I travelled from Cape Town to the Kgaligadi Transfrontier Park and back to Cape Town over 23 days and 4,700 kilometres in May 2025. I was travelling with my cousin, Denise Skeffington, for most of the time, and we were joined for two weeks by another of our cousins, Nick Stodel.
We were travelling in my 1999 Land Cruiser 105. Nick travelled with us in his eighteen-month-old Land Rover Defender. We each had our own ground tent.
When I quote prices, I use the original currency. At the beginning of my trip the exchange rates to the GB Pound were: South African Rand 23.27 and Botswana Pula 18.4. I have used these rates throughout this report, irrespective if rates changed or the actual conversion rates differed.
Day 1 – Saturday 3rd May 2025 – Cape Town to Varswater Beach in the Namaqua National Park – 477 kms
Both Denise and I had arrived separately from the UK on 1st May and we had spent one and half days shopping, sorting and packing the Land Cruiser. The rear seat had been removed and the fridge mounted near the passenger rear door. The car was filled to the roof.
We left Camps Bay at 07h15 and made good progress on the N7 towards Springbok. Breakfast was at my favourite farmstall, Kardoesie, on the Piekenierskloof Pass just before Citrusdal.
The Clanwilliam Dam seemed to be full, and the countryside was very green. We turned off the N7 24 kms before Garies and did a further sixty-five kms on gravel roads to the Groenriviermond entrance gate of the Namaqua National Park. The Park has a hilly section inland that was created in 1999 and a coastal section that was added in 2008. The coastal section was gifted by the mining company, De Beers. The park is part of the semi-desert Succulent Karoo biome. This biome has the greatest biodiversity and the highest concentration of succulent plants of any of the world’s arid regions.
The Groenriviermond entrance gate is in the south of the coastal section of the Park. We deflated our tyres, entered the park, negotiated the three kilometre stretch of very soft sand on the edge of dunes and continued up the coast to Varswater Bay.
Each of the four campsites have a three-meter diameter walled circle that protects the fire from the wind. We set up camp for the first time and first enjoyed the view to the sea before taking a walk on the beach.
The night was colder than I was expecting.
Day 2 – Sunday 4th May 2025 – to Augrabies – 506 kms
We made our way to the northern part of the coastal section to the Spoeg River and specifically to the Spoeg River Caves. There are two large caves which are attractive with lovely views.
Denise made her way round the caves up the hill so that she was standing on top of the caves. She stretched her arms above her head in a V.
The same stance was taken by our daughter, Juls, in August 2014 and by our daughter, Megan, and her partner Tom in March 2024.
Before we reached the exit of the coastal section, we came across a farm. We followed the track in and bought a bottle of honey which we hugely enjoyed later on the trip.
We inflated our tyres at the gate and took the good gravel road, seventy-eight kms to Garies on the N7. We had a quick lunch in Springbok at the quirky restaurant of the Springbok Lodge. I was now concerned that we would not reach the Augrabies National Park before the gate closed at 18h00. Fortunately, the road was excellent and the drive through the northern Karoo was a delight. We arrived at 17h15 and as we approached, we could see the unusual sight of spray high in the air. As we drove into the reception parking area we were instantly dampened by spray from the falls. The falls are normally a 56-metre descent of water through a gorge at a rate of about forty-five cubic metres per second. The water was now passing through at a rate one hundred times the normal, at 4,557 cubic metres per second. I took the photo of the normal flow when I visited in 2014. The next photo was taken by the Parks officials recently.
There are normally six viewing platforms that allow one to get a good view of the falls and the river. The photo below shows the viewing area closest to the normal falls.
We were told that the three viewing areas closest to the normal falls were now under water. It was clear that even visiting the viewing areas further away we were going to be rained on by spray. As we had no rain gear it was clear that we were going to be soaked. We concluded that it was better to get soaked tonight and then have a shower than get soaked before we left in the morning. We hesitated at the first open boardwalk because water was washing over the walkway to a depth of about 100mm. Our boots were quickly soaked as pushed forward. One could not get close to the edge of the viewing platform because of the updraft of the spray. As we left that viewing area, the park officials closed it behind us.
The last two viewing areas were further down the river and more manageable even though we were still being rained on. The sun set down river.
Two drowned rats returned to the campsite, erected tents, showered, changed and had dinner in the restaurant.
The falls thundered all night. The night was cold again.
Day 3 – Monday 5th May 2025 – to Kieliekrankie Wilderness Camp in the Kgaligadi Transfrontier Park – 395 kms
We packed wet tents.
As we left the Park the notice board told us that the flow rate had increased since yesterday.
In Keimoes we bought cashew nuts and dried mango at the Nut and Fruit Shop. We had a late breakfast in the Kalahari Mall in Upington and bought further provisions and drinking water at Super Spar and Woolworths. I bought a track suit bottom to provide some protection against the cold nights.
The road was good and fast to the Twee Rivieren gate of the Kgaligadi Transfrontier Park. We checked into the South African National Parks reception, formally exited South Africa at immigration and formally entered Botswana at their next-door desk. (We will be leaving the Park in Botswana and the immigration facilities are here at Twee Rivieren rather than at the exit gate.) We finally checked into the Botswana Wildlife reception desk. All these actions happened in the same building in an efficient way.
The South African side of the Kgaligadi Transfrontier Park used to be called the Kalahari Gemsbok Park. I first visited the Park in about 1968 with my father and younger brother. The photo below shows me and my brother at the entrance to the park at Twee Rivieren.
