Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park

Cats, bucks, and dust

They say that Kalahari lions are the most beautiful in the world. They are.
They say that the Kgalagadi Park is the best park to see cats. It is.
The park is relatively small, with just two main road following the beds of the two rivers.
The landscapes are not amazing.
But the cats surely are! If you stay a few days. it is most probable that you will spot not only lions, but cheetahs and leopards.
I went in June, at the beginning of the dry season: a lot of dust and low vegetation, perfect if you are a photographer.
If you are not staying the the main camp, you need to be self-accommodated and self-catering. Be well organised for the night, since it gets really cold.
I was self-driving, and I had a 4x4. A 4x4 is not necessary (good dirt roads in the park), but for sure it makes your trip more confortable.

3 nights at Twee Rivieren

I thoroughly enjoyed my time in the park with Kalahari Tours and Travel. I had a busy schedule so I could only spend three nights at Twee Rivieren, from which we drove up towards Nossob and Mata Mata. My guide Dennis was incredibly helpful and great at spotting wildlife that I would otherwise have missed.

The wildlife was very impressive, with large numbers of the typical herbivores as well as a few giraffe, southern kudu and red hartebeest. We enjoyed fabulous views of a leopard, two cheetah groups and several honey badgers, but we were unsuccessful with lions and hyenas. The night drive was well worth the small fee and cold temperatures, with six wildcats, a bat-eared fox and many springhares and spotted eagle-owls.

Observing the small birds was difficult as we were confined to our vehicle. However, this was more than made up for by the number and diversity of raptors, including tawny eagles, bateleurs, goshawks, secretarybirds, black-shouldered kites, lanner falcons, martial eagles and jackal buzzards. We also saw the majority of my other targets, such as kori bustard, Burchell's sandgrouse and both southern yellow-billed and African grey hornbills. The scenery was beautiful and provided a great backdrop for photos.

All in all a great trip, although a longer stay would have been great for seeing more of the park's inhabitants.

Amaizing

Everything where very good! One night it was very very cold. But otherwise it was good. I will recommend the park to all our friends. We saw lots of lions, cheetha and other animals. The food in the Restaurant at Twee rivieren were excellent. The restrooms were clean all the time. We have a great time!

Kgalagadi is a unique destination, a game park in a arid region. The wildlife is spectacular, albight the absence of elephants, crocodiles and hippos. Therefore there are stunning sightings of cats. The road infrastructure is fair and the camps have everything you need - from accommodation to food.

The park is excellent for photographing the animals and birds, especially the big cats.

The park offers so much in terms of very often a exclusive opportunity to be with wild game, be it the many different antelope species found there or some of the big cats like, cheetah, leopard and lion. Another plus is the fact that one gets quite close to the animals since most are very tamed. Then if one is real lucky, a kill by a predator is often seen in the park by visitors, so for photography, it's excellent. There are two points in my view that needs attention, namely the bad condition of the gravel roads and lately also the pile-up of vehicles at a "cat-sighting" that seems to occur more-and-more.

A place for raptors and badgers, black maned lions and majestic sunsets. The camps have a particular (Botswana) feeling to them with hard wood fires, sanded sites, 4x4 vehicles and ground squirrels chasing about. Great place, stay at least a week.

Less crowded than other parks, as it is not so easily accessible; so you feel more frequently in the bush than in other places. Landscapes are particular as it is a semi desertic dry savana; wildlife is abundant but road network is limited

Well developed but still authentic bush.

We saw much more wildlife, but not so much as in Etosha.

Good place fro adults and children - something interesting for everyone.

Accommodation - reasonable.
The only one thing which should be changed is the booking system for organised trips.
I made a booking for safari trip with my 2 friends which was not organised because of small group. It was one of the main reasons why we wanted to visit this park.