Self-drive safari Guide to Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park
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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.
With its red sand dunes and sparse vegetation, it's a completely different world to Kruger or Etosha National Park. The 2 rivers, the Nossob (meaning 'dark clay') and Auob (meaning 'bitter water'), are believed to only flow after heavy rain and fill about once every century, which is why you won't see herds of elephants and buffalo or rhino's roaming around. But while you can't see the big 5 here, the Kgalagadi is home to a large number of predators (19 different species). According to the latest estimates, there are 450 lions, 150 leopards, 250 cheetahs, 600 brown hyenas and 375 spotted hyenas. But it also has a large population of birds (215 species), reptiles, rodents, small mammals and antelopes.
In this post, we will give you all the information you need to organise your own self-drive safari to the South African part of Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park. From when to visit, how to plan your stay and booking your accommodation to what to expect from the moment you enter the park based on our visit to Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park.
Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park Sign
How to get to Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park?
Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park is in the north of South Africa, on the border with Namibia and Botswana and Twee Rivieren Gate is about 1076km from Cape Town (about 11 hours) and 950km (about 10 hours) from Johannesburg. This gate will give you access to the south side of the park and is often used as the first or last stop when visiting Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park.
If you want to exit the park from another gate then you one you used to enter, you also have to go to Twee Rivieren because of the immigration controls.
When you're travelling from Johannesburg, you can either drive to Upington and take the tarred road up north or take the gravel road from Kuruman (via Hotazel and Vanzylrus). As we flew to Upington we have not taken this road but we have read a lot of warnings about the road between VanZylsrus and Askham as the corrugation can be very bad. As well as the high levels of crime in Vryburg and Kuruman and a lot of people choose to take the longer route via Kimberley (we will be driving this road in March ‘22 and will update the blog based on our experience).
The closest city to Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park in Sout Africa is Upington, which has its own airport and is a 1.5-hour flight from Johannesburg and Cape Town. While this saves a lot of time, the flight was quite expensive (€328/$385/£280 for us both) and the frequency is not high, so you might have trouble finding a good flight connection that still gives you enough time to drive to the park. But if this is the right choice, you will need to consider the cost of adding 2 to 4 additional days to your car hire, gas or possibly a one-way fee.
Besides this, we have made the mistake in the past to drive too long distances in a short amount of time so if we can take a national flight to cut down driving time for a part where would not make a stop anyway we will try to do this.
There are several rental car companies here like Hertz and Budget but also several 4x4 rental companies like:
We have not used any of these ourselves so can not speak from personal experience.
From the airport in Upington, it is 250km to Twee Rivieren. To get there you need to take the R360 towards Askham, which is a tarred road. When we drove there, the road was good, there were hardly any cars there but you need to watch out for the huge mine trucks as they throw up rocks that can crack your window.
You can also enter the park through any of the 4 other gates. When coming from Namibia you can enter through the Mata-Mata gate, from Botswana through the Two Rivers, Mabuasehube and Kaa gates.
The gates have different open and close times per month (between 5.30-7.30 & 18.00- 19.30) and are based on the times for sunrise and sunset. Unless you're entering through Twee Rivieren and staying overnight, make sure you have enough time to get to the camp.
What is the best time to visit Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park?
You can visit South Africa and this park throughout the year and each season will have its own charm so it depends on what you're looking for. The best period for game viewing is during the dry season where the animals will need to go to the waterholes to drink and the bushes are less lush so it’s easier to spot them.
The rains are between January and April. When there has been enough rain the park looks completely different with its green grass. But this also makes sightings a bit more tricky. The temperatures start to drop from February and nights can be cool (it can even start to freeze at night from April).
Between May and August, you have the coolest temperatures (below 30C) and nighttime temperatures are often around or below freezing. But due to these temperatures, the sightings are good.
September and October are the last months before the rainy season and this makes it very dusty but also brings the animals to the waterholes.
The temperature rises in November and December and often is above 40C. Animals are on the move during the night and when it is cool in the morning, but are often find laying on the road or underneath trees as soon as it gets warm. This is also the start of the rainy season with thunderstorms. And December and January are also the peak season due to school holidays.