In 2000 the Park was joined with a park of three times the size over the border in Botswana causing it to now be called the Kgaligadi Transfrontier Park. The South African side of the Park is far more developed with three main camps accommodating a total of a few hundred people plus six other wilderness/tented camps with four or five one-bedroom buildings in each and fifteen tents on decking at the Kalahari Tented Camp. There is also a community lodge. On the Botswana side there are two lodges and two campsite areas (with multiple sites) close to the Nossob River boundary and twenty-five campsites in the Mabuasehube and Kaa areas. Accommodation provided by South African National Parks on the South African side of the Park is fully booked within an hour of booking opening a year in advance. I obtained all my accommodation bookings from cancellations.
Wikipedia says: ‘The park is located within the southern Kalahari Desert. The terrain consists of red dunes, sparse vegetation, occasional trees, and the dry riverbeds of the Nossob and Auob Rivers. Except for flowing briefly after big thunderstorms, the rivers are said to flow only about once per century. However, water flows underground, providing life for grass and trees growing in riverbeds. The main game viewing areas are along the two rivers which meet in the south of the Park at Twee Rivieren (Two Rivers).
With over 470 documented species, the park has abundant wildlife, including lion, cheetah, African leopard, spotted hyena and brown hyena. Smaller mammals include African wildcat, bat-eared fox and Cape fox, black-backed jackal, caracal, genets and honey badger, as well as meerkats and mongooses. Migratory herds of large ungulates, such as blue wildebeest, gemsbok, springbok, steenbok, southern giraffe, common eland, greater kudu, warthog, klipspringer and red hartebeest also live and move seasonally in the park, providing sustenance for the predators. More than two hundred bird species inhabit the park, including ostriches, bustards, waterfowl, storks and passerines and around thirty raptors.’
The park often goes through a cycle of fire, drought and excessive rain. In both 2021 and 2022 large parts of the park in both countries experienced major fires for several weeks. There was a drought for three years. When I passed through the park in October last year everything was tinder dry.
The average annual rainfall in the park is 222 mm (desert areas are defined as areas that have less than 250mm average annual rainfall). Last year at Mata Mata camp the total rain in 2024 was 112 mm with 51 mm of that falling in November and December. In the four months to the end of April, 192 mm has already fallen.
The impact on us of the high rainfall was that the animals could find water away from the roads and had no need to go to the water holes where the water was pumped. We therefore saw less animals than might be expected and almost no animals at the waterholes at the wilderness camps. The environment was so lovely that it did not matter that we saw no animals at the wilderness camps. On the road we did see many oryx, springbuck, ostriches and giraffe.
We delated our tyres and drove for an hour to the first of our wilderness camps, Kieliekrankie. This camp is the most recent and most modern of the wilderness camps with five attractive chalets separate from each other. Each chalet has an entrance walkway, a small kitchen, a bedroom with two single beds and bathroom with a shower. While the fridge is hard wired in there are no power sockets so no place to charge phones or camera batteries. (This electrical setup was replicated at all the wilderness camps.) We spent most of our waking time on the lovely veranda with a view to the pumped waterhole about two hundred metres away at the bottom of a caldera-like shape in the dunes.
We hung our wet clothes from Augrabies out to dry.
The first of many Pale Chanting Goshawks stood on the edge of our roof.
We sent a message to Nick to bring extra sleeping bags with him from Cape Town.
We are six weeks from the shortest day of the year and currently only have eleven hours of daylight from around 07h00 to 18h00. That will mean that many nights we will be in bed for a long time, especially when camping.
Day 4 – Tuesday 6th May 2025 – to Gharagab Wilderness Camp – 301 kms
Driving 300 kms in a day in a game park is not ideal. One then tends to travel too fast to see game. However, I have not been able to design the ideal route through the park but have had to grab cancellations when they arose. Having said that we quickly saw a steenbok, ground squirrels, birds of prey, oryx, hyena eating on top of a dune and many baby ostriches.
We stopped at Nossob to check in to Gharagab Wilderness Camp, ordered roosterkoek (balls of bread dough cooked on a grid over the coals) and bread for two days’ time, left laundry and bought WIFI vouchers for both Gharagab and Grootkolk. The park authorities need to have a way of staying in contact with the wardens of the wilderness camps and have correctly concluded that visitors will pay a premium to have WIFI access which can then help finance the WIFI needed for the wardens.
We drove to Unions End which is the very northerly point of the South African park where South Africa, Botswana and Namibia meet.
Gharagab and Bitterpan are the two wilderness camps that require 4×4 to access, principally because one needs to cross dunes to get to them. We followed the track for 32 kms over the dunes to Gharagab. There are four rustic cabins which are tents on decking with a bathroom having solid walls. The kitchen, bedroom and bathroom are in the same building. There is a view from the veranda of a water hole about 100 metres away.
Guests at Gharagab have been experiencing a problem of young lions gnawing at their tyres and puncturing the tyres. In June 2023 eleven tyres on four cars were punctured beyond repair in this way. We were given four screens to hammer into the ground next to our tyres. We were also told to remove our spare wheels from the back of the vehicle and store them inside the cabin. When I suggested that it might be sufficient to leave the wheels on the fenced off veranda I was told that the lions would vault the fence and damage the tyres. We were later to see that other camps have created fenced areas for car parking and wondered why they had not done the same here.
