a Self-drive safari in Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park
Itinerary overview
Before we get into all the details about the camps and route of this 5-night self-drive itinerary in Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park here's a quick overview of the itinerary.
Day 1 - Flight from O.R. Tambo International Airport to Upington Airport + Pickup rental car
// 252km and 2.30 hours drive to Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park // Stay at Mata Mata Campsite
Day 2 - Mata Mata Campsite to Twee Rivieren Campsite
Day 3 - Twee Rivieren Campsite to Nossob Chalet
Day 4 - Nossob Chalet to Kieliekrankie Winderness Camp
Day 5 - Kieliekrankie Winderness Camp to Kalahari Tented Camp
Day 6 - Kalahari Tented Camp to Twee Rivieren Gate // + 252km and 2.30 hours drive to Upington from Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park
Some notes about this itinerary
In general, we always say that your itinerary will depend on from which gate you will arrive, how many nights you have, what your budget is and the type of accommodation you like. But it works a little bit different when you’re talking about the Kgalagadi. Because the chance you will actually be able to book your ideal itinerary is slim. So before going into our itinerary we want to elaborate on this a bit more.
There are a couple of things we want to note in regards to planning your itinerary for Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park:
It is difficult to book a stay in Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park (you can find more about this in our Kgalagadi Guide) so whether this is the only thing you want to do on your trip or when this is part of a longer itinerary, this is where you want to start with your planning. It can be a bit of a puzzle to find several nights in a row across different camps. So the best way to get a good overview is when you log in to the Sanparks website via the orange Book your trip button. But if you don’t have an account yet you can go to Where to stay -> Availability Accommodation
Then you can either click on one of the camps to check the availability a month at a time or you can check by date for all camps via the quick availability check at the bottom of the page.
When we plan our trip, we start writing down the dates and camps that are available on a piece of paper and check create the itinerary from there based on the distances between the camps, how much time we have in the park on the arrival day and what time we need to be out of the park on the last day to head to the airport or arrive on time at our next destination.
For our first trip, we booked in June for December and the second time in October for March and both times we were not able to book the itinerary that we wanted. The best chance you have is by booking 13 months in advance as bookings open on the first of the month for 13 months in the future.
If you were not able to book the camps you wanted (or did not know 13 months ahead of time you wanted to go) it helps to keep an eye on the Sanparks website to check for cancellations. This way we were able to change our 5-night itinerary from:
3 nights Twee Rivieren & 2 night Kalahari Tented Camp
To 1 night at: Mata-Mata, Twee Rivieren, Kieliekrankie, Nossob, Kalahari Tented Camp
Another thing that can impact your itinerary has to do with how you are getting to Kgalagadi. If you’re doing a road trip through South Africa or Namibia (and you enter through the border post at Mata Mata) you just need to plan your days around the availability in Kgalagadi. But when Kgalagadi is your first or only destination in this part of South Africa, it can have more impact. There are a couple of options:
You can pick up a car in Johannesburg, drive to Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, drive to your next destination or back to Johannesburg to hand in the car again at the airport.
You could fly to Upington, pick up a car, drive to Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, drive to your next destination or hand in the car in Upington and fly back to Johannesburg.
You could fly to Upington, pick up a car, drive to Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, drive to your next destination or back to Johannesburg to hand in the car again at the airport.
We decided to go with this last option in this itinerary as driving both ways would mean we needed to limit the days in the parks and that’s the whole reason we were going. While this last option meant we had to pay a one-way fee for the car, for option 2 you need to consider the cost of the flight back to Johannesburg. And potentially staying overnight around the airport depending on the itinerary for the rest of your trip.
If you are driving to Kgalagadi; we were advised by several people not to take the route past Kuruman and Vryburg due to a lot of criminality and smashing of car windows. So the alternative is to drive via Kimberley but this will add another 1.5 hours to an already long drive. So you will need to consider at least 2 days when driving. We decided to drive via Kimberley we cancelled our last night in Kgalagadi and booked a night in the Protea hotel in Upington and booked an overnight stay in Rustenburg (close to Pretoria).
