I have recently returned from a trip to one of South Africa's less known but equally rewarding National Parks, Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park. KTP is a very large park, about twice the size of Wales, and is situated in the arid north west of South Africa in the southern section of the Khalahari Desert. It is a Transfrontier Park as the park straddles the border with Botswana. In fact, the largest area of the park is situated in Botswana, however this side of the park is less accessible than the South Africa side, requires 4x4 experience and only has camp sites requiring the need to carry camping equipment.
The South Africa side of the park is more easily worked. It has three main fenced camps and several unfenced wilderness camps. It is served by a small number of "decent" gravel and sand roads that are accessible by a normal 2 wheel drive car, although the use of an SUV type 4x4 is more desirable as the roads can be very rough.
I travelled with my wife Debbie who fortunately loves to be in remote, wild areas such as this park. The focus of the trip was very much on the mammals, and in particular the big cats of the park, with the aim of getting a few decent photos of the cats.
October 20th
We arrived at Newcastle Airport at 4am on a cold October morning. Our KLM flight was on time, giving us time for a bit of breakfast in Amsterdam, before connecting to our 11 hour long flight to Johannesburg. 11 hours in cattle class can be a bit tedious, but time passed with the help of Ipod, a couple of films, and a meal or two. We arrived slightly early at 9.15pm and after collecting the luggage picked up a Taxi outside the terminal building for the 5 minute ride to our hotel for the night, the Hotel Dom Suites. We hadn't had much sleep the previous night so were soon flat out, dreaming of what the trip may have in store over the coming two weeks.
21st October
We were up early at 6am. We spent a little time sorting out the gear, I was a bit concerned about the weight of my camera bag that I was taking as hand luggage on our short internal flight to Upington, the nearest town to the park It weighted just over 12kg, OK for the KLM flight, but South Africa Airlink had a limit of 8kg. I decided to hope for the best as I wasn't going to transfer any of the gear into our checked luggage, JNB baggage handlers don't have a good reputation.
A stood on the balcony outside as it was getting light. First bird of the trip soon followed - a Common Mynah
. I soon picked up a few other common birds including fly over Hadeda, Glossy and Sacred Ibis, Reed Cormorant and Grey Headed Gull. A Taxi was waiting as pre-arranged with the hotel and we were soon checked in for the flight. No-one bothered about my "hand luggage". I don't know why I worry. A pleasant 70 minute flight followed in a small 35 seater jet and we were soon landing at Upington. A large sign caught our eye as we entered the terminal building, "Welcome to the Khalahari", and boy was it hot! 38 deg to be exact.
We had the car sorted in minutes, a Hyundai Tucson, and we were soon on the road. We headed into town and spent the next 2 hours shopping. The park has small shops in the three main camps, but we had been warned that provisions would be limited. We bought everything we thought we would need, from food to fire wood, and water to beer and wine!
Once the car was packed, we headed north, 250km taking around 2 1/2 hours, arriving at the main camp Twee Revieren at about 4pm.
We checked in at the newly built reception building. This unusual building straddles the border with Botswana with the SA reception on the left and Botswana reception on the right. Once you were in the park there was no formal border between the two countries.
After unpacking the car, there was just time for a short drive, before gate closing time. You have to be back in camp by 6.30pm when the camp gates are closed.
From Twee Revieren (Two Rivers in Africaans) we headed north to the confluence of the two rivers, the Auob and Nossob, I say rivers, both are dry and only flow very rarely, the Auob averages every 11 years and the Nossob every 50 years. We headed up the Nossob as far as Leeudril waterhole. On this road we constantly crossed between SA and Botswana. You could tell which country you were in as the border was marked by white stones.
The first few mammals seen were as expected, the "general game animals" which here are Springbok, Gemsbok and Blue Wildebeest. Black Backed Jackal, Ground Squirrels and a brief Slender Mongoose were also seen on this short drive.
Our first Ostrich were seen. These proved to be extremely common, as did Pale Chanting Goshawk. A Tawny Eagle and Lanner were less common. Several Northern Black Korhaan, two Kori Bustard, numerous Crowned Plover and a flock of Namaqua Sandgrouse got the avian list off to a good start.
It was soon gate closing time, so we returned to the camp and had dinner in the restaurant. TR was the only camp we didn't have to cook so we made the most of it. We then spent a short time sat outside our room, listening to the thousands of Barking Geko's and looking and the millions of stars in the black sky.