matnikstym

<b>Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park</b>
September 12-23, 2008

Roundtrip Airfare from Hilo, Hawaii to Johannesburg- $2000.00 pp
Roundtrip Airfare from Johannesburg to Upington-$185.00 pp
4X4 Truck Rental for 12 days-$1600.00
11 Nights Lodging in Kgalagadi- $825.00
Park Fees- $0 (Still had my Wild Card from last year)
Gas- $340.00
Food- $300.00
Gin- $72.00
Total Miles Driven- 1,537
First EVER cheetah sighting- <b>PRICELESS!</b>

Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park is a large (14,668 square mile) park straddling the South Africa and Botswana borders in the Southern Kalahari Desert. Kgalagadi means “place of thirst” and the terrain is sandy with sparse vegetation. On the South Africa side there are 9 camps- 3 traditional camps and 6 wilderness (unfenced camps). The roads are sand or gravel, heavily corrugated, the skies are clear and the scenery is spectacular. The three traditional camps all have shops with mostly canned goods, ice, liquor and souvenirs and all have gas pumps-the only places to buy gas.

After last year’s self-drive trip through Kruger, I wanted something a little wilder and less crowded so I did some research through sanparks website and decided to go to Kgalagadi. Booked 4 nights in 2 traditional camps and 7 nights in 4 different wilderness camps.

<b>Hilo to Twee Rivieren:</b>
We left Hilo, flew to Honolulu then to San Francisco where we overnighted at the Clarion Airport Hotel. Pretty nice hotel, convenient to the airport and the lounge was opened until midnight, so had the first g &amp; t’s of the trip. Left in the next morning for JFK. The United plane was all economy plus so it was a comfortable trip across the country. My duffel and back pack weighed less than 20 pounds, so carried both of them on the plane with no problem. Landed on time and took the train thing to the South African Airlines gate and off we went. The flights were long but even in economy, I had plenty of legroom and a wide choice of movies to keep me entertained.

Arrived in Johannesburg, went through customs and boarded the shuttle for the Southern Sun hotel near the airport. We stayed there last year and though the price had gone up ($190.00) it was comfortable and convenient. Had a great steak dinner and some double g &amp; t’s ($40.00 for 2) and then off to sleep.

Got up early for our flight to Upington. The plane was a 29 seater, smooth hour and a half flight. Picked up the car (a 4X4 extend cab Nissan with a shell) and we drove into Upington to buy supplies for our 11 night stay. Found the grocery store with no problems and loaded up two shopping carts with food, coolers and hopefully everything we needed. Bought a stick of salami that was the best salami I’ve ever tasted and had salami and crackers at (almost) every sundower drive we took (with g &amp; t’s of course)

Then off to the bottle shop for some gin when disaster struck…my Capital One card was declined! I had called them before I left to tell them not to cut it off but they did anyway. Luckily the shop took my ATM card so the gin was carefully loaded into the back of the truck with the rest of the groceries. Thought I had the round-about thing down when all of a sudden an ambulance (that I was heading straight into) sounded it’s siren and flashed it’s red lights. Oops, guess I didn’t have the round-about thing down, but soon found our way onto Highway 10 heading for Kgalagadi. It’s 265 km to the park on a very uninteresting, boring highway. To pass the time I started counting the bat-eared foxes that littered the road as flat bat-eared foxes. Lost count at 143! The last 30 km is gravel, but they are paving a new road into the park and it should be done someday soon. We did see the domestic Big 5 before we hit the park gate- Cow, Sheep, Donkey, Goat and Horse, so at least if things were slow at the park, we could check those off our list.

Twee Rivieren is the main entrance gate to the South African side of the park and the largest camp in the park. On the other side of the road you can see the Two Rivers, Botswana entrance. The camp is nice, with stone chalets. The chalets had 1 bedroom and 2 more beds just inside the door. There was a toilet, shower, sink, hot-plate, refrigerator, air conditioning and came equipped with all the kitchen utensils, plates etc, towels and soap and a braai off the patio. The camp has a restaurant, shop and the only phone in the whole park. The beds were comfortable but the pillows were thin and hard.

We got settled in, put all the meat into the freezer and went for our first game drive. We saw a lot of ostrich, springbok, wildebeest, jackal and Gemsbok-a beautiful animal! No cat sightings at all, but the scenery was beautiful and had a g &amp; t, some salami and crackers at the waterhole and was happy to be back in Africa!

