Central Kalahari Game Reserve Safaris
The Central Kalahari Game Reserve is a destination for connoisseurs and adventurers. This is Botswana at its most mysterious – a place offering true wilderness. The Kalahari comes to life during the wet season.
When to go to Central Kalahari
Best Time to Go
A destination for connoisseurs & adventurers
Sightings are private, special & unique
Comes to life during the wet season
Big game viewing can be challenging
Vast Skies & Remote Wilderness
Central Kalahari Game Reserve is one of the world’s largest of its kind. Nowhere else in Africa do you feel such a total sense of space, freedom and wilderness. It’s one of the remotest and wildest places on the continent. Game viewing here can appear challenging – there are no buffalo, no elephant, and what big game there is, is often hard to find. Days can be spent seeing very little in the way of wildlife – first-time visitors to Africa may question the park’s quality. However, if you’re looking for true wilderness, Kalahari is as good as it gets. To many people, this park is a magical place with sightings that are private, special and often unique. You will not be disturbed.
The lack of accommodation options in the park has meant that much of the area remains virtually untouched by tourists. Many visitors prefer to explore the park while lodging outside its boundary. Recently, however, the Parks Board have permitted two camps within Central Kalahari Game Reserve, Kalahari Plains Camp and Tau Pan Camp. The Central Kalahari offers game driving during the day as well as the opportunity to walk with the bushmen and learn about how they survive in such an extreme environment.
This is a unique destination requiring time to appreciate its attractions. It’s a great destination for old safari hands.
Activities & Wildlife
Central Kalahari Game Reserve is the second-largest wildlife park in the world, a remote wilderness of fossilised valleys, grassy dunes, and white salt pans.
Game drives
Walking safaris and culture
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This starkly beautiful region is not the usual destination for first-time safari-goers – most often, we find that more seasoned travellers who want to experience a unique landscape and true wilderness are drawn to the Central Kalahari. When it comes to game drives, the dry season (May to October) is the best time for seeing predators, as wildlife congregates at the region’s few water sources. The dry old riverbeds of the Noos and Aub Rivers often present the best chances of water in this arid expanse. There are also some managed water holes amongst the white salt flats and rolling red sand dunes.
Despite this lack of water, there is still excellent desert wildlife here. Large herds of gemsbok, blue wildebeest, springbok, eland, and giraffe can be seen on these plains. They live alongside some ferocious, desert-adapted predators, such as the black-maned lion, as well as cheetah, leopard, brown hyena, and wild dog. Smaller mammals include the honey badger, aardvark, and bat-eared fox.
Local San Bushmen, whose ancestors have lived in these lands for hundreds of years, are your expert guides. Their knowledge of this place will astound you, and going on a guided bush walk is the best way to get even closer to nature. You’ll learn about the plants that cling to life here, along with the resident insects, lizards, and larger predators. There may even be some tips on desert survival. Walking with the San Bushmen is in itself one of the best cultural experiences you can have!
Talk to someone who’s been there
Real expertise doesn’t come from a few trips to Africa. All our specialists have either been guides, run the camps, or grown up and lived in Africa. That’s over 600 years of genuine safari experience.
Good to Know
01.
Who is a Central Kalahari safari best suited to?
Forget having a similar game experience down here to what you get in the Chobe, Linyanti, Okavango region. The reality is that Central Kalahari is a game reserve best kept for safari enthusiasts who have already had close encounters with Africa’s Big Five.
02.
What wildlife will I see in the Central Kalahari?
It’s not uncommon to spend a couple of days here and see relatively little game. Spend four to five days here, however, and you’ll have the chance to view the Kalahari’s lions, cheetahs and leopards. These sightings are few and far between, made even more special by their rarity. It takes a depth of understanding and patience and a genuine love of truly wild and remote places to appreciate Central Kalahari.
03.
What region of the Central Kalahari should I visit?
Stick to the northern section of the park, specifically the area around Piper Pans. This is the most productive game-viewing area in the park. It is also one of the only places where we also encourage clients to consider staying outside the park.
04.
When is the best time to travel to the Central Kalahari?
Working completely opposite to the remainder of Botswana, and sub-Saharan Africa for that matter, the central Kalahari comes into its peak season for game viewing at the beginning of the year. January through to May is the best time of year to be here with the largest herds found concentrating towards the north of the park, around the Piper Pans. Travel outside this period and you have really got to want to spend your days in complete solitude – you will need a great deal of patience if you are determined to travel between May and the end of the year!
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