We lit a fire, I braaied meat for myself (Denise is vegetarian) and we enjoyed the early evening on the veranda. We were a week away from a full moon, so the moon was bright, precluding us from seeing a starry sky.
No lions visited the camp during the night although we heard them roaring.
Day 5 – Wednesday 7th May 2025 – to Grootkolk Wilderness Camp – 105 kms
Unlike yesterday we did not have far to go today. We had a leisurely departure on the one-way 4×4 track, crossed a few dunes and rejoined the main road. We crossed the Nossob riverbed at Kannaguass and headed eleven kilometres into Botswana towards the Kaa Gate but turned back when the going became repetitive with no animals.
Heading north on the main road we came around a bend to find five lionesses resting on the side of the road. We stopped right beside them. They were not bothered by our presence but after ten minutes walked down the road and disappeared into the grass.
We headed to the Leijersdraai picnic area close to Geinab and had to wait for a table while a group of five vehicles finished their lunch. We learnt that this group were being led by honorary rangers on a five-day trail and staying at bush camps at Loffiesdraai (off the Gharagab one way track) and Kij Kij (pronounced KK). This looks like an interesting experience. More information at: https://www.sanparksvolunteers.org/events/loffiesdraai-bush-camps-a-unique-kgalagadi-adventure/
At 15h00 we checked into Grootkolk Wilderness Camp. The four cabins are principally built with solid sandbag walls with the kitchen area on the veranda. The parking area was surrounded by a fence.
We took advantage of a few hours of hot sun to dry our tents, still wet from Augrabies. They were dry by sunset.
We enjoyed another evening of glorious solitude.
Day 6 – Thursday 8th May 2025 – to Urikaruus Wilderness Camp – 215 kms
We had another long drive back to the south of the reserve. We stopped at Nossob to collect the bread we had ordered two days before. We collected our laundry and dropped off more. We saw springbok, oryx, ostriches and a bird of prey.
At Urikaruus we found yet a different configuration. The cabin is on stilts and principally built of wood with the kitchen in a separate adjacent cabin. The four cabin combinations are linked by a walkway with the honeymoon cabin being a separate building. Once again there is a water hole in front of the cabins.
This is another lovely place to stay.
Day 7 – Friday 9th May 2025 – to Kalahari Tented Camp – 54 kms
We had a lazy morning and then headed north along the Auob River to Mata Mata where we booked into the Kalahari Tented Camp and stocked up in the shop. We backtracked four kilometres to the Tented Camp. The principles here are the same as the other wilderness camps except that there are fifteen tents on a solid base. The tents are large with four single beds in each. The kitchen is in a separate but nearby building. The tent, kitchen and parking area are surrounded by a fence. The waterhole is nearby.
At 17h00 Andries from Mata Mata, picked us up for a game drive that we had booked earlier. There could have potentially been ten participants, but we were the only ones. Andries quickly took a non-public track and stopped at a tree with large communal weavers nests and talked about the symbiotic relationship between the birds and the pygmy falcon. We saw other birds of prey and three black backed jackals. An amazing sight was a cape cobra going from mousehole to mousehole seeking food.
We stopped on the crest of a dune at sunset and enjoyed a sundowner as the sun set.
Using spotlights in the dark we saw many bat eared foxes, one cape fox and one African cat. Andries gave us a different perspective of our environment.
Day 8 – Saturday 10th May 2025 – to Bitterpan Wilderness Camp – 207 kms
We were now heading to Bitterpan. The exit one way road from Bitterpan to Craig Lockhart (near Kalahari Tented Camp) is 60 kms long. We, however, were forced to do over 200 kms as entry to Bitterpan is only through Nossob.
Soon after leaving the Kalahari Tented Camp we came across a tower of twenty giraffe who frustratingly, would not pose together.
Just before Cheleka waterhole we saw a pair of lions mating at a distance on top of a dune. They soon disappeared over the dune.
We checked into the now familiar Nossob reception, once again swapping laundry. They opened the locked gate and released us on to the 26 kms 4×4 road over the dunes. We then turned south down a dune valley for 27 kms to Bitterpan.
The camp is different from the others in that the bedrooms are very small with a single bed either side of a walkway, a separate nearby bathroom dedicated to us and a communal kitchen. This layout encourages interaction between residents which I like.
We met Michael and Astrid, retired KLM pilots from Holland, who visit Southern Africa often enough to justify them owning a 4×4 camper. While the other two parties braaied in the garden of their rooms, we lit up a fire in the communal fire pit and had a lovely dinner nearby.
Day 9 – Sunday 11th May 2025 – to Nossob Camp – 102 kms
The night was very cold, and we were pleased that there were extra heavy blankets. Everyone else had far places to travel to so all left early. We relaxed and watched 30 oryx on the pan. We then made our way out via Moravet. We looked for the mating lions near Cheleka, but they were not to be seen. We ate our lunch watching oryx drink at Marie se Gat and then proceeded to Nossob.
As we were joining the Nossob 4×4 Eco Trail in the morning we were directed to camp in the Day Visitors’ area which had two showers, toilets and a dish washing area. We were delighted mid afternoon when our cousin, Nick Stodel, arrived bearing extra sleeping bags, stocks of wine and bags of wood. Nick and I bought meat for the next few nights in the shop and filled our water containers. I was forced to face the reality of the cold nights and bought myself another fleece. The other participants on the Trail joined us and set up camp. They were Jaco and Marlene de Wet and Wimpie and Marne Cronje from Standerton in Mpumalanga. They are farmers and Afrikaans with a very different background to us, but over the next few days we will become very fond of them. The tour leader, Thys Burger, popped in to set a start time for the next morning of 08h30.