We did our self-drive safari in December and it can get very hot, making it difficult to sleep at night while you're camping but also in the chalets or cabins as not all accommodation types have airconditioning or only till a certain time as not all camps have 24h electricity.
How to plan your stay in Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park?
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.
Distances in Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park
Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park 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. So you always need to consider the distances in between the camps, especially when you want to visit both the north and southern area.
From twee Rivieren, there are 2 roads following the dry riverbeds towards Mata-Mata and Nossob with 4x4 trails linking the roads or providing loops. Some of the 4x4 trails are only 1 way, are only for overnight stays in a certain camp or need to be booked in advance (Nossob 4x4 trail).
Camp Distances from Twee Rivieren
Kieliekrankie -1 hours
Urikaruus - 2 hours
Kalahari Tent Camp - 3 hours
Mata Mata - 3 hours
Nossob - 4 hours
Bitterpan - 6 hours (only accessible through 1 way 4x4 trail from Nossob for an overnight stay in Bitterpan)
Grootkolk - 7 hours
Gharagab - Not possible in one day
Camp Distances from Nossob
Twee Rivieren - 4 hours
Bitterpan - 2.5 hours (only accessible through 1 way 4x4 trail from Nossob for an overnight stay in Bitterpan)
Grootkolk - 2.5 hours
Gharagab - 3.5 hours (to entrance road which is 4x4 only trail for an overnight stay in Gharagab )
Camp Distances from Mata-Mata
Kalahari Tent Camp - 4km
Bitterpan - 2 hours (only 4x4 trail for an overnight stay in Bitterpan)
Twee Rivieren - 3 hours
Gates in Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park
You can enter the park from 5 entrance gates. The only one in South Africa is at Twee Rivieren. When coming from Namibia you can enter through the Mata-Mata gate and from Botswana you can enter through the Two Rivers (which practically lies next to Twee Rivieren, just on the other side of the border), Mabuasehube and Kaa gates.
When you enter and leave the park through the same gate you can cross borders without having to go to Twee Rivieren for immigration controls. But when entering and leaving from different gates you do have to get your passport checked and there is a required minimum stay of two nights stay in Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park in either South Africa or Botswana. When you want to go to Botswana you need to make arrangements with the Botswana Department of Wildlife and National Parks
When you enter the park at Twee Rivieren and don't have enough time to drive to one of the other camps you can stay at the Twee Rivieren camp. If you arrive early in the day, the camps Nossob, Mata-Mata, Kalahari Tent Camp, Kieliekrankie and Urikaruus are still reachable. If you have a couple of days you could work your way up to Mata-Mata, back towards Twee Rivieren and then up towards Nossob. If you have time left you can go to Unions End. This is 3 hours from Nossob and you can stay in Grootkolk or Gharagab (this camp is not possible in one day from Twee Rivieren)
If you're coming from Namibia and entering through the Mata-Mate gate and don't have enough time to drive to one of the other camps you can stay at Mata-Mata or Kalahari Tent Camp. Bitterpan seems close by but isn't as it's only accessible through a 1-way 4x4 trail from Nossob for an overnight stay in Bitterpan. Other options can be Kieliekrankie, Urikaruus or Twee Rivieren. From Mata-Mata you can go south towards Twee Rivieren and then up towards Nossob or Unions End.
When going from camp to camp in Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park
In between camps
When you're travelling in between the camps try to leave as soon as the gates open as you will have the chance to see lions, cheetahs and leopards still walking around or at the waterholes instead of laying underneath (or in) the trees which they will do when it becomes warmer.
During the day, you can plan your viewing along the routes of the waterholes. Later in the day when it starts to cool down is also a great time to go past the waterholes. In the evening the waterholes at Mata Mata, Nossob (both have a hide), Bitterpan, Grootkolk, Kieliekrankie, Urikaruus, Gharagab and Kalahari Tent camps are great for viewing the game.
