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Central Kalahari

Game Reserve Tourism

The Kalahari is the largest sand basin in the world, stretching 1,560 miles (2,500km)

from the northern part of South Africa, through Namibia and Angola and ending in the

DRC (Congo). It may have no permanent surface water, but unlike the image of most

deserts, the Kalahari is well vegetated with a wide variety of habitats including

acacia trees and areas of flat grasslands that seem to stretch forever.

The Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR) is the largest game reserve in the world,

and has until recently been closed to the public. Its remoteness, unforgiving climate

and harsh terrain have kept it pristine and only the fully self-sufficient traveller would

venture into the reserve alone. Those that do are rewarded with untamed Africa

at its best.

The CKGR was originally created as a refuge for the San Bushmen - the inhabitants

of the Kalahari for the past 30,000 years. They lived in nomadic hunter-gatherer

family