If you’re flying: there are limited flights (either 1 or 2x a day) going from O.R. Tambo to Upington so you might need to stay overnight around the airport to take the early morning flight so you might have trouble finding a good flight connection that still gives you enough time to drive to the park or only allows you to stay in Twee Rivieren. And while this saves a lot of time, the flight can be quite expensive (€328/$385/£280 for us both)
Day 1 - Flight from O.R. Tambo International Airport to Upington Airport + Pickup rental car // Drive to Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park // Stay at Mata-Mata Campsite
// ROUTE: 117KM AND 2.30 HOURS on paper // our route - left 15.00 and arrived 19.00 - 130km
In the morning, we took the first shuttle from Protea O.R Tambo to the airport. As the flight is only 1.5 hours and the Upington Airport is so small, we were standing outside by 9. Here, we were met by the car rental company Bushlore. In the depot, you generally get quite an elaborate explanation of the car, as we were having the handover at the airport this was a bit quicker.
If you’ve read our Kgalagadi Guide, you know we advise stocking up on groceries before heading to the park (the first time we learned the hard way when we did not). So from the airport, we went to the Kalahari Mall (8 min drive) where you have a Superspar and a lot of other stores in case you need it. All in all, it did take us about 1.5 hours to shop and load up the car. Next was filling up the car and then it was time to go.
Bit the first leg was quite short, as we had ordered meat from the Kalahari Guesthouse. This is a farm, guesthouse and farm shop located about 50km outside of Upington on the way to Askham. The great thing is that they package it all up and freeze it for you. So if you put it at the bottom of the fridge it will stay frozen quite long if you don’t open the fridge too often.
The meat was great and the droe wors was gone very quickly ;). If you want to order from you can find them on Facebook or email them via
kalahariguesthouse@webmail.co.za
After that, it was another 2 hours to Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park. But due to Covid, the check-in took a bit longer (we arrived at 14.00) and with the compressor not working at the filling station (we were able to get our tires deflated with the maintenance team) we drove out of Twee Rivieren at 15.00.
This was a little bit later than we had hoped as we still had to drive to Mata-Mata. In the end, with all the game viewing and slight delays because of water on the roads (especially between 13th and 14th borehole where there was no option to drive around it), we arrived just before 19.00.
MATA-MATA
Location: Mata-Mata camp is about 2.5 hours from Twee Rivieren and is on the dry Auob riverbed on the western boundary of the Park. Just a couple of km from this camp you have the Kalahari Tented Camp. In Mata-Mata, you have the border crossing with Namibia, which makes it a great first or last night stay upon entry from or to Namibia.
General: This is the smallest of the traditional camps and has 15 chalets and a campsite with 20 spots with electrical points.
Where to eat: The camp is self-catering and only has a shop
Facilities: Swimming pool, filling station, bird hide at the waterhole, electricity from 05:00-23:00 and border to Namibia (Update May 2022: the border is still not open at Mata-Mata and it is unclear when it will open)
Cost: At the time of writing; the cost ranges from R400 for a campsite without power with power, and R1300 for a cottage and from R2200 for a riverfront chalet. These prices are based on 2 people staying in the accommodation, each additional adult and child increases the price. For this trip, we paid R342 for a campsite.
Day 2 - Mata-Mata Campsite to Twee Rivieren Campsite
// ROUTE: 117KM AND 2.30 HOURS on paper // our route - left 7.15 and arrived 17.00 - 180km
We always try to leave as early as possible, so we set our alarm for 06.00. But as this had been our first night we struggled a bit with taking the tent down and it took us a bit longer to get started and get everything organised. In the end, we left at 7.15.
THE ROUTE
There’s only one way to go from Mata-Mata to Twee Rivieren when leaving the camp. There are loops towards the waterholes like at the 13th and 14th borehole but these roads were even more covered in water than the main road so we just kept to the main roads.
On the main road, we saw gemsbok, jackal and red hartebeest. We also saw our first cheetahs just before Kamqua, but they were quite far away as they were walking over the dune.
We had a quick bathroom break at Kamqua Picnic spot. We also planned to have our breakfast here, but as we arrived around 10.00 every picnic spot was taken (as we were not the only ones with the idea to have breakfast) so we quickly grabbed our breakfast and drove on.
After Kamqua we stayed on the main road as we knew we would be able to take the dune road later on, and spotted a giraffe behind the dune. Not much later we also saw our first lions sleeping on the side of the road (close to Kamfersboom).
We arrived at Twee Rivieren around 15.00 and decided to not go to the campsite just yet but take the road to Nossob. But we only drove to Rooiputs waterhole and then turned back again.