In the hot months, it can be great to have some time left to dip into one of the swimming pools at Twee Rivieren, Kalahari Tent camp, Mata Mata and Nossob.
How to booking your accommodation for Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park
You can book your accommodation at https://www.sanparks.org/parks/kgalagadi/. Here you can find general information about the parks as to how to get there, where to stay and what to do as well as booking your accommodation and activities for all parks that are part of San Parcs (which stands for South African National Parcs)
San Parcs is also the only way to book your accommodation (either online or via their reservation department) if you want to stay inside the park and you want to book it yourself. You can book 11 months ahead of time and if you're travelling in South Africa's holiday season you want to book as far ahead as possible.
To book your accommodation online you can (this is based on the new booking tool):
Search by month to see which accommodation is still free in a specific rest camp. This option is great for booking a campsite as it will clearly state if there are spots available. But when booking huts or bungalows, at first instance you will only see the abbreviation of the accommodation type. So if you're not familiar with the abbreviations then it might be hard to find what you're looking for without clicking back and forth.
You can also use the filters option where you can select the type of accommodation. But if you don't know the difference between a bungalow, hut or cottage I would suggest using the option to book by accommodation type.
When using the option by accommodation type you get an overview of all the types in the rest camp including the price and for how many people this accommodation type can be used. You can hover over the circle with the I to see an image of the accommodation or click the orange button at the bottom of the page to expand accommodation descriptions. You will need to click on the name of the accommodation to see if there is any availability.
When looking for the price be aware that the price you see might not be the price you pay. Confusing right? The prices are based on a base rate (the price you see in the overview) but this base rate is based on a number of people. Let's take the campsite at Letaba as an example.
The base rate for this campsite is R390 and as you can see underneath Base Rate (no. people) this is based on 2 people. However, underneath the Max (no. beds/people) you can see that you can stay on one campsite with 6 people. But for every extra adult (above 2) you need to pay an additional R100 on top of the R390.
Most accommodation has a base rate for 2 people but there are huts for 1 and cottages and guest houses are often have a base rate for more than 2 people.
To book your accommodation for more than 1 camp you select Add & Continue at the bottom of the page. Once you have added all your overnight stays you will need to create an account on the website to make the payment.
Availability
If you already have been looking at booking a trip to Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park you've probably come across the advice to book as far in advance as possible. The dry season is the best for game viewing and therefore also the busiest season with higher prices and less availability.
For our first trip, we booked in June for December and were not able to get Riverview chalets in both of the camps. For our second trip we booked in October for March and were the last one that were able to book 5 days in a row.
When doing a quick search when writing this post (halfway September) this was the availability I could find in Mata Mata:
October: 17 days fully booked and 14 almost full
November: 3 days fully booked and 12 almost full
December: 7 days fully booked and 9 almost full
January: 1 day fully booked and 4 almost full
February: 0 days fully booked and 6 almost full
March: 18 days fully booked and 9 almost full
April: 17 days fully booked and 10 almost full
May: 18 days fully booked and 13 almost full
June: 5 days fully booked and 8 almost full
July: 11 days fully booked and 4 almost full
August: 5 days fully booked and 7 almost full
Of course, this is in a period where there is still limited access to South Africa, Namibia and Botswana due to Covid and availability might look different when borders start to open again.
But what we have learned from our second trip, is that because of this limited availability a lot of people book several dates and cancel when they know when they’re going. So it pays off to book whatever you can get your hands on and then keep track of the website to can pick the cancellations. This helped us to go from 3 nights Twee Rivieren and 2 nights Kalahari Tented Camp to 2 nights Twee Rivieren, 1 night Nossob, 1 night Kieliekrankie and 1 night Kalahari Tented Camp.
Communal nests of Sociable Weaver birds in a camelthorn tree - Kgalagadi Transfrontier
Camps
There are 3 traditional camps, 6 wilderness camps and the !Xaus Lodge, which is the only luxury safari accommodation in the park.
