Road Trip Knysna to Kgalagadi

Over the Quteniqa Pass with the Little Karoo scenery unrolling in front of us – our 7000km journey begins. Roads that stretch out before you, familiar (?) names of villages and towns on the map. Our route takes us along the N1 through Beaufort West, Victoria West and to Britstown where we overnight.

The only possible reason to visit Britstown is to overnight. In saying this, don’t believe that there isn’t good quality accommodation. Having travelled from Knysna over the Outeniqua pass through Meirings Poort with the endless Karoo road ahead, we reached this Town in late afternoon.  In search of a camp site which we soon realised are non-existent and a few random turns later we found ourselves on the doorstep of the Trans KarooHotel.  A pleasant surprise to say the least!  Although the room are basic they are warm and comfortable with climate control, DSTV, coffee station and bathroom with shower – also on offer are twin bedded rooms with shared bathrooms. A refreshing drink in the calming courtyard and early dinner in the quaintly decorated restaurant offering buffet or a-la-carte with a diverse wine list ended our evening off well.

Loch Maree:

Keen to get on the road we leave long before sunrise, mistakenly taking a right instead of left turn, we add an additional 70kms to our trip for the day! Not to worry is this not what road tripping is about? ………..

On to Upington to stock up and then on to Loch Maree Guest Farm (link). This will be our first night of camping, we are excited with this find, a short drive to the park entrance the next day and not commercial it is the perfect spot. We have a site booked at the bush camp. Surrounded by the red Kalahari sand the site offers all the necessary amenities, braai, camp fire, running water for ablutions and a hot shower – the donkey boiler does need to be fired up for this! Setting up camp is easy our loaned pop up tent is pitched in under 2 minutes – a winner. Under the stars being serenaded by the sounds of the night we enjoy our supper and the camp fire hoping that we will not be too cold in the tent – surprisingly the night time temperatures were nowhere the anticipated low levels. 4am awake…light the fire for the boiler and have a cup of coffee while we wait for the water to heat. Hot shower, pack up camp and we will be on our way. This is easier said than done, try fold that pop up tent down for the first time, 45 minutes later we finally have it figured out, Kgalagadi here we come!

 Most of us have heard of the red sands of the Kalahari. If you haven’t visited the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park ( http://www.sanparks.co.za/parks/kgalagadi/ ) yet, do yourself a favour and get there! We had 5 nights and 6 days in the park, all accommodation prebooked online via the Sanparks website – one of the most user friendly booking sites I have used – 3 nights Mata Mata, 1 night Nossob and 1 night at the tented Camp. The park is extremely popular and very busy in the school holiday period. Pre booking during this time is essential.

On our recent visit we were  told by a veteran of 17 years that the Kgalagadi either grabs you or it doesn’t – I guess he is hooked.

Take note that the park is vast and the roads are not sedan friendly but still accessible. Two roads lead from Twee Rivieren with connecting roads. There are some great tracks that can be accessed with a 4x4. For this trip we concentrated on the more popular routes. The Dune road that connects the Twee Rivieren Mata Mata road and the Twee Rivieren-Nossub road is well worth the distance. Sightings can be sparse but always well worth it. Keep a look out for the less prized sightings like the Brants’s Whistling Rat and the Honey Badger usually with a pair of Pale Chanting Goshawks no less than a few meters from the ground, waiting to pick up their reward of a free meal.

On our second day at Mata Mata we were privileged to have an almost exclusive sighting of a young cheetah only 5 meters away.




The “must sees” here are the Black-maned Kalahari Lion, Suricate, Sociable weaver’s nests, Pygmy Falcons and Gemsbok, not forgetting  Brants’s Whistling Rat, Bat-Eared Fox, Hyena,  Leopard  and Ground Squirrels. With more than 300 species of birds (just over 100 of which are resident) , this is a haven for birders and is most renowned for its raptors especially in the summer months.This unique park is worth another visit or 2 – in the summer next I think.

Upington:

Leaving the park with heavy hearts we head to Upington for a night. What a shame to see as many as 10 or more Bat eared foxes as casualties along this road. Caution should be excercised if you are travelling this route at dusk or dawn. Fascinating sights along this road  are the large salt pans and the enormous Solar tower just outside Upington - built by a Spanish company. Although there are a number of camp sites in Upington, none really appealed to us, instead we choose a comfortable bed and breakfast called The Orange Apple (link). Here our host entertains us with the story of the Oom Sakkies se Aartjie and the Solar Tower…

For years Oom Sakkie’s biggest selling point has been the sunset cruise up the Orange River to a picture perfect sunset spot. However this is no longer the case as the tower now casts a shadow over this perfect sunset picture, needless to say Oom Sakkie is not a happy man!