My opinion on Twee Rivieren: nice, quiet camp with a swimming pool and depending on your flight into Upington, the only camp that you can stay at on the first night in the park.
The shop is well-stocked except for fresh vegetables, the restaurant is good and for only 1 night, it served it’s purpose.

<b>To Nossob:</b> Nossob Camp is on the North-South route in Kgalagadi, a three and a half hour drive from Twee Rivieren. It’s also a traditional camp, a bit rundown. Reminded me of an old motor lodge from the Outback or the Palm Desert in California from the 60‘s. The room was o.k, fully equipped and comfortable. The drive up to Nossob we saw the same ostrich, springbok, wildebeest, jackal and Gemsbok-still no cats. There’s two rest stops along the way for stretching your legs or using the loo.

There’s a sign at the entrance to Nossob warning about jackals coming into camp, so watch your braai when cooking. There is also a hide here but in two days I only saw a few wildebeest come in to drink. We went on three game drives a day from this camp and still no cats! The first night we were Bar-B-Q’ing chicken when two jackals came up to the porch and laid down. It was so cool to be close to these wild things and I tried to teach them to sit, lay down, stand up etc. (all things my dog failed in obedience school) and they did catch on I think-they did lay down and sit on command. Of course we didn’t feed them anything, but I did drop some bar-b-q sauce on my foot which one jackal quickly licked off. When they realized they weren’t going to get anything from us, they moved on to the next chalet and plopped down waiting for a handout.

We stayed here for 2 nights and spent a lot of time on the road but still no cats! There are two main roads in Kgalagadi, north-south from Twee Rivieren to Unions End and east-west from Twee Rivieren to Mata Mata. There are a few 4X4 roads but not many options other than driving the same roads over and over. That is my main complaint about the park, at Kruger you have options and loops to detour on but Kgalagadi you’re limited to basically the same roads. If the animals aren’t near the road, you’re not going to see them.

My opinion on Nossob: Rundown but comfortable, the jackals were cool and that’s about it. After 5 trips to Africa, I know that sightings are not guaranteed, but the reviews made it sound like there are cats at every bend (maybe there are at times, but not while we were there) but still, I was in Africa and enjoyed every ostrich, springbok, wildebeest, jackal and Gemsbok that I saw. The best sunrises were from this camp.

cary999

Wow, great start Dennis. And wow, for 11 nights total cost 2 people only about $3,500 (less international air). Sounds like great fun, my Carolyn loves the DIY style of camping.

regards - tom

Leely2

Yes, great start, Dennis. Love the jackal visitors stories. Out of curiosity, how did you know how much food to buy for 11 days?

You do realize that I expect you're ready to embark on a trip like &quot;Affordable Botswana,&quot; right? Have you seen that thread and those photos? I think you're about there in adventure level.

sundowner

More! More!

suzic

Okay Dennis, We are anxiously awaiting the next installment!!! You have my attention locked in already!! The cats must be hiding in Angola, Foster told them when you were coming!
Great start!! Suzi

kimburu

Also looking forward to more. Maybe the animal sightings aren't that impressive so far, but it's another entertaining and interesting story, and I have a feeling things are going to change. I didn't find it very easy to spot my own cats....

cybor

Dennis's report - priceless.
So glad you saw cheetah.

Celia

Dennis, what did you carry your food in between camps? We were lucky in that our hosts at our Upington B&amp;B loaned us a nice big cool box. We've not been able to find large styrofoam coolers in South Africa, only teensy little ones.

Your trip sounds so much like ours of last April! Except that we flew from Chicago, not Hilo, and we drove from Jo'burg to Upington, not flew, and we enjoyed wine, rather than gin. And brandy. But otherwise, this could be my trip report. (She said with an ironic smile.)

Did your Nissan 4X4 conk out on the way to Nossob? Ours did. But the car hire people brought us another so it was all ok.

All kidding aside, your comments on the scenery and the game and the rest camps just express my feelings exactly. I love reading about it; it brings it all back to me so vividly.

Can't wait for more.

Celia

matnikstym

Thanks all!

Tom-it was great fun! Carolyn would love it!

Leely-it was just like doing weekly shopping but for 11 days and for 2 people. The store in Upington had almost everything (no soy sauce or alfredo sauce) Would have been perfect if the hyena hadn't taken two days worth of chicken, lunchmeat etc.) Other than ice, tonic and ice cream and a can of hash we didn't need to buy anything else at the camp shops. All we had left over at the end of the trip was a can of peaches, some milk and some spices. And yes, the affordable Botswana report sounds like something I might do next.