The 3 main (and original) camps are Twee Rivieren, Mata-Mata and Nossob
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 up 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 R1635 for a chalet. Prices are based on 2 or 4 people staying in the accommodation, each additional adult and child increases the price.
Activities: Morning & sunset drives and guided morning walks.
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 this camp, 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 Feb 2022: the border is still not open at Mata-Mata and it is unclear when it will open)
Cost: The cost ranges from R400 for a campsite without power, to R1300 to R2200 for 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.
Activities: Morning, sunset and night drives
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 as 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.
Activities: Guided morning walk and sunset & night drives
The wilderness camps are truly just that, but while you would expect them to be cheaper due to the name, they aren't because they are the newest camps and they are much more exclusive.
For Bitterpan, Grootkolk, Kieliekrankie, Urikaruus, Gharagab:
Have 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
Are not fenced but there is always has an armed ranger on site.
You must take your own wood and drinking water as there are no shops
Power is through solar power and gas so there are no conventional plugs
Children under 12 years are not allowed at these camps
In regards to the cooking facilities:
Bitterpan: You don't have your own kitchen but you need to make use of the communal kitchen, which also has a braai area. The is fully equipped and has cooking utensils, cutlery and fridge/freezer.
Grootkolk, Kieliekrankie, Urikaruus, Gharagab: Each unit has its own kitchen, bathroom and bedroom and is fully equipped with cooking utensils, cutlery, linen and fridge/freezer.
Locations, Facilities & Cost:
Bitterpan lies in between Nossob and Mata-Mata and overlooks a pan with a raised viewing platform. This camp is only accessible via a 1-way 4x4 route from Nossob (where you also have to check-in). The Reed Cabins are R2125
Grootkolk is the most northerly camp and is about 20km from Union’s End. It has a waterhole that is lit at night and you have a braai in front of your cabin. The Desert Cabins are R2125
Kieliekrankie is located on one of the highest dunes in the Kalahari and the chalets overlook a waterhole. You have a small deck with braai. Check-in is at Twee Rivieren or Mata-Mata. The Dune Cabins are R2125
Urikaruus also overlooks a waterhole in a river bed and is located in between Twee Rivieren and Mata-Mata. You have a small deck with braai and the chalets are built on stilts and are linked by a raised boardwalk. Check-in is at Twee Rivieren or Mata-Mata. The Riverside Cabins are R2125 and the Honeymoon Riverside Cabin is R2370.
Gharagab is 20km to Grootkolk in the north of the park. This camp is only accessible via a 1-way 4x4 route. The chalets are quite special as they are made from a combination of wood, cane and canvas and you have a small deck with braai. Be sure to bring your own water as the water is too salty to cook with. The Log Cabins are R2125
View from Twee Rivieren Camp - Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park
Kalahari Tented Camp
Kalahari Tented Camp is only a couple of km from Mata-Mata camp (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. 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). There is a swimming pool and the tents have a deck with a braai. The cost ranges from R2090 for the standard tents and R2370 for the honeymoon tent. Guided morning and sunset drives can be arranged from here.
What to expect when you're in Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park?
Entering Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park
You can enter the park through one of the 5 gates that all give access to different parts of Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park. At the reception, you will need to sign in and acknowledge the rules and pay your entrance/conservation fee.
The fee will depend on how many days you're staying and if you're a:
South African Citizens or Residents
SADC Nationals
International Visitors
These fees can add up quite a bit and do change from year to year. I did a quick check to see how much the day rate had actually changed over the years for an international visitor:
On our trip (2016) we paid R304 per person
At the time of writing in September 2021, it is R404 per person
So be sure to check the website of Sanparkcs for up to date information. You don't need to pay a fee when you have a Wild Card. The Wild Card gives you access to 80+ national parks in Southern Africa (so this is not just San Parks parks). But before buying a Wild Card, you need to make sure the fee actually makes sense. Just count how many days you’ll be in the parks and compare the cost of paying for each day individually vs. the Wild Card fee.
Next to the conservation fee, you will also need to pay a community fund of 1% that will be added to the cost of all accommodation and activities.
