WOW!
We absolutely love Kgalagadi NP. In our opinion this is definitely one of the best game parks in Southern Africa.
As our South African visitor permit has expired again we decided to enter the park via the Namibian gate Mata Mata. This way, as long as we leave the park again via Mata Mata, we do not need to do the immigration procedure. In and out via the back door so to say.
We have stayed for a total of 17 days during which we tried out all three South African camps and have done a 5 day trip to Mabuasehube on the Botswanan side. The South African camps are like little holiday resorts. They have a reception, shop, filling station, chalets and even a small pool.
The camps on the Botswanan side are something completely different. They are wild . As is normal in Botswanan National Parks there are no fences between the roaming wildlife and yourself. You have to be vigilant and keep your eyes open as especially lions are often curious and like to come take a closer look at the tourists. On most sites there are no facilities. If there are any they consist of a A-shelter for a bit of shade, a long drop toilet and if you are lucky a tap or maybe even a shower. Although that doesn’t necessarily mean there is water…
We liked the Botswanan camps a lot and would have stayed there much, much longer if we had the possibility to stock up on more water and diesel at the gate. The round trip from Nossob to Mabuasehube and back (including daily game drives) was approximately 600 km long. But due to the soft sand our diesel consumption increased so much that we were running on the last diesel fumes by the time we returned to Nossob.
Additionally to loving the scenery we also had some really special animal encounters and even found some species we hadn’t seen before! The African wild cat walked in front of the car four times and we even saw a curious Aardwolf family. And we also enjoyed the many sightings of lions. We even got to know the alarm behavior of Hartebeest, Wildebeest and Springbok so well that we found some well hidden lions sleeping in the bushes.
But now we really have to go back to Namibia to stock up on some fresh food. We completely ate our way through our provisions and only have a can of mushrooms left. HONGER! =D