Subscribe To This Site
|
Kgalagadi Trip Report 2011We usually visit the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park in December or March but this year we decided to go in April as it is much cooler than the summer months.All the days were warm and out of 14 nights just two were freezing! Temperatures varied from a low of 5 degrees Celsius on some nights to 39 degrees Celsius on one day. We did 2600 kilometers in total - about 1600 kilometers to and from the park and just 1000 kilometers in the park. Our strategy is not to drive around each day but to see what comes to the camp waterhole. Between Mario and I we took 9375 images and we had some amazing sightings: Lions - six sightings Cheetah - two sightings Lanner Falcons hunting - every day! Goshawks hunting - every day! Spotted Hyenas - four Honey Badgers - two Porcupine - one Caracal - one and a lot more so please read on...
Our Kalahari Safari started on the 9th April at 3.30am. We usually drive from Gauteng via Upington and then north on the R360 to the park but this time we chanced the short-cut via Kuruman, Hotazel and Van Zylrus on the R31. The road is still under construction but over half of it has been tarred and the balance is dirt road but in good condition - no worse than the roads in the park and it cuts over 100 kilometers off your journey. The road seems to be the 'forgotten road' as even the signs still refer to the old Kalahari Gemsbok Park...
The road is very scenic and at one stage we thought we were traveling to the Kruger because along the way we saw plenty of Leopard tortoises, a rock monitor, hornbills and two chameleons crossing the road. In the park we saw just one suricate (also known as a meerkat) but on this road we saw two groups of them! There was some road-kill - mainly bat eared foxes, squirrels and a meerkat. And of course there were also a few crosses on the side of the road where people had died in motor vehicle accidents...
November 2011 Road Condition Update - the R31 road condition has deteriorated due to people speeding. We do NOT recommend you use this road until it is fully tarred. The corrugations shook our 4X4 and when we reached the park our vehicle broke down due to the fuel pipe coming undone. Mata Mata camp sent Neels to help us. It took him just 10 minutes to put the pipe together and it cost us only R400,00. If we had, however, broken down outside the park we would have had to be towed to Upington for a cost of R5000,00! Our advice is don't chance the R31, rather travel via Upington on the tar road.
We arrived at the Twee Rivieren Gate at 1pm and then headed for our first camp which was Urikaruus. On the way we were delayed by a pride of lions under a tree in the Auob riverbed...
Urikaruus Wilderness Camp
About 3 hours later they came stampeding past us...
Please click
here
to read Tobie Oosthuizen's great experience of photographing a cheetah kill, with some lessons for photographers. We then packed up and left for Gharagab Wilderness Camp... Please click HERE for the Kgalagadi Trip Report Part-2 Return from Kgalagadi Trip Report 2011 to Trip Reports page New! CommentsHave your say about what you just read! Please leave us a comment in the box below. |
Would you like to return home from your Etosha safari with amazing photos? If yes, then this eBook is for you...
-Don Stilton, Florida, USA
"I highly recommend the book to anyone visiting Etosha National Park to photograph the animals - or anyone considering an African photography safari in the future."
-Anne Darling, Cognac, France
"If you’ll soon be boarding a plane and heading off to Namibia, don’t leave home without this eBook!"
-Luba Fedus, California, USA
"Overall it is a great book that I highly recommend."
-Lovelyn Bettison, London, UK