Celia-I bought 2 Coleman like coolers at Checker's in Upington ($12.00 each) to carry the food in. The main camps all had ice, we froze all the meat the first day and took something out each night for the next day. We had no problems with our 4X4 at all. Comfortable and roomy.

Next installment tonight or tomorrow.

Aloha!

thit_cho

Dennis, great report (looking forward to the rest). The dead bat-eared foxes lining the road is a sad, but vivid, image.

Did you purchase any of the waxy, soap-like fire starter in the park -- I found it impossible to light the braai otherwise.

matnikstym

One more thing about Nossob-one of the cleaning ladies at the camp bakes fresh bread daily and you can order it at the reception desk. It was the best bread I’ve ever eaten, so if anyone goes to Nossob be sure to order some of her bread!

<b>To Grootkolk</b>: Left early in the morning for Grootkolk, our first wilderness camp. It’s about a two and a half hour drive (without stops) from Nossob to Grootkolk. Saw ostrich, springbok, wildebeest, jackal and Gemsbok and some nice bird sightings. I was just thinking of what to title my trip report “The Cats Went to Angola and I Went to Kgalagadi” or “Cheetahed Out of Cat Sightings in Kgalagadi“ when Tom shouted out “Lion!” Sure enough off to the left were four lions walking across the plain. Finally! One male and three female lions. Watched them for a bit then continued on and at the next waterhole more lions! One female with two cubs and two sub adult males. They were having a great time and were covered in mud. It was interesting to see in the background a herd of wildebeest, not in the alert mode, but not entirely relaxed either. After about an hour, they moved off and so did we. Farther up the road there was a field with about 20 bat eared foxes all hunched over looking for food.

Grootkolk has four tents in the camp and a tourism assistant (not a guide). The view from the tent is of desert and small hills surrounding the area. There’s a tent with bed, shower, toilet and a hotplate and sink outside in a gated patio area. There’s also a waterhole but in two days we didn’t see anything come to drink other than a secretary bird. The toursim assistant told us to keep the bottom door closed (the top was a traditional tent zipper like thing) to keep the snakes out. At night we closed the door, stuck a towel under the door, put the coolers on the towel, put our duffels on the coolers-no way a snake was getting in my tent! We were the only people at this camp so invited Isaac (the tourism assistant) to dinner, but he had to be home by dark-I think he was more afraid of the animals than we were. Had a nice conversation and gave him the last of our Windhoek Lager. There was a lion on the hill near camp and we heard him roar all night and into the morning, but never did see him come into camp.

From Grootkolk there is two options for drives-head back to Nossob or north to Union’s End. Union’s End is the South Africa-Namibia border post. We headed north and Tom spotted a leopard under a tree far from the road. We waited for him to come out but finally gave up and continued on. Saw the usual cast of characters, had salami and cheese for sundowners (and of course g &amp; t’s)

Our second day there we drove the same way, lots of lion prints on the road and since we were the only ones in this part of the park (only saw one other car in two days) we knew they were fresh and probably from the lion that was roaring all night. Came around a corner and Tom yelled “Cheetah!” WOW! That animal was magnificent, one of my dreams come true to see one. The cheetah came towards the car, looked in, walked down the road a bit, plopped down and rolled around like my house cat. The cheetah walked alongside the car for about a half hour, looking for food but there was nothing around. Finally it walked off into the desert. We continued on and in about ten minutes there was a lioness walking down the road! So cool! She walked towards us, looked in then laid down on the side of the road next to the car. Spent about a half hour with her before she took off looking for food or her lion friends. An incredible day and sorry to say, the last close up cat encounter we’d have for the next six days. Drove to the south to the only working waterhole and had salami and crackers and of course some g &amp; t’s. At this particular waterhole, there were always two Gemsbok, maybe they were the gatekeepers.

My opinion on Grootkolk: Very nice camp, clean, quiet and of course with only four tents, un-crowded. We lucked out by being the only ones there so that made it even more special. The waterhole was nice, wish something would have been using it and considering that most of the park’s waterholes in that area were not working, I’d have thought that it would be more popular. This was the coldest camp 34F in the morning and the hottest 108F in the afternoon. Since this was the only place we saw cats, it’s my favorite of the four wilderness camps we stayed at.