Over the fire we exchanged experiences with Nick.
Day 10 – Monday 12th May 2025 – to Swartbos Campsite on Nossob 4×4 Eco Trail – 102 kms
The night was very cold with temperatures at dawn of -2C and frost on Nick’s tent. Even with the extra sleeping bag from Nick I was cold during the night.
Thys ran through the rules of the Trail and issued us with two-way radios. We headed north out of Nossob in convoy. We fairly quickly stopped at a high viewpoint looking towards Eileen’s Hill. Thys took a group photograph of us standing in front of our vehicles.
As we travelled on the public road Thys identified, over the radio, various birds of prey.
After about 60 kms on the public road, at Polentswa, we turned west on to the private trail track. Over the next four days we would stop about 25 times, get out of our vehicles and listen to Thys. I am sorry to say that I did not keep a record of each stop and have thus not recorded a huge amount of knowledge. Most times the reason to stop would be a plant, bush or tree. Thys would explain the characteristics including whether it was poisonous, had medicinal use, how it was used by animals and by the Bushmen. While standing there Thys would also talk about visible birds and animals, characteristics of nearby soil, dunes or a river and the impact on this area of the fire, drought and recent rains. Sometimes the animals would not be visible to us, but Thys would interpret what had recently happened from the tracks on the ground. At times he would also refer to his family history as two of his great, great grandparents were borehole watchers in the Park in the First World War.
Thys has studied the Bushmen and has a huge knowledge of them. Thie first thing he told us was that they did not like the name of San that many people use today to describe them. Thys believed that they preferred to be called Bushmen and so I will use that term here. Thys emphasised that the Bushmen wasted very little and when they killed an animal, they would use every part of it for food, dress or tools. He called some plants Bushmen BnB or a Bushmen Mall as the Bushmen used so many parts of some plants. Thys is knowledgeable of the Bushmen language and customs and shared many of these with us. He also talked of how they had been unhappily expelled from the Park when it was declared as an animal national park.
During the day we saw pale chanting goshawks, a bataleur eagle, a lenners falcon and a black winged kite.
Each day Thys knew where we would stop for lunch as he used the same shady places on each trip. Our Standerton friends tended to eat leftovers from the previous night’s braai. We tended to have bread or crackers with cheese, Namaqua honey, cucumbers, tomatoes and lettuce.
Around 16h00 we pulled into the Swartbos Campsite which had shady trees, a fire pit, a long drop toilet and a shower enclosure. This was the same format for all three of the trail campsites. We set up camp and tried to shower before sunset. Thys had a twenty-litre hanging bag that we partly filled with warm water, hung on a hook in the shower enclosure and carefully used the water by opening and shutting the shower valve. We were fortunate that our Standerton friends had their own portable shower enclosures on the side of their vehicles thus leaving the fixed shower enclosure to the three of us and Thys. If there was a full contingent of ten participants and Thys, and no private showers, it would be very difficult for all to get a shower.
We dressed up for the cold and gathered around the fire, as food was cooked and tales were told. There was lots of laughter.
Day 11 – Tuesday 13th May 2025 – to Rosijntjiesbos Campsite on Nossob 4×4 Eco Trail – 40 kms
We stopped a few times for Thys to explain something new to us.
Before lunch Thys saw a pair of bushlarks rise from the edge of the road to distract us. Thys correctly surmised that they were trying to keep us away from their chicks. The three chicks were on the edge of the track partly covered by vegetation, but when I first looked, I could not see them as they were so well camouflaged.
Thys picked up a tsamma melon. The melon is widely found in the Kalahari and is sought after by many animals as a source of both food and liquid. Thys gave us slices which tasted like, but less sweet than watermelon.
After lunch we gathered under the shade of a tree to learn about the tree.
At about 15h30 we approached Big Bertha, the biggest dune that we would cross on the trail. Thys explained how we should prepare our vehicle settings and how to approach the dune. If we failed to get up to the summit, we would have to roll back and wait for the others to try. We would be allowed three attempts and then would be forced to use the escape route around the dune. Nick was the first to follow Thys and easily went over the dune. I was next and was very confident. I have a lot of dune driving experience and have a powerful vehicle. Admittedly this is the first time that I was using this car on a dune. Thys felt that I could get over the dune in high range and third gear. I was shocked when my heavy vehicle ground to a stop ten metres from the top. I ran back and waited for the other two to approach the dune, with both going over on first try. I tried a second time with the same settings, but a faster approach and failed again. The third time I moved to low range and fourth gear and was successful to lots of encouragement from my travelling companions.
The countryside was very green, and we saw a large herd of oryx.
During the day we had also seen a swallow-tailed bee eater, a spotted eagle owl and a black chested snake eagle.
Rosijntjiesbos Campsite was another attractive stopping place.
Day 12 – Wednesday 14th May 2025 – to Witgat Campsite on Nossob 4×4 Eco Trail – 51 kms
We stopped a few times to look at different things.
At about 11h30 Thys stopped to talk us through a large spider web with the spider busy in the web. At another time he talked to us about black tree rats.
We reached camp earlier than the other days. Nick took photos of the toilets and the shower.
People relaxed and chatted.
As the sun set the full moon rose. Thys amazed us by preparing roosterkoek on the grill which we all enjoyed hugely.
