Tour 04B: 5 Day+ Kgalagadi – Tashebube Lodges Exclusive Tour

This tour covers 01 Trans Frontier Park

DAY 01 Upington – Kgalagadi Trans Frontier Park (Botswana)
Time of departure will depend on clients’ travel schedule to Upington. Flight schedule to be finalised. (Flight not included)

Depart from Upington on a 03-hour drive through the Kalahari duneveld (“veld” means natural vegetation), passing various pans (dry lakes), to the Kgalagadi Trans Frontier Park,

The word Kalahari derives from the word Makgadigadi, meaning salt pans (salt lakes) in the language spoken by the Kgalagadi people living in the Kgalagadi Region in south-western Botswana. The word Kgalagadi means salt pans too in their language. More than 1 000 pans are scattered throughout the park. The Kalahari is the largest area of sand in the world, covering 2.5 million square kilometres from the Orange River in South Africa in the south to slightly north of the equator. The area referred to as the arid Kalahari covers some 900 000 square kilometres in the south and covers parts of South Africa and Namibia and most of Botswana. The Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park is situated in the southern part of the arid Kalahari in South Africa and Botswana and is jointly managed by South Africa National Parks (Sanparks) and Botswana Wildlife.

The Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park covers 37 000 square km, which is one of the largest conservation areas in the world and one of the last truly unspoilt ecosystems.

Endemic game such as gemsbok, springbok, eland, giraffe, blue wildebeest and red hartebeest roam the sparsely vegetated red sand dunes and the dry river valleys of the Nossob and Auob where a variety of acacia species thrive.

The Park is well known for good sightings of lion, leopard and cheetah and spotted – and brown hyena are common residents. Because of an abundance of prey in the form of mice, whistling rats, birds and insects, smaller predators thrive in the park. The park is home to caracal, honey badger, black-backed jackal, bat-eared fox, cape fox, African wildcat, mongoose and the ever-popular suricate (meerkat).

Kgalagadi is a bird watcher’s paradise with more than 300 species recorded including at least 20 larger raptor species. The world’s heaviest flying bird, the Kori bustard and the stately secretary bird patrol the riverbeds while the noisy northern black korhaan rule in the dunes.

Check in at reception at Two Rivers. Meet Ta Shebube Lodge guide. Kalahari Tours and Travel guide departs to accommodation outside the park to save on costs.

Depart on a game drive on an open vehicle along the Nossob River Valley to Tashebube Rooiputs Lodge.

Rooiputs is located about 25 km north of Two Rivers along the Nossob River Valley. The lodge is perched along a vegetated red sand dune offering extensive panoramic views of a valley of acacia savannah and grassy plains. Lions are frequent visitors to the adjacent waterhole.

Lodge Facilities
Accommodation comprises of 11 chalets. Each chalet is set on an expansive wooden deck and constructed out of a clever mix of wood, thatch, canvas and glass. Each chalets consist of a sleeping area with double or twin beds, a sitting area and en-suite bathroom with his and hers basin, toilet, an outside shower and an expansive veranda screened from the next door neighbour. The desert suite/honeymoon suite also has an outdoor bath in which guests can cool down whilst enjoying a refreshing drink and the far sweeping views of a treed savannah and a grassy plain with its waterhole.

To keep guests comfortable during the desert summers and winters, the thatched roof has an insulating effect. The large veranda outside the bedroom is also under thatch and this allows for the caressing Kgalagadi breeze to make the stay quite comfortable. Should the heat get too unbearable during the night, fans will be made available. Hot water bottles are a secret touch during the cold winter nights. Gas heaters are available in the main building during winter.

The thatched main building contains a spacious lounge area, a bar, a comfortable dining room and a restful reading area all with furnishings reflecting the rich ethnic textures of Southern Africa and the desert. There is also a curio shop, a plunge pool and opportunities to enjoy a calming massage.

Game Viewing
Through Ta Shebube’s range of expert and personalised desert interpretation and game activities, guests learn about the area’s fascinating and specially adapted flora and fauna. They will also be able to experience the Kgalagadi’s stark beauty and remote desert and solitude feel.

The dry riverbeds show predators and antelopes off at a premium and provide excellent photographic opportunities. Sixty species of mammals have been recorded in the park including the majestic gemsbok, blue wildebeest, springbok, red hartebeest, eland (the world’s largest antelope) and steenbok. Predators are the area’s big attraction and include the black maned Kgalagadi lions, leopard, brown and spotted hyena, jackal and wildcat. The area is one of Africa’s best parks for the cheetah, which thrive by hunting in its fossil river valleys and the surrounding Kgalagadi dunes.

Eighty well established water holes along the Auob and Nossob Rivers attract large numbers of desert plains game and predators and their proximity to the game drive roads make them an ideal close-up vantage point for photography.

Water
Water at Rooiputs is slightly salty, and is therefore treated by reverse osmosis to make it potable for cooking and drinking. However, all other water such as the plunge pool, showers and water from the bathroom taps are kept salty

Afternoon game drive on open game drive vehicle.
Overnight Luxury Chalet at Rooiputs Lodge
Meals: B, L & D

DAY 02 Kgalagadi Trans Frontier Park (Botswana)
Early morning game drive on open game drive vehicle. Kalahari Tours and Travel guide enters the park and proceed to Rooiputs

Depart with Kalahari Tours and Travel guide in guide vehicle on a game drive along the Nossob River Valley and Nossob Camp to Tashebube Polentswa Lodge 60 km north of Nossob Camp on the Botswana side of the Park.

Polentswa is located 60 km north of Nossob Camp along the predator rich Nossob Valley on the Botswana side of the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park. The camp is nestled amongst tall trees and dwarf scrubs overlooking the Polentswa Pan with its waterhole and exciting game.

Camp facilities
Polentswa’s accommodation is a classic tented camp capturing the romance of a nostalgic bygone era. A comfortable veranda screened from the next door neighbours allows every guest to enjoy the glorious Kgalagadi sky in the privacy of their own tented accommodation.
The camp comprises of six classic safari tents, one family unit and one luxury desert suite/honeymoon suite all built on raised wooden platforms and under huge canvas roofs that also encompass a private veranda. The tents are furnished with an enormous bed which allows for exciting and far sweeping views of the Polentswa pan, normally littered by antelopes in the early mornings. The Polentswa pan is also known for its magnificent sunsets. Each tent has a sleeping area, a desk, en-suite bathroom, and a surprising yet exhilarating outside shower open to the desert and to the stars. The family unit and the desert suite/honeymoon suite are bigger and allows for a small sitting area. The tents are not ideal for twin beds.

The main building consists of a spacious lounge area with a splendid view of the vegetated pen. Here the guests can either recline with a sun downer and a good book, watch the water hole and visiting game or merely contemplate the desert. In addition there is a viewing deck with a telescope, a bar, a dining room, a boma and a restful reading area. The main building is originally furnished to reflect the spirit and essence of an authentic tented safari camp.

Game viewing
The Nossob riverbed is rated one of the best places in Southern Africa to view raptors particularly during the summer months when large numbers of migratory eagles, kites and falcons move through the park. Of the 80 raptors recorded in Southern Africa, 52 have been recorded in the KTP.Specifically, Polentswa is a haven for birders with migratory birds passing through the Polentswa pan, offering rich opportunities for avi tourism.

Apart from the 300 species of birds found in the area, antelopes and predators are plentiful at Polentswa as in the rest of the park with over 60 species of mammals having been recorded. These include the majestic gemsbok, blue wildebeest, springbok, red hartebeest, eland (the world’s largest antelope) and steenbok.

Predators are the area’s big attraction and include the black maned Kgalagadi lions, leopard, cheetah, brown and spotted hyena, jackal and wildcat.

Water
The desert will always have challenges; one of these challenges being the availability of potable water supply.

Polentswa water is critically limited and totally unusable in its abstracted form. The water is therefore treated non-chemically by reverse osmosis using pumps driven by a main solar system during sunlight hours, as no fuel operated systems are used. The potable water supply per 24 hours cycle with limited overcast is only 3800 litres.

It is not possible to increase production as the borehole supplies are being abstracted at their sustainable limits. All guests at Polentswa are therefore asked to use water extremely sparingly and with considerable thought!!!! For the same reason there is no laundry facilities at Polentswa

Meet Ta Shebube Lodge guide. Afternoon game drive on open game drive vehicle. Kalahari Tours and Travel guide departs to accommodation at Polentswa Campsite or Nossob Camp to save on costs.
Overnight: Luxury Tent at Polentswa Lodge
Meals: B, L & D

DAY 03 Kgalagadi Trans Frontier Park
Morning and afternoon game drives on open game drive vehicle.
Overnight: Luxury Tent at Polentswa Lodge
Meals: B, L & D

DAY 04 Kgalagadi Trans Frontier Park
Morning game drive on open game drive vehicle. Kalahari Tours and Travel guide arrives at Polentswa Lodge.

Depart with Kalahari Tours and Travel guide in guide vehicle on a game drive along the Nossob River Valley and Nossob Camp to Tashebube Rooiputs Lodge. Kalahari Tours and Travel guide departs to accommodation outside the park to save on costs.

Afternoon game drive on open game drive vehicle.
Overnight: Luxury Chalet at Rooiputs Lodge
Meals: B, L & D

DAY 05 Kgalagadi – Upington
Morning game drive on open game drive vehicle Duration of game drive will depend on clients’ travel schedule from Upington. Meet Kalahari Tours and Travel guide. Game drive in guide vehicle to Twee Rivieren.

Depart to Upington. En route stop at the last indigenous San tribe in South Africa, the Khomani. Today these earliest residents of the Kalahari, living here for 40 000 years, consist of only 400 people and are resident in an area between 40 and 70 km south of Twee Rivieren. Clients will have the opportunity to view and purchase their handcraft at one of the roadside stalls. The presence of the San at the roadside stalls can’t be guaranteed.

Continue to Upington to be in time for departing flight. Flight schedule to be finalised. (Flight not included.)
Meals: L

Rates on request:
E-mail: dantes@kalahari-tours.co.za or click on CONTACT US.