<b>Back to Twee Rivieren</b>: Since we had at least a six hour drive back to Twee Rivieren we booked this camp for another one nighter. As we were packing the car we heard lion roars coming from all directions. Said our good-byes to Isaac and drove out of camp. There were so many lion prints on the road it was unbelievable but we didn’t see any lions at all, they probably went up to Union’s End and we went the other way. We ate at the restaurant and had a very good lamb chop dinner with a couple of double g &amp; t’s. ($30.00) Since our lettuce and vegetables had run out two days ago, I was craving a salad but there were no greens served with dinner. If anyone goes to Kgalagadi-buy more veggies in Upington! Each camp had a refrigerator that will keep produce fresh, at least as long as we were there. The only vegetables available in the camps were potatoes and onions, though I did see some cabbage at the Twee Rivieren shop.

Used the swimming pool here. The water was ice cold! Don’t know how it could be 100 F outside and the pool could be so cold, but it was refreshing though didn’t spend too much time in the water. Had a good nights sleep, it was warmer here and being in a chalet as opposed to a tent, there were no drafts.

atravelynn

Half an hour with your own private cheetah, a field of 20 bat-eared fox (what's the collective name again?), and a toe licking jackal.

That's my kind of trip, alright.

For the fox group, it's leash or skulk, so for bat eared fox I'd guess the same. With 20 out there, they could have played baseball.

Leely2

I am so happy that you weren't cheetahed out of finally getting to hang out with a cheetah. They're spectacularly beautiful, aren't they?

Do you think had you more time you would have wanted to stay at Grootkolk longer?

matnikstym

Michael~yes we bought those waxy charcoal starters, worked like a charm. Used both charcoal briquets and wood.

Lynn~yes there were some unexpected highlights, At first it was hard to tell what those hunched over creatures were out in the field, but with some binocs discovered they were foxes.

Leely~ the cheetah was just amazing to see-what a body! If I had known that the sightings in the other end of the park would be so dismal, yes I would have stayed at Grootkolk longer and skipped 2 of the 3 other camps. I wish I had just picked Grootkolk and Kieliekrankie-that camp was incredible, even without cats. Such a stunning, tranquil setting-almost haunting in the beauty and peace of the place.

matnikstym

<b>To Urikaruus</b>: Left Twee Rivieren and headed off to Urikaruus, our next wilderness camp. The roads in this area are worse than anywhere-heavily corrugated and made for quite a bumpy ride. It’s a two hour drive to Urikaruus and for much of that time we didn’t see anything other than a lone wildebeest or Gemsbok. We did see another car parked on the side of the road and asked what they were looking at. Two leopards, if you squinted, closed one eye and used some imagination, I guess there were two leopards out there but it was hard to tell for sure. There is a museum on the way so we stopped and walked around. It is from the time when there were settlers and farmers in that part of the Kalahari. We did see a puff adder in the road, but it was fast and moved off into the brush before I could get the camera turned on.

Urikaruus is probably the coolest designed “tent” and camp I’ve ever seen. There are four “tents” all on stilts with a walkway between them. They are two story, with the dining/relaxing tent on the lower level and the sleeping/bathing tent above. The lower level had the sink, hotplate, dining table, refrigerator and a nice deck with braai and another table and chairs. Another fully equipped kitchen (the only thing missing from the camps was a colander for straining pasta-but they all had a silver tea service complete with tray, creamer container, teapot, tongs etc.) The upstairs had beds, shower and another deck with chairs for viewing the waterhole which was off in the distance. The only “tent” feature they had was the zippered openings but they are putting in glass doors soon. It was cold at night with the tent flaps unzipped, but wanted to hear the sounds of Africa.

We spent two nights here and didn’t see much of anything other than ostrich, springbok, wildebeest, jackal and Gemsbok. There were a lot of eagles, secretary birds and a Skops owl, but for the most part it was disappointing. We did see three ostriches with twenty-one babies that were very cute. An interesting note about ostriches-the only true wild ostriches left in the world are in Namibia and the Kalahari, all others around the world are descended from captive stock bred for the feather trade. We did have salami and crackers and of course g &amp; t’s at sundowner time with huge herds of wildebeest and one afternoon with some Hartebeest. A couple of times we drove up towards Mata-Mata and saw giraffe. At this point I was really missing elephants so the giraffe was a great distraction. The ladies in the next tent told us we’d be guaranteed to see lions at our next camp. (wish I would have bet them!) The only thing that came to the waterhole was a lone hyena one evening.

My opinion on Urikaruus: Beautiful lodging, unique design, nice view of the waterhole. The only complaint was the noise of the wood floor when walking and the tents are close together-could hear the man in the next tent do his morning fart routine and his wife scolding him (but it didn’t stop him!) Marius, the tourism assistant is an incredibly nice guy and he keeps the tents very clean. The mongoose in camp are friendly and obviously fed by guests as they all were sitting below the deck on two feet waiting for some handouts.

