Kgalagadi transfrontier park - March 2020 - 4x4 Community Forum
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Kgalagadi transfrontier park – March 2020 I just had to get my annual “red sand injection”, my 10th visit to my most favourite South African national park, so opted for a quick one-week getaway to recharge my batteries. Our planned route was as below with distances roughly taken from GPS maps. These distances exclude sightseeing and other driving in between etc, with the actual total distance covered being 2964km with an average fuel consumption of 5.93km/l(!). We travelled with a Land Rover Discovery 4 SDV6 and a Bushlapa Miskruier offroad caravan with 2 adults and 2 boys aged 4 and 6.
Daily log:
Date Distance Destination Comments
Departed from Durbanville around 15:00 and travelled to
Calvinia via Vanrhynsdorp.
We camped at Klipwerf self-catering & camping, featuring
very basic “campsites”, with a private ablution facility per site.
28/2/20 407km Calvinia
At a normal fee of R200 for the night, a perfect, safe and
recommendable stopover for the night.
Given our late arrival we opted for dinner at the Die Blou
Nartjie restaurant – fantastic food!
After an early start in Calvinia we reached Upington earlier
than expected and pushed on to get as close as possible to
Twee Rivieren for an early entrance the next morning.
After stocking up in Upington we decided to overnight at the
Molopo Lodge, a mere 60km from the Kgalagadi entrance,
Molopo where we could watch the rugby and the children could enjoy
29/2/20 600km
lodge the swimming pool. Once again, a very pleasant visit and
key to note that they offer a 30% discount for one night if
you have a valid Kgalagadi booking for the previous or
following day.
The manager, Dirk, is extremely helpful and will go out of his
way to make your stay as comfortable as possible.
This morning we were greeted by a heavy downpour, had
breakfast at the lodge and headed towards Twee Rivieren.
The first 60km to Twee Rivieren is a tar road and the
remaining +-120km inside the park, to Mata Mata, a
gravel/sandy road filled with muddy puddles. The Auob
riverbed had some green covering, but not nearly as much as
Mata Mata the Nossob riverbed – a clear sign that the western side of
1/3/20 175km (Kgalagadi the park had much less rain than the eastern side.
NP)
About 20km away from Twee Rivieren we saw our first male
lion of the trip. It took about 3 hours to reach Mata Mata and
set up camp amidst the continuous downpour.
The ablution facilities were in top condition and the shop well
stocked. Diesel and unleaded fuel were available and credit
card payments accepted.
The day was spent at leisure in and around camp with an
early morning game drive blessing us with 4 cheetahs about
Mata Mata 10km from Mata Mata.
2/3/20 60km (Kgalagadi
NP) The rain seemed to have dried up and the temperature
quickly rose, making the camp swimming pool a very
welcome amenity.
Travelling via the upper dune road from Mata Mata to Nossob
highlighted the stark contrast between the western Auob- and
the eastern Nossob riverbeds. About 5km from the Nossob
riverbed the terrain quickly turned into a vast green
landscape filled with yellow flowers, making me wonder if I
Nossob
had just teleported to the Serengeti.
3/3/20 165km (Kgalagadi
NP) Sightseeing was however difficult due to the high grass and
in total it took about 4 hours to reach Nossob where we set
up camp for the next 3 nights.
Again, the shop was well stocked and diesel and unleaded
fuel available with credit card payment accepted.
The day was spent at leisure in and around camp with
several short game drives in various directions seeing two
lions south of Nossob.
Nossob A sad sight was also seeing the remains of an old lion
4/3/20 100km (Kgalagadi female, at the Cubitje Quap waterhole, that passed away 2
NP) weeks earlier due to natural causes, old age and being
rejected from her pride. The fact that hyenas did not pursue
this easy target surely must indicate in some way that nature
can be cruel, but also kind and generous in other ways.
Nossob A day drive to Polentswa and the Lijersdraai picnic site, for
5/3/20 160km (Kgalagadi lunch, blessed us with a mating lion pair close to the picnic
NP) site (visual distance).
Departed early and headed south to Twee Rivieren, stopping
for brunch at the Dikbaaardskolk picnic site. En-route we
Twee saw several lions, a brown hyena, a leopard and 2 cape
Rivieren cobras, confirmed that the Nossob riverbed had much more
6/3/20 150km
(Kgalagadi wildlife than the dryer Auob riverbed.
NP)
South of Dikbaardskolk the landscape slowly turned back into
the drier environment as seen in the Auob riverbed.
Although the plan was to overnight midway, we opted to drive
back to Durbanville directly, via Calvinia, stopping for a late
breakfast at the Diamond T coffee shop in Ashkam.
7/2/20 1100km Home We arrived at home around 20:30 the evening, parked the
caravan in the garage, had a quick shower and fell asleep
dreaming of red dunes, lions roaring and magnificent sunsets
over lush green camelthorn trees…
Trip highlights: - Experiencing rains and thunder in the Kgalagadi – my previous similar experience was 18 years ago in 2002. - Sharing my most favourite African destination with my children for the first time. Lessons learnt (some for the 100th time) - Have a cup with a lid for coffee et al in the Kgalagadi. Flying insects love surprising you at every sip. - Do not leave any food items outside, even if in a sealed container. Black-backed jackal roam the camps at night, are extremely sly and will literally scavenge meat from your rooster if given the slightest of changes. Be warned - they can open ammo boxes! - Don’t be in a rush when game viewing. Do your research on animal movements, take some coffee and snacks and wait for wildlife to come to you. - Grocery prices in the park are quite fair with good quality meat and freshly baked roosterkoeke and bread on offer. There is therefore no need to carry everything along from home. - Always carry your passport with you, despite not intending to travel across borders. At Mata Mata you can easily slip into Namibia to stock up on meat at the local farmers, plus the most scenic, and shortest, return trip to Cape Town is via the Rietfontein border and south with the B1, Noordoewer and the N7. Pictures: Klipwerf self-catering & camping Molopo lodge Flooding enroute to Twee Rivieren Mata Mata campsite
Lioness asleep near Lijersdraai picnic site
Lioness sleeping near Lijersdraai picnic site
Kids learning about animals
Nossob campsite
Random springbok
The lush green fields on the upper dune road
Dikbaardskolk picnic site Sunset at Nossob
Water in Auob riverbed Twee Rivieren campsite Random Gemsbok Lioness near Kij Kij Lioness near Kij Kij Lion near Lijersdraai picnic site
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