Khutse Game Reserve
Overview
Botswana Parks
Anthony is a renowned Africa expert and author of many Lonely Planet guidebooks, including the guide to Botswana.
Khutse Game Reserve is an excellent wildlife-viewing destination that sees far fewer visitors than it deserves. Although, it is a popular weekend retreat for residents of the capital city of Gaborone due to its relative closeness. It lies adjacent to Central Kalahari Game Reserve, and with no fences between the two, it shares the same arid habitat and much of the same wildlife. Visit during the week and you might be in for a special wildlife experience.
Pros & Cons
Wildlife
Common antelope species include springbok and gemsbok. Other animals to look for are giraffe, steenbok, wildebeest, greater kudu and hartebeest. The most common predator is the black-backed jackal, but the big cats are all present as well (with lion most commonly seen). Watch also for bat-eared fox, honey badger and the desert-adapted brown hyena, which sometimes appears in the early morning or late afternoon.
Scenery
The reserve is a good example of Kalahari habitats, incorporating grassy plains, pans that shimmer in the midday heat, dry riverbeds and fossil dunes covered with vegetation. The scenery is at its best in the hours immediately after sunrise and before sunset, when shadows lengthen, the landscape takes on magical hues, and stories of the Kalahari’s golden grasslands ring true.
Activities
Guided and self-guided game drives are the only activities permitted inside Khutse Game Reserve. Going on one of these means driving around looking for the reserve’s wonderful birdlife and other wildlife. If you’re driving from the south, pick up a map from the park gate as you enter, and focus your attention on the reserve’s salt pans.
Weather & Climate
Each year at Khutse is divided into a Dry season (April to October) and a Wet season (November to March). When the rains stop, the land begins to dry out. There is very little rain from June onward, and by October the park is crying out for rain. The Wet season begins with the odd shower. By January, thunderstorms are replenishing the park’s waterholes, before the whole cycle begins again.
Best Time To Visit
The best time for wildlife spotting in Khutse is during the wet months from December to March, and again during the milder temperatures from May to August. During the former, after the rains have broken, animals flock to the filled-up pans to quench their thirst, which makes for quite a spectacle. This is also the time of year when babies appear, which attracts local predators.