Twee Rivieren
Location: Twee Rivieren camp is on the dry Nossob riverbed and is right next to the Twee Rivieren entrance gate, which is the gate you will arrive at when in South Africa. This makes it a great first night stay upon entry to the park but because of this, it is also the busiest camp.
General: It is the administrative centre and biggest rest camp with 31 air-conditioned chalets that have a small patio with tables, chairs and braai facilities. There is also a campsite with 24 spots with electrical points and 6 without
Where to eat: This camp is the only one that has a restaurant and a small takeaway. There is also a shop, which is the best-stocked one in the park
Facilities: Swimming pool, filling station (closed between 13-14.00), 24 hrs electricity, cell phone reception, laundry and border control
Cost: The cost ranges from R335 for a campsite without power (with power +R65), to R1425 to R2200 for family cottages and R2200 for a Family chalet. Prices are based on 2 or 4 people staying in the accommodation, each additional adult and child increases the price. For this trip, we paid R342 for a campsite.
Day 3 - Twee Rivieren Campsite to Nossob Camp
// ROUTE: 160KM AND 3.30 HOURS on paper // our route - left 6.45 and arrived 17.30 - 237km
On our first trip to Kgalagadi, we had to cancel our night in Nossob and did not get any further than Kij Kij. So we were really looking forward to this day and made sure we left at 6.45.
tHE ROUTE
It was a quiet morning on the main road until we spotted 4 cheetahs (mom and 3 cubs) on the left side of the road just before Kij Kij. We spend the next 30 minutes with them and it was amazing to see how serious mom was while the cubs did not seem to care too much as they were more interested in playing. Once they had crossed the road, we had lost them a couple of times in the high grass but in the end, saw them going over the dune.
The picnic spots are located perfectly spaced along the road to Nossob to have breakfast at Melkvlei and lunch at Dikbaardskolk. But before we left I had said to Sam ‘You will not get me out of the car at one of these unfenced picnic spots in Kgalagadi’. I had seen too many pictures of lions lying in the shade behind the bathrooms at Melkvlei (In case you don’t know the story about the Melkvlei have a look at the below video)
So the first 2 days I did not get out at any of the picnic spots between Twee Rivieren and Mata-Mata unless Sam would drop me off in front of the bathrooms. On day 3 our first stop was ... Melkvlei. And I was amazed to see all these people walking around, crossing the road and making breakfast (as in cooking sausages and bacon on a braai).
We parked on the other side of the road (when coming from Twee Rivieren you have picnic spots and the bathroom on the left-hand side and more picnic spots on the right-hand side of the road) and I only opened my door a bit. That was enough for me.
From Melkvlei onwards it was a quiet afternoon and besides gemsbok, we did not see anything else. This was definitely impacted by the long grass and because some parts of the road to Nossob have high banks, making it difficult to spot anything.
We arrived at Nossob at 14.15, checked into our Chalet, bought some cool drinks and ordered our braai broodjies for dinner (definitely recommend these, they tasted great) and then decided to drive up north as we were going back south again the next day. We drove as far as Bedinkt but did not see anything so we were back in camp at 17.30.
Our chalet was facing the fence and even though we did not see anything, it was a great spot to sit and enjoy the braai and a glas of wine and watch the sun go down.
NOSSOB
Location: Nossob is about 3.5 hours from Twee Rivieren and from there it's another 3 hours to Unions End. So it's a great location to explore both towards the north and the south. At Nossob you also have the 1-way 4x4 trail to Bitterpan (you can only use this if you're staying at Bitterpan) and from here you can cross over to the Botswana side.
General: This camp is slightly larger than Mata-Mata with 18 chalets and a campsite with 20 spots with electrical points.
Where to eat: The camp is self-catering and only has a shop
Facilities: Swimming pool, filling station, bird hide at the waterhole, electricity from 05:00-23:00, predator information centre and laundry
Cost: The cost ranges from R400 for a campsite with the use of the general ablutions and R715 for a site with private ablutions. And from R1300 for a Chalet to R2200 for family chalets and R2200 to R3375 for a riverfront chalet. Prices are based on 2 or 4 people staying in the accommodation, each additional adult and child increases the price. For this trip, we paid R1235 for a chalet.
