Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park is a large wildlife preserve and conservation area in southern Africa. The park straddles the border between South Africa and Botswana and comprises two adjoining national parks:
- Kalahari Gemsbok National Park in South Africa
- Gemsbok National Park in Botswana
It’s a 255km drive on a good tarred road from Upington to Twee Rivieren and entry into the park. The park entry point is staffed by South African and Botswana parks personnel and immigration officials. However you only need your passports and to clear immigration, if you are entering from one country and leaving from another – however to stop this from being abused and becoming a commercial border – you need to spend at least 48 hrs in the park to be able to enter from one country and exit from the other.
We arrived at Rooiputs Lodge in the mid afternoon. The lodge is situated on the Botswana side of the Nossob valley approximately 25kms from the park gate. Rooiputs is a simple thatched affair consisting of 11 chalets with fantastic views overlooking the red dunes. The thatched main building contains a spacious lounge area, a bar, a comfortable dining room and a restful reading area all overlooking the Desert sunrise.
The Lodge was simple, clean and with great staff who looked after us and provided wholesome family meals. Rooiputs makes for the ideal location to explore the pumped pans along the southern Nossob but also close enough that you can cut across to the Auob River and experience the other river system. tWe really enjoyed our short time here and were treated to some incredible raptor sightings as well as plenty of Oryx, springboks and a myriad of tortoises! A bonus was the good sighting of lion and cheetah.
After our 2 nights in Rooiputs we headed for Polentswa, an approximately 200km drive along the Nossob valley but also on the Botswana side of the park. We left after an early breakfast and took it easy. It had rained a few days ago and the gravel road had a few puddles which were easily navigated around. The drive was simply stunning. Breeding Bateleur eagles, nesting vultures, kestrels, kites and falcons as well as hundreds of springbok and Oryx to name a few. We even followed the spoor of lion down the main road and found them resting in the shade. After what was essentially a 4 hour game drive we got to Nossob camp (South African National Parks) where we filled up with diesel and refreshments before the last 25kms to Polentswa.
The Camp itself is well situated on a high dune overlooking the Polenstwa pan. The camp is all tented and consists of a main building and 6 tented chalets on decks. It is stunning and we thought more intimate and yet more simple than Rooiputs. Again the staff were great and food wholesome. A really nice camp with a good feeling. We spent the next two days exploring the area and visiting the pumped waterholes in valley floor. We did not manage to find the lion again although we heard them on both nights.
Apart from more fantastic raptor sights we did see 9 spotted hyena on a wildebeest kill, bat eared foxes, ground squirrels kudu tons of wildebeest, Oryx, jackal and springbok to name a few. A highlight was seeing two different sightings of Brown hyena on our early drive out. We were planning to exit via Mabuasahube which is a 200km across the desert from Nossob camp, however at the last moment sanity prevailed and we decided that we really did not have the right equipment or provisions and decided to drive back via Twee River and Upington.
A really great 4 nights in the Kgalagardi Trans frontier park, two super lodges, simple, well run and great staff. I perhaps would not recommend the park for the first time visitor to Africa but as a specialist destination it has to be on par with the best. We will return!