Rules in Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park
There are a couple of rules you need to follow when you're in the park. These have mostly to do with safety for yourself as well as the animals. So some of the rules are:
You need to stay in your car. Unless you're in an area that has signs that say you are allowed to leave the car like the picnic spots or toilets. There are two designated picnic spots between Twee Rivieren and Nossob and two between Twee Rivieren and Mata-Mate with flushing toilets and running water. But beware at the toilets, we were warned by other visitors that the animals like to use these facilities as well for the water. Just watch this video of lions in the showers.
You need to keep to the speed limit of 50km/h (We'll go into driving in Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park a bit more below)
You can not drive through the park before sunset or after sunrise
You're not allowed to go off-road for better game viewing
You're not allowed to feed the animals. This sounds logical but on our last trip to Kruger National Park, we noticed that hyenas are being fed and are now walking the perimeter of the camp searching for scraps. The SANParks website also warns for hyenas at Kalahari Tented camp (which is unfenced). Feeding them can make them more aggressive towards people.
You can not use your drone as it will disturb the animals
Give the animals their space when walking alongside the road or when they want to cross.
Take your litter with you
You can not take wood from the park to use as firewood. Trees grow very slowly so you will need to bring your own.
do you need a 4x4 for Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park?
There are no tarred roads inside Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park but 2 main roads alongside the dry riverbeds of the Nossob and Auob. The conditions can be quite rough so expect some bouncing around due to the deep ruts while other roads are so sandy that you can easily get stuck.
When we stayed at the park the advice from Sanparcs was to have a car with high clearance (the PDF on the website is from 2016 and still says the same). However, the advice on the website is 'to have a 4x4 with high ground clearance and low range capabilities and that the roads are not sedan friendly as sedan vehicles find it difficult to cope with the road conditions and that some roads might not be accessible when wet'.
When doing our research for this post, we came across a large number of articles saying that a sedan is fine to get to the traditional camps but we could not agree more with the updated advice from Sanparks. The roads might be ok, but from talking to visitors who stayed longer we understood that the conditions change from week to week depending on the weather and number of cars in the park.
During our stay, the roads were really bad and even though we deflated our tire pressure to 1.6 bar we still got stuck in the sand on our way to Mata-Mata after a sedan in front of us got stuck in the middle of the road. We had to get towed and were advised not to go to Nossob as that road was even worse.
Be sure to check your tires often as the condition on the roads is tough on your tires. So you need to bring tools to change the tires and a compressor to fill up your tyre pressure (The 3 main camps are the only place where you can inflate them again if you don't bring your own compressor). Just remember that when you have a puncture or are stuck, you're not supposed to get out of your car.
Be aware of the distances within the park as besides that there are speed limits (50km/h on the roads and 20km/h in the camps) often you will drive slower to see as much game as possible, because there's a lion on the road or just to make sure you won't hit anything that jumps on the road from one of the bushes, so you need to consider the camp closing times.
Besides that, general road rules apply. You need to stay on the road, so no driving off to see an animal better, you can not drive after dark and animals always go first when crossing the roads.
Are there elephants in Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park?
A question we see often is are there elephants in Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park. Kgalagadi is a completely different world to Kruger or Etosha National Park. The 2 rivers, the Nossob and Auob, are believed to only flow after heavy rain and fill about once every century, which is why you won't see herds of elephants and buffalo or rhinos roaming around. But while you can't see the big 5 here, the Kgalagadi is home to a large number of predators (19 different species).
According to the latest estimates, there are 450 lions, 150 leopards, 250 cheetahs, 600 brown hyenas and 375 spotted hyenas. But it also has a large population of birds (215 species), reptiles, rodents, small mammals and antelopes.
Facilities in Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park
Twee Rivieren is the only camp that has a restaurant and a small takeaway. It's open from 7.30 to 10.00 (this was before covid, currently they are not open for breakfast) & 18 to 21.00. They serve basic meals but we have not eaten at the restaurant so we can't share any personal experience with this.
