Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park

Africa'S First Formally Declared Transfrontier Park, Where The Fence With Botswana Came Down In 2000 To Leave Nearly Forty Thousand Square Kilometres Of Red Dune And Dry Riverbed Open To The Game Black Maned Kalahari Lions, Cheetah On The Nossob Road, Gemsbok On The Dune Crests, Raptors On Every Camelthorn, And Some Of The Darkest Skies Anywhere In Southern Africa · Askham, Northern Cape

In 2000 South Africa and Botswana took down the fence between their two Kalahari reserves and created Africa's first formally declared transfrontier park - nearly forty thousand square kilometres of red dune and dry riverbed with no internal boundary for the animals. What you drive are the beds of the Auob and Nossob rivers, which flow perhaps twice in a century, with boreholes along them that pull the game in. The appeal is not density but quality and space: black-maned Kalahari lions that look like nothing else, cheetah hunting on open pans, gemsbok standing on dune crests against a sky that is a particular hard blue, raptors on every camelthorn tree, and meerkats. At night the sky is as dark as anywhere in southern Africa. It is malaria-free and it is remote - two hundred and fifty kilometres of road from Upington to the gate, limited fuel and supplies, and camps that must be booked months in advance.

In the red dunes of the southern Kalahari at the Botswana and Namibia borders, entered at Twee Rivieren 250 km north of Upington, Askham, Northern Cape, South Africa

Gates and camp gates open at first light and close at dusk with times that move through the year, and in a park this empty they are enforced strictly - get them at Twee Rivieren and plan your day's driving around them, because the distances are long. Entry is the SANParks conservation fee or a Wild Card; crossing into the BOTSWANA side needs a passport and the dune roads there REQUIRE A 4x4 AND USUALLY TWO VEHICLES, so treat that as a separate expedition. A 4x4 is strongly preferred on the South African side too and essential beyond the main riverbed roads. FUEL AND SUPPLIES ARE LIMITED - fill up at Upington and again at Twee Rivieren. The wilderness camps have no fence, no shop and no power to speak of. Book camps months ahead. Upington is 250 km south with the nearest airport.

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