<b>To Kalahari Tented Camp</b>: It’s only 31 km from Urikaruus to KTC so we were in no hurry to get a move on. Left the camp and other than a large (twenty-three) journey of giraffe, we didn’t see much of anything. On this road there are a few loops which go by the waterholes (all were working). The weather had changed by this time and the hottest it got was only in the low 80’s F. Nights and mornings were in the low 40’s F.

Kalahari Tented Camp is the largest of the wilderness camps, with 12 tents including a honeymoon tent. Each has a gate around the car park to keep the hyenas from eating the tires, a cooking tent and a sleeping tent with shower and a deck with braai and table and chairs. Again the cooking tent was fully equipped and the beds were comfortable. This camp had the best pillows of all the camps. The sleeping tent has a glass and wood door and zippered windows, the cooking tent has a zippered flap. There is also a swimming pool here but it wasn’t warm enough to swim.

From this camp there are not a lot of options for game drives. Four km up the road is Mata-Mata and the Namibian border, down the road is the way we came. Spent a lot of time with the giraffes and had salami and crackers, and of course g &amp; t’s with a family of 7 giraffe at sundowner time.

The first night there we heard a man yelling from one of the tents down the way and then I heard a noise on our patio. I opened the door, shined the flashlight into the eyes of the largest hyena I’ve ever seen. I said “Go away” and he hopped off the patio into the night-or so I thought. I got up in the morning, noticed the cooking tent flap was bent out of shape and looked in and the fricking hyena had broke into the tent, opened the fridge and helped himself to all of our meat, bacon, cheese, butter and worst of all-took my stick of salami! All he left was some eggs, half a bag of pork spare rib flavored potato chips and some crackers. Thank God he wasn’t a drinker as we were down to our last bottle of gin. We had one more steak in the freezer, which the hyena didn’t find so at least we had one more meal (for two more nights). There were teeth/claw marks on the fridge and he did break the fridge during his foray. The tourism assistant said there were no more refrigerators to replace ours. They are planning on putting wood/glass doors on the cooking tents in the near future.

Everyone had said that we’d see lions for sure at KTC but we didn’t see a single cat. I asked the tourism assistant if we should go into Namibia for a game drive and that maybe the lions had crossed the border (it happened once before…) but he said nothing is in Namibia. I wish we would have done it as four days driving the same patch of road was quite boring and I actually wished the trip was over sooner.

The second night here there were more noises coming from the cooking tent, I opened the door and said “There’s nothing left, you took it all last night!” Woke up in the morning and saw that he did come into the tent but left empty handed.

My opinion on Kalahari Tented Camp: Nice camp, comfortable and well equipped. To see the waterhole we’d have to go into the car park, stand on the garbage can and lean over the railing. If they had chopped down one more tree it would have been perfect but from our lack of view I don’t know if anything used the waterhole or not. I think KTC is too close to Urikaruus to make a big difference in game viewing as there is only one road between the camps. It’s the only area that has giraffe so that was cool, but other than that I liked Urikaruus better and would stay there longer and do the game drives up to KTC.

cary999

Experiences and memories you won't have at a Sabi Sand private camp !!!!!

regards - tom

PredatorBiologist

Great report Dennis, nice to read about a self-sufficient adventure in the desert. Glad you were able to track down some big cats, especially the cheetah, certainly a sighting you will always cherish.

thit_cho

Interesting report, Dennis.

Kalahari is tough for wildlife, as you encountered (or didn't encounter). I had a splendid cheetah sighting at Kalahari Tented Camp -- watched two cheetahs stalk, chase and catch a springbok over five hours, something I would not have been able to do on most guided trips.

I only spent three full days in the park, so there were always new things to see -- I'm not sure I would have liked a weeklong trip, so I certainly understand your itch to depart early.

Did you see any wild cats (look like domestic cats)? I saw plenty (but I saw very few live bat eared foxes).

ArthurSA

Dennis, I can't believe that you paid $40 for two G&amp;Ts at the Southern Sun hotel, even if they were doubles. At the time that would have been about R160 for each double.

Celia

Proof that it's all in the luck of the draw -- Jim and I saw lots of bat-eared foxes in Kgalagadi this past April. Especially near Kielie Krankie, they were out every morning. I think we saw the same family of 5 of them several times.

Celia