Day 4 - Nossob Camp to Kieliekrankie Wilderness Camp
// ROUTE: 150KM AND 3.00 HOURS on paper // our route - left 6.50 and arrived 16.00 - 218km
We had another early morning start but as we did not have to pack up the tent we had some time to have a coffee while watching the sun come up. We left Nossob at 6.50 and travelled back the same way we came as we were going to spend the night at Kieliekrankie.
tHE ROUTE
We had a little bit more luck then on our way from Nossob to Dikbaardskolk and spotted a jackal, lots of ostriches with chicks, springbok and gemsbok, and a smaller herd of red hartebeest. As the route was reversed, so were our stops so we had our breakfast at Dikbaardskolk. As there were a lot of people walking around again (which gives you a false sense of safety), I did step out of the car to sit at one of the picnic spots. But that was till someone yelled at us that they had spotted a puff adder underneath the tree next to the bench. So we drove to another spot and I had breakfast close to the car.
After Dikbaardskolk we were in for an exciting afternoon. It started with a sighting of 2 cheetahs at Kameelsleep. They first sat underneath the tree behind the waterhole before walking over very slowly, constantly standing still and looking around. One of them stood on watch while the other one drank (the first image in this blog is from one of these cheetahs taking a sip at the waterhole). Then they came straight towards us and crossed the road behind the car before going over the dune.
From there we saw a large herd of gemsbok at Jan se draai, spotted a couple of jackals and witnessed our first ostrich fight. We were not sure what was going but we saw a mom and dad with 12 chicks, who were sitting on the road, and they were being attacked by another male and female. Upon a little research, it seems ‘normal’ ostrich behaviour that when 2 different families meet, they challenge each other. If one of the families is very submissive, the other family takes over the chicks so they have a larger family and their own chicks are better protected from being eaten.
So it was already an exciting day, but it became even better when we spotted 4 lions sleeping underneath a tree just before Kransbrak and came across the same 4 cheetahs again close to Kij Kij. We spend over half an hour with them while they were walking around until we lost them in the long grass.
Because of Kieliekrankies’ secluded location between the dunes, you have an amazing view that you can enjoy from the deck (which is also overlooking a waterhole) we aimed to arrive early. So after we had lost the cheetah’s we did a quick stop for supplies at Twee Rivieren and then drove to Kieliekrankie and arrived around 16.00.
Unfortunately, it was quite windy and we could not get our fire going, but it was great to sit on the deck, watch the waterhole and watch the sun go down.
Kieliekrankie
Location: Kieliekrankie is located on one of the highest dunes in the Kalahari on the lower done road. You can reach it from Twee Rivieren in about 1 hour. The camp has its own road, which you are only allowed to enter when staying overnight.
General: This camp is not fenced but there is always an armed ranger on-site and the camp is on stilts. There are 4 units with a maximum of 2 people per chalet. So the number of people per night can not exceed 8 people per camp to keep it exclusive and quiet. The chalets overlook a waterhole. Power is through solar power and gas so there are no conventional plugs
Where to eat: The camp is self-catering and each unit has its own kitchen and is fully equipped with cooking utensils, cutlery and a fridge/ freezer. You also have a deck with braai. But you must take your own wood and drinking water as there are no shops
Cost: The cost is R2125 based on 2 people staying in the accommodation. For this trip, we paid R2018 for a chalet.
Day 5 - Kieliekrankie Wilderness Camp to Kalahari Tented Camp
// ROUTE: 82KM AND 1.30 HOURS on paper // our route - left 8.40 and arrived 19.00 - 225km
We had stayed up quite late to watch the waterhole and got up around 05.00 to watch the sun come up. As we only need to go to Kalahari Tented Camp, we decided to take it easy and have breakfast on the deck. We left Kieliekrankie at 8.40 and took the lower dune road towards the road to Nossob.
tHE ROUTE
The first part of the lower dune route was quiet with only a steenbok in the first hour. But the second part brought a bit more excitement with an ostrich family. When they saw us mom ran into the grass, shortly followed by dad but they failed to see the chics had not followed them and were still running on the road. Luckily dad realised it just time and got all the chicks in the grass before another car came rushing down the corner.
Because it was so quiet we were already at Dikbaardskolk before 12.00. We continued to the upper dune road, where we had a slightly nerve-wrecking encounter with a small herd of red hartebeest. When we came across another small herd earlier in the week and we had already noticed how they can go a little bit crazy and start running from one side of the road to the other. So we kept some distance while they were having a drink at one of the puddles on the road. But again, from nowhere they all started running from one side of the road to the other. After a while, we thought they had run off but all of a sudden they were right in front of the car. Luckily we were driving very slowly and nothing happened but it was a good lesson to give red hartebeest enough space.