Day 13 – Thursday 15th May 2025 – to Kieliekrankie Wilderness Camp – 92 kms
As normal Nick was up and about before Denise and I and the first thing that he did out of his tent, was to put the coffee water on. We then emerged from our tents, still warmly dressed from the night, drank our coffee, and enjoyed our rusks.
At about 08h30 Ian Heyns, the manager of the guides in the park, arrived with a replacement vehicle for Thys as his needed a service. We used the opportunity to tell Ian what an excellent guide Thys is and what a loss he will be when he is forced to retire next year. We also took the opportunity for Ian to take a photo of the whole group.
We got full value out of Thys on our last day as we stopped seven times to understand issues. Early on Thys took us to the top of a dune to show us star dunes which are created by opposite winds meeting.
Later in the morning we stopped for Thys to talk us through nests of the communal weavers.
I should mention that the ultimate birder amongst us was Wimpie. He has an aim to see and identify 600 separate bird species in Southern Africa. Before the trip he had seen 582. He saw birds that we never saw and added the following twelve to his list on this trip to the Kgaligadi:
- Tractrac chat
- Scaly-feathered weaver
- Fawn-coloured lark
- Swallow-tailed bee-eater
- Burchell’s sandgrouse
- Rufous-eared warbler
- Chat flycatcher
- Pririt batis
- Red-necked falcon
- Shaft-tailed whydah
- African pygmy falcon
- Gabar goshawk
Photos of these birds are shown below (all sourced from the internet).
We finished the trail just after 14h00 near Kij Kij, after 250 kms. We hugged and kissed and exchanged contact details. Thys headed home to Nossob. Our Standerton friends had not been able to find accommodation in the park and were staying for a few days at the Kgaligadi Lifestyle Lodge just outside the Twee Rivieren gate, Nick headed to Urikaruus, and we headed to Kieliekrankie.
As we followed Nick along the Lower Dunes Road a puff adder crossed the road.
Denise and I were delighted to be back at the beautiful Kieliekrankie.
Day 14 – Friday 16th May 2025 – Kieliekrankie Wilderness Camp – 45 kms
We met Nick at Auchterlonie at 10h00. Germany had colonised South West Africa (now Namibia) in 1884. When war broke out in 1914, the British-aligned government of the Union of South Africa recognised that the Auob River might be a sensible route for their troops to invade South West Africa. They therefore drilled a series of boreholes along the Auob River to provide their troops with water.
Those who lived at Auchterlonie – and similar cottages all along the riverbed towards, what is now Mata Mata, on the border with Namibia – were put there to look after the boreholes. Many were recruited from the local community and allowed to ‘settle’ next to the borehole with their families and livestock. The South African invasion of South West Africa eventually took another route, but the borehole guards stayed on, forgotten by the authorities. Two sets of Thys’s great grandparents were borehole watchers including the Human family at Auchterlonie.
In 1931 the area was proclaimed a national park, and the existing farmers were resettled along the Kuruman River. Their basic little homes along the Auob were abandoned – until SANParks restored Auchterlonie in 2004.
The museum is housed in an old fieldstone farmhouse, which was built by the Human family. They farmed with sheep, goats, horses and donkeys. This museum displays their very basic bedroom and kitchen area.
We made our way south towards Twee Rivieren and met the Standerton farmers heading the other way. We saw birds of prey and giraffe.
At Twee Rivieren we had lunch in the restaurant, filled up with fuel and then visited the interesting Interpretation Centre which principally focuses on the history of the Bushmen in the area. Contrary to Thys’s view that their preferred name for themselves is Bushmen, this museum suggested that Khomani is the name preferred by the people.
On the way back to Kieliekrankie we saw a tower of giraffe on top of a dune.
Nick joined us at Kieliekrankie, and we had another convivial evening around the fire on our balcony.
Day 15 – Saturday 17th May 2025 – to Nossob – 194 kms
Today is Denise’s birthday. Wishes poured in from family and friends.
We made our way to Nossob where more wishes arrived when we got access to WIFI.
We had a reservation for a Premium Campsite. There are ten such campsites which offer space, privacy, a private bathroom for your site and a covered worktop and sink area.
When we discovered that Thys was taking the afternoon game drive we signed up. The other couple on the game drive knew him well as they had done the trail with him twice. Most of the drive was on non-public tracks and we saw a tawny eagle, lapwing, black wing kite, swallow-tailed bee-eater, drongo, pale chanting goshawk, glossy starling and a spotted eagle owl. We also saw a black tailed tree rat and a spring hare.
Day 16 – Sunday 18th May 2025 – to Motopi 1 in Mabuasehube in Botswana part of Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park – 94 kms
The 170 kms Bosobogolo track from Nossob to Bosobogolo Pan is the way to get to the six pans and 17 campsites of Mabuasehube. The track has a million corrugations, but the risky feature is that it is a two-way track which is one car wide and has many blind rises in the 65 kms dune belt which one first encounters when approaching from Nossob. There are a number of head on collisions every year. The best way to avoid oncoming traffic is to leave Nossob early and get through the dune belt before the oncoming traffic has time to get there. We did just that and left soon after 08h00. The altitude profile and route from Nick’s Strava app shows that there is a 351-metre elevation gain between the Nossob River and Motopi 1 (95 kms along the trail) with a significant dune climb about fifteen kilometres from the Nossob River. The dune was not as bad as I remembered, perhaps because I was not pulling a trailer and my Land Cruiser (in low range) was more powerful, with a higher vantage point, than the Fortuner, which I had previously used.