The shops are in Twee Rivieren, Nossob and Mata Mata. They are open from 7.30 to just after gate closing time and have limited stock. Especially when you've been in Kruger National Park, these shops have things like water, soda, beer, wine, snacks, cookies, ice cream, canned fruit and vegetables and some souvenirs. So be sure to stock up before you enter the park. SANParks even advises having an extra 10 litres for emergencies in your vehicle.
There are no credit/debit card facilities at any of the shops, except for Twee Rivieren, which also has an ATM. However, all cards, credit and debit cards are accepted as a form of payment for fuel. But still bring enough money as the card machines don’t always work.
There are fuel stations in Twee Rivieren, Nossob and Mata Mata that have petrol (Unleaded) and diesel. But the same applies here as with the food, fill up your tank close to the park (in Upington if arriving in Twee Rivieren). Within the park, you know where the next possibility is to fill up but we've heard that they don't always have gas available or need to limit how much you can take. We were warned by other visitors that if temperatures are too hot the fuel starts to evaporate which automatically closes off the system. Fortunately, we have not run into this ourselves but we've always stuck to filling up when possible, even within the game reserves.
Activities: from the reception, you can book morning and sunset drives in 20-seater open vehicles from Twee Rivieren, Nossob, Mata-Mata and the Kalahari Tented Camp. We have not done them ourselves and have also not seen any of them driving around during our stay, but have read good reviews about them. There are also walking trails and 4x4 trails. One of the 4x4 trails is guided, the Nossob 4x4 Eco-Trail and needs to be booked in advance. Other trails, like Leeuwdril 4x4 is not guided but does need to be booked.
How to prepare and what to take with you when visiting Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park?
Count for some early mornings and nights. We always love to get up early when it's not that warm yet and the animals are on the go and the light is beautiful. And we tend to be in camp around 5 to still have some daylight to set up camp and start cooking.
The park has a low risk for malaria. But be sure to check with your doctor for precautionary measures and updated information.
Bring insect repellent and change into long sleeves when it gets dark and always pay attention when opening and closing the tent and the car door, just to be sure.
Ensure that your fireplace or braai is out before sleeping or leaving. Because it's so dry there is always a high risk of fire.
The days during the summer months can get very hot so bring airy clothes, sunglasses, sun protection and a hat. The nights can get quite cold (freezing in some of the months as m mentioned above) so be sure to bring layers or a jacket/fleece for the evenings and warm gear for sleeping. But as it's so dry we would also advise bringing hand cream, body lotion and face cream because your skin will become really dry.
If you're camping you want to bring a torch (and wear shoes) as it can be quite dark in the camps and you never know what might be crawling on the ground as there are scorpions in the park.
South Africa has their own type of plug so your international power plug might not work here (at least we have not found one that does).
We have mentioned it in the blog but just to be sure: fill up your tank and get your shopping (including water and firewood) done before entering the park. Not all camps (the wilderness camps) have water and the ones that do are not necessarily for drinking. Kalahari Shopping Mall is 7min from Upington airport with a Superspar and a checkers
There is limited electricity. In some camps, the electricity goes off at 22.00 and the only campsites with power points are in Twee Rivieren, Mata Mata and Nossob. Sometimes they have issues with the generator which impacts the shops. Be aware of this when booking as you need to specifically book a site with power in Twee Rivieren.
I was quite happy with my pictures that were taken with our Canon EOS1100D with an EF-S 18-55 mm f/3.5-5.6 III Lens, but after our Etosha trip where we had our new Sigma 18-300mm F3.5-6.3 Macro lens, you can clearly see the difference. So I would advise having a lens with at least 300mm for great photographs. These can still fit into a small camera bag without having to have a separate backpack.
Deflate your tires to 1.6 bar when you enter the park to limit your chances of getting stuck in the sand
AND THERE YOU HAVE IT...
..our Ultimate guide: Self-drive safari Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park. We hope you enjoyed it and if you have any questions just leave your comments below. And if you are planning your own trip let us know below what your itinerary is.
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