After the upper dune road, we followed the road to Mata-Mata to check in for Kalahari Tented Camp. In the meantime, it had started raining and we did not see much until we spotted a cheetah in the high grass close to 13th boorgat. But 1 became 2, and 2 became 3 (mom and 2 cubs). We spend about 90 minutes with them while they were sitting up and laying down again while watching a herd of wildebeest in the distance. By that time many other cars had already come and gone but had the time so we decided to keep waiting.
And it proved to be worth the wait. All of a sudden the wildebeest stood up, formed a line and started to come closer. So mom decided to walk off and crossed the road, but the 2 cubs were having none of it. When the herd of wildebeest started running they started to charge and mom came running again. Unfortunately, we lost then as they went over a hill. We tried to follow them to see if the 2 cubs caught something but the hill was too high and we could not see them anymore. So we turned around and went on our way to Mata-Mata again.
But to our surprise, mom was sitting on the road catching her breath. The 2 cubs had already walked ahead and were followed by all the cars so we had mom all to ourselves (see the image below). We followed her while she went after her cubs and they disappeared, once again, over the dunes.
After checking in at Mata-Mata we arrived at Kalahari Tented Camp at 19.00. By that time it rained so hard that we did not even see the waterhole from our dec so we cooked and ate inside the separated kitchen tent.
THE CAMP - Kalahari Tented Camp
Location: This camp is only a couple of km from Mata-Mata (this is where you need to get your supplies and fuel) and is about 2.5 hours from Twee Rivieren and is on the dry Auob riverbed on the western boundary of the Park. The camp has it’s own road, which you are only allowed to enter when staying overnight.
General: This camp is not fenced but there is always has an armed ranger on site. While this is classified as one of the wilderness camps, it's much larger and has 15 desert tents on stilts (including family tents and a honeymoon tent).
Where to eat: Use the braai on your deck or use the fully equipped with cooking utensils, cutlery and fridge/ freezer. You must take your own wood and drinking water as there are no shops
Facilities: Swimming pool
Cost: The cost ranges from R2090 for the standard tents and R2370 for the honeymoon tent. For this trip, we paid R1985 for a chalet.
Day 6 - Kalahari Tented Camp to Twee Rivieren Gate
// ROUTE: 110KM AND 2.20 HOURS on paper // our route - left camp 6.35 and left twee rivieren 11.00 - 130km
And our last day in Kgalagadi had arrived. We left Kalahari Tented Camp at 6.30 as we not only had to drive to Twee Rivieren but we also had to stock up for the second part of our trip.
tHE ROUTE
Well, only 1 way to go and that was towards Twee Rivieren. We had calculated how much time we had for game viewing and it wasn’t much as we were very aware that we still had to drive to Upington. But when you come across the same 3 cheetahs again, you can not do much else but stop and watch. And again, we were not disappointed.
They were on the hunt again and were coming towards us on the road. The long road provided great cover for them to come upwind from 2 springbok. Once they made sure they were in the right spot the cheetah’s also disappeared in the long grass waiting till the springboks had come alongside them. They were almost on the same line, but one of the cubs was too impatient and popped its head above the grass. Instantly the springboks had spotted them and ran off. Another failed hunt for the cubs but an amazing sighting for us.
The rest of the morning was quiet besides the 5 giraffes we spotted close to 13th boorgat. And after a last picture of the Kgalagadi sign, it was time to say goodbye. Hopefully, it will not take another 6 years before we can come back.
From Twee Rivieren Gate we drove back to Upington in about 2.30 hours. Here we stocked up at the same supermarket for the second part of our trip and stayed at Protea Upington.
AND THERE YOU HAVE IT...
… our 5-night self-drive itinerary Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park.
Want to know more about going on safari? Keep on reading the following blogs:
If you don't want to miss any of our upcoming posts you can sign up below and you'll get them straight in your inbox.
If you're on Pinterest you can save this post for later.
you’ll also love
Looking for something?
our recent posts
shop our favourites
FOLLOW US ON INSTAGRAM
@traveltaale
Leave a Reply
and if you enjoyed this blog, found it useful & think it could help others, use the icons below to share on social media and spread the love