We met no traffic until about 70 kms when we encountered three vehicles and trailers, having a coffee break on the side of the road, having left Motopi 1 late that morning. Shortly thereafter we stopped at the burnt-out Toyota Prado which burnt in 2016, thought to have been an electrical fire. The occupants escaped the vehicle in time and as they were travelling in convoy they had onward transport. It is now decorated with T shirts and stickers.
We arrived at Motopi 1 in time for a late lunch. The only facilities are a basic long drop toilet. There is no obvious fireplace and although there are signs of fires having been burnt there are no signs of coals. We solved the issue by digging a hole for our fire and covering it up next morning.
We set up camp. I asked that we create a laager of our tents and cars to discourage lions from getting close. When I was camping here in May 2028 three lionesses walked through our camp in the late afternoon. We ran for the car. They ignored us and continued on their way. Three months later when camped at Mabuasehube Pan we were warned in the dark of an early evening that two male lions were approaching our camp on a track. We had time to get in our car and watch the lions pass through our camp, but do not know what would have happened if we had been sitting in the camp at the time. Fortunately, no lions visited us this time.
Tourists are getting used to and like being in unfenced game areas, but it can easily go wrong. After the trip, on Friday 30th May 2025, an acquaintance of mine, Bernd Kebbel, from Windhoek, was killed by a lion near the Hoanib River in northern Namibia. He descended from his roof tent in the dark to go to the toilet and was immediately attacked and killed. There are not many stories of lions killing humans in the wild, but this lion was probably very hungry.
Another delicious meal was cooked up on the fire.
Day 17 – Monday 19th May 2025 – to Bosobogolo Pan – 155 kms
We had a 75 kms easy run to Bosobogolo Pan and to our campsite at Bosobogolo 2 where we had an early lunch in the shade of the A frame. We were puzzled that we could not find a toilet.
We all climbed into Nick’s car and headed north to the other pans. We stopped off at the Mabuasehube Gate and were told that our campsite did not have a toilet and we should use the toilet at Bosobogolo 1.
We had been told that there was water in Mabuasehube Pan, but it was an amazing sight to see. I had never seen water in the Pan. We circled the pan.
We returned to our camp via Khiding and Mpayathutlwa pans. Most of the campsites we passed were occupied.
As it was getting dark, I felt the need to go to the toilet and drove the 2.5 kms to Bosobogolo 1 to be met by a hostile couple who resented my request to use their toilet as they had just cleaned it. They relented and I tried not to undo their work. In the fading light I heard a hissing sound and concluded that I had a puncture and rushed back to camp before the tyre deflated. As I pulled into camp steam was pouring out from under my bonnet and my engine was showing as red hot.
As we had dinner I was pondering our next course of action.
Day 18 – Tuesday 20th May 2025 – to Tsabong – 132 kms
In the early morning light, we enjoyed our coffee with the realisation that this might be the last camping morning of the trip.
We filled the coolant in my car and quickly saw that it was leaking at an apparently inaccessible place close to the engine and the windscreen. We had planned to have lunch besides the water at Mabuasehube Pan, but we now had a problem to solve. We drove in Nick’s car to the gate, who were very helpful, and used their telephone to call Bimbo in Tsabong. I agreed a rate for him to come with his tow truck 115 kms to the gate.
We returned to camp and packed up. In anticipation of my car being overnight in a workshop in Tsabong I moved most of the items on my roof rack to the inside of the car. Nick then towed me to the gate.
On the way I realised that my South African passport was in a pocket on my sunshade. Not wanting to leave it in the car, if the car was going to be separated from me, I removed it. I needed to concentrate on not rear-ending Nick, so I placed the passport on the seat between my legs. We stopped a little while later for a toilet stop. A few kilometres later I realised that I no longer had the passport and that it must have fallen out at our stop. I debated with myself whether it was worth searching for it and whether the South African authorities would allow me to both enter South Africa and leave it, without my South African passport? (It is South African law that dual passport holders must use their South African passports when entering and leaving South Africa. I have heard of people being refused departure at Cape Town airport when presenting their foreign passport and not having their South African passport on them.) I reluctantly hooted for Nick to stop. Fortunately, Nick had called out the remaining distance to the gate on his GPS when we had previously stopped so he had a good idea where we had stopped.
Nick and Denise returned down the track leaving me fretting. They returned ten minutes later triumphant, carrying the passport which had been lying clearly in the road.
We arrived at the gate. Bimbo had not arrived. The gate official started feeling around and quickly concluded that a hose had perished on the one end. Bimbo arrived (with a minimum of tools) and quickly removed the hose with the perished end, shortened the hose and refitted it (albeit in places difficult to access). The hose provides warmed coolant to the throttle to warm it up in cold countries. (It was later explained to me that there was no need for this hose function in warm climes like Southern Africa.)
My car fired up and everything seemed to work. Bimbo followed us the 115 kms to Tsabong.
We checked into the Dikukama Hotel which had comfortable rooms with air conditioning to warm the rooms.
We think the chef was called in to provide the dinner we requested. There were no vegetarian options for Denise, and I was reluctant to try the meat, so we asked for, and were served, toasted cheese and tomato sandwiches.
During the night I realised that I am truly Lucky Bob. When bad things happen to me, they happen at a time that is far more suitable than might otherwise be the case. By using my car to go to the toilet at Bosobogolo 1 last night, we had identified the problem with my car 36 hours earlier than we would have if I had not used my car until tomorrow morning. If the problem had occurred earlier on the Boso Trail from Nossob it would have been far more difficult to fix things. I had also been lucky that although I lost my passport, it was quickly found.
