Kgalagadi Botswana

Kgalagadi is Africa's first transfrontier park, the result of merging the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park in South Africa and the Gemsbok National Park in Botswana in 1999. The new park covers an area of approximately 38,000km2, with three quarters of the park lying in Botswana and the remaining quarter in South Africa.

With the park located mainly within the southern Kalahari Desert, it's only fitting that the word Kgalagadi means "land of thirst" . The dry riverbeds of the Nossob and Auob rivers attest to this, although, after large thunderstorms, these two rivers do flow for a short while. On these occasions, there is a massive celebration as wildlife flock to the riverbeds en masse.

The landscape is characterised by red sand dunes and sparse vegetation and is home to black-maned Kalahari lions, leopards, cheetah, spotted hyaena, wild dog, black-backed jackal, gemsbok, blue wildebeest, eland, springbok, red hartebeest, duiker and steenbok. Some 215 bird species have been recorded.

The area also has significant archaeological importance and traces of Stone Age human activity have been found.

On the South African side there are three lodges in the park, and they include amenities such as air conditioning and swimming pools. The park also contains six wilderness camps, but these camps only provide basics such as shelter and wash water, on the Botswana side there is only naturally blended wilderness camps available. Visitors to the wilderness camps must supply their own food, drinking water, and firewood.

For fuel and food only the three major camps of Twee Rivieren, Mata Mata and Nossob can supply these, the shop at Twee Rivieren is the largest, and although all these camps are on the South African side you are permited to access these if you have entered from the Botswana side. There are no shops of feul on the Botswana side of the park so stock up in Tsabong.
Water in the park is very salty, ok for washing but not good fror drinking, take water in with you.

click for larger scale map