www.nossob.co.za

12 June 2009 – Clanwilliam

13 June 2009 – Twee Rivieren

14 & 15 June 2009 – Kalahari Tented Camp

16 June 2009 – Mata Mata

17 June 2009 – Nossob

18 & 19 June 2009 – Grootkolk

20 June 2009 – Back home

Those who know the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park might think that this is a strange itinerary – and yes, it is!  The park is so busy lately that it is not really possible do plan a trip on the spur of the moment.  Deciding not to camp this time around, and with some of the wilderness camps fully booked months in advance, we had to take what was available.

Road conditions

The road from Molopo Lodge to the gate at Twee Rivieren is now completely tarred at long last.  The first few kilometres that was completed a few years back is already showing signs of wear and tear, with a team of workers filling in potholes!

The road in the Nossob, between Confluence and the first dune road, is closed for road works.  As for the rest of the park’s roads – C-c-c-c-corrugated as always.  With the tyre pressure dropped to 1.2 bar and 4-wheel drive engaged, the Cruiser didn’t seem to mind it too much.  In the visitor’s book at Mata Mata there were lots of complaints about the road conditions, but to these moaners I want to say (in the words of our friend Bob Mugabe) – You keep your Kruger, and I’ll keep my Kalahari!!

Weather

In 2007 we visited the park in August and temperatures plummeted to -5 deg Celsius at Nossob.  This time round we were expecting the same freezing nights and opted to do the “Lodge Johnny” thing instead of camping.  To our surprise it was not cold at all, with the lowest temperature recorded 0.9 deg Celsius.  Both nights at Grootkolk saw us running for cover when typical Kalahari thunderstorms hit.  This created a bit of a problem as the chalet’s open air kitchen area does not provide any shelter against the rain.  On our last day, heading back towards Twee Rivieren, it rained non stop!  A wet Kalahari is a happy Kalahari!

Game viewing

During the colder months of the year, many of the big cats opt to move into the dunes, as the riverbeds get really cold at night.  The downside to this is obvious, with the riverbeds being the main focal point for tourists and photographers.  This, however, gives one the opportunity to spend more time with the smaller creatures which tend to be ignored when the carnivores are around.

The rain also provided drinking water and moisture to the animals that they would normally only get from the water holes.  This meant that the normally busy boreholes were deserted in many areas.   The tall grass in the riverbeds and on the duneslopes didn’t help either.

“Lizette”, the collared cheetah that we have seen on many visits to the park, has two young cubs, which means that she cannot travel large distances in a day.  With all the sightings of her and the cubs reported around Sitzas, how hard can it be to find her?  Hmmmmmmm….  Three days of scanning every Shepard’s Tree, Driedoring and dune without success saw us moving on to Nossob without a single sighting of her or her offspring.

At Nossob the lions were still around in the riverbed and we heard them roar south of the camp at around 10 pm.  Early the next morning a lone female walked past camp in the direction of the pride at Marie se draai.  We spotted them just as they settled down to bask in the morning sun.  There were two sub-adult males in the pride who will no doubt soon be ousted by the pride male.

Driving north to Grootkolk, 30km downstream from Unions End, game density became sparser the further north we moved.  It was the first time that we visited Grootkolk without spotting a single predator.  The camp ranger saw a leopard at the waterhole the one morning just after 8 am, but then again, they always report sightings of cats just after all the tourists are out of camp.  Mmmmm.

Trip stats

Total distance travelled – 4495 trouble free Land Cruiser kilometers.

Distance travelled in the park – 2298 km.

Summary

One of our very good Kalahari friends always says: “Visiting the Kalahari for the first time, could be the most expensive mistake you ever make.”  What he means by this is, once you have experienced this desert, this place of extremes, this place where water is worth more than gold, and once you have felt the red sand between your toes, you’ll end up coming back at every single available opportunity.

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 21st, 2009 at 17:20 and is filed under Trip Reports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.