Day 19 – Wednesday 21st May 2025 – to Upington – 459 kms
At breakfast we ordered our choice of eggs and each asked for toast. Our eggs arrived and on a separate plate were toasted cheese and tomato sandwiches. Our repeated request for our toast was met with a puzzled look but in due course more toasted cheese sandwiches were delivered! We were then more precise in our description of the toast we wanted, and our needs were then met. Unfortunately, we left several toasted cheese sandwiches uneaten.
There was a good tar road to McCarthy’s Border Post and an incredibly fast border crossing. On the South African side, the road was good gravel until it changed to tar as we started coming across mines on the approach to Hotazel. The mines that we passed were huge with very big waste dumps. I was later to learn that 80% of all manganese mined in the world is mined in South Africa, with most of it is mined in this area. We popped into Hotazel which felt very much like a company town with a small shopping area and signs to the swimming pool and club.
Kuruman is a busy town where we turned westwards on the N14. Sixty kilometres along the road, just past Kathu, we passed near the iron ore mines near Sishen. Both iron ore and manganese is transported on the 860-kilometre-long purpose-built railway line to the port at Saldanha Bay. The single-track line has been operating since 1976. The train now has 375 wagons, with each carrying 100 tonnes, is over four kilometres long, is powered by five locomotives and is driven by one driver and an assistant. About 60 million tonnes per year is transported filling three trains per day. The route was designed to minimise climbs for the laden trains as the line drops 1,250 metres from Sishen to the coast. The laden trains have right of way with returning empty trains waiting in the nineteen passing loops.
We had lunch in Olifantshoek and checked into the attractive River Place Manor on the banks of the Orange River in Upington. We had a farewell dinner with Denise as she is flying from Upington to Johannesburg in the morning to visit her bother en route to the UK.
Day 20 – Thursday 22nd May 2025 – to Elandsberg Chalets in Tankwa Karoo National Park – 505 kms
Nick and I left early and just after Keimoes we turned south on the R27 on a fast tar road to Calvinia. We were now travelling through the heart of the Karoo.
Wikipedia says: The Karoo is a semidesert natural region of South Africa. No exact definition of what constitutes the Karoo is available, so its extent is also not precisely defined. The Karoo is partly defined by its topography, geology and climate, and above all, its low rainfall, arid air, cloudless skies, and extremes of heat and cold.
The Karoo formed an almost impenetrable barrier to the interior from Cape Town, and the early adventurers, explorers, hunters, and travellers on the way to the Highveld unanimously denounced it as a frightening place of great heat, great frosts, great floods, and great droughts. Today, it is still a place of great heat and frosts, and an annual rainfall of between 50 and 250 mm, though on some of the mountains it can be 250 to 500 mm higher than on the plains. However, underground water is found throughout the Karoo, which can be tapped by boreholes, making permanent settlements and sheep farming possible, though each sheep requires about 4 hectares (9.9 acres) of grazing to sustain itself.
The Karoo is divided into the Great Karoo and the Klein Karoo. The Klein Karoo is delimited in the south by the Outeniqua–Langeberg Mountains that run east–west parallel to the coast, and in the north by the Swartberg Mountain Range that also runs east–west and forms the southern boundary of the Great Karoo.’ I have taken the liberty, after looking at different articles, of defining the N7 road as the western boundary of the Great Karoo, the Orange River as the northern boundary and the N6 road as the eastern boundary.
The western “Lower Karoo” has a moderate hilly appearance, but further east, the Lower Karoo becomes a monotonously flat plain. The “Upper Karoo” has multiple flat-topped hills, or Karoo Koppies, which are iconic of the Great Karoo. We saw many Karoo Koppies as we drove.
We bought prime meat from Calvinia Vleis for the next two nights and I then had a disappointing mutton pie lunch in the Hantam Hotel in Calvinia.
After leaving Calvinia we soon turned on to the A355. A signpost told us it was 297 kms to Ceres. This road is said to be the longest road between towns and fuel stations in the country. Most of that distance is gravel. After 45 kms we turned off to the Tankwa Karoo National Park.
We checked in at reception and then backtracked to the Elandsberg Camp and moved into our delightful, modern two-bedroom chalet.
We thought that we would watch the sunset from the summit of the nearby hill using the 4×4 track. The track proved to be to be very slow going so we resorted to walking. I quickly realised that we would not reach the summit by sunset, so I turned back and set Nick free to go bounding up the hill. He returned fifteen minutes later, having had a good run but not having reached the summit.
Nick produced a wonderful meal of lamb and chicken skewers in wraps.
Day 21 – Friday 23rd May 2025 – Tankwa National Park 131 kms
I had a relaxed start to the day, unlike Nick who ran 10 kms up the path we had tried to use yesterday afternoon.
We set off in Nick’s car. The reserve has large flat areas surrounded by mountains. Vegetation is minimal and only desert animals like oryx, springbuck and ostriches are present in any numbers. We made our way to the eleven kilometre long Leeuberg 4×4 trail where a track made its way up the mountain ridge and down the other side. Nick enjoyed the challenge.
We crossed the reserve and ascended the spectacular Gannaga desert pass.
We feared that we must go without lunch when we could find no one at the Gannaga Lodge but knocking on doors of nearby houses resulted in Jackie producing a simple lunch for us.
We returned to Elandsberg and chatted into the night over a lovely meal and a good bottle of Stellenbosch wine.
Day 22 – Saturday 24th May 2025 – to Inverdoorn Game Reserve – 155 kms
Nick did another ten-kilometre run, showered, packed and left me for Cape Town.
I took a relaxed drive back down the A355 to Inverdoorn Lodge and Game Reserve. It is one of a small number of game reserves within a few hours of Cape Town offering game drive experiences, principally to foreign visitors. I have been highly cynical of these game reserves which offer the Big 5 in the Karoo. Having now visited Inverdoorn, I have moderated my view and believe that they offer a reasonable experience to people who do not have the time to travel to proper game reserves.
The reserve has one male and two female lions, three male elephants, six rhino, fifteen buffalo and four hippos. They leave dead animals for the lions to eat and supplement the feeding of the rhinos, buffalo and hippos. There are a good number of oryx, springbuck, ostriches and giraffe. The lions are kept in a 500-hectare enclosure – big enough to not be certain of finding them. All the other animals are in a 5,000-hectare reserve. Young cheetahs are being trained to hunt in an enclosure with the intention to release them into the main reserve.
I arrived just before midday and enjoyed the attractive outside dining area and a garden of succulents. I had booked the cheapest room, and it was suitably small but perfectly comfortable. A pleasant buffet lunch was followed two hours later by a minimalistic high tea.
The assembled group of twenty-four foreign visitors departed in three game drive trucks at 16h00. Our guide, Ashley, was very knowledgeable although there were so many sightings of animals that he had no time to talk about fauna or the environment. We first entered the lion enclosure and found them quickly. They walked around for us. In the main reserve we saw rhinos including a mother and baby, buffalo at a distance, giraffe, birds of prey and, after dark, hippos out of the water, eating grass supplied to them.
Back at base a firepit was raging and I enjoyed a chicken curry from the buffet.
At 21h00 those of us who wanted, were taken a few kilometres to a dark area to look at the night sky. There was no moon, and the milky way was very visible. Ashley used a light pointer to very competently identify stars, star groupings and constellations.
Day 23 – Sunday 25th May 2025 – to Cape Town – 183 kms
I was disappointed that the catering budget limited the choice of rusks to poor quality Ouma.
We left at on the morning game drive at 07h00. We went looking for the lions and failed. We got closer to the buffalo, saw the rhino again and were then shown the elephants.
At 09h00 we were taken to the cheetah enclosure and watched a cheetah chase a lure at speed.
All in all, a comprehensive and pleasant experience.
After a good breakfast I headed to Cape Town over the lovely Bains Kloof.
And so, my trip ended in Cape Town, after twenty-three days and 4,700 kms.
Conclusion
This was my longest and most comprehensive visit to the Kgaligadi. I found the wilderness camps an absolute delight and thoroughly enjoyed the Nossob 4×4 Eco Trail including the guide, Thys, the other participants and the variety of things we saw and experienced. I say a huge thank you to my cousins, Denise and Nick, who made this trip very special for me. Thank you also to both of them for their photographs which I have used in this article.
Description of my vehicle and equipment
I drive a 4.5 litre, six-cylinder, petrol 1999 Land Cruiser 105 which I bought in 2024 with 370,000 km on the clock. At the end of this trip, it had done 392,000. The vehicle is equipped with the following: Front bull bars, bash plate, snorkel, enhanced coils and shock absorbers, secondary battery system, 95 litre main petrol tank and a 175 litre second tank, purpose built rear bumper with carriers for two spare wheels , Front Runner roof rack, a pull-out awning fixed to the roof rack, a 40 litre water tank on the roof, Front Runner stainless steel/aluminium camp table, four petrol jerry cans and a 72 litre National Luna fridge/freezer. I did not need the jerry cans on this trip but carried extra petrol for Nick.
For when I get stuck, I carry a box of towing and snatch ropes, a high lift jack, an ARB portable compressor, two Desert escape sand tracks and a spade.
On this trip we camped most nights in relative luxury with an Oztent RV3 ground tent, a Tentco Senior Wanderer ground tent, camp beds, Oztent Goanna chairs, a selection of pots, pans and cutlery and a braai grid. Nick has an Oztent RV2 ground tent.
I used Garmin InReach technology on this trip. Travelling alone in remote areas might be risky. Garmin developed the inReach system which allows one to communicate with others, using text messaging, through the Iridium Satellite network. The most important feature is a SOS function which sends a message to, a Garmin operated emergency centre in the USA, which then tries to exchange messages with the sender of the SOS and begin coordinating a rescue. They have details of your emergency contacts who are advised that you have initiated a SOS signal. There is also a facility to send a standardised message to multiple parties. I used this function at the end of every day to tell our families that we were safe and to show where we were. The inReach facility is integrated into some devices, particularly those used for hiking and marine activities. I have an inReach Mini. which has minimum functionality (besides the satellite communication) and is cumbersome to use alone. It can, however, be Bluetooth paired to other devices, which makes it very powerful. I pay £35 per month while travelling.
Fuel consumption
I travelled 4,464 km in my vehicle, consuming 1,099 litres of petrol, with an average consumption of 4.06 kms per litre. The total cost for petrol was £970 and the average cost per litre, in £pence, of petrol, in the countries I travelled in, was South Africa 89p and Botswana 78p.
Back to the Game Reserves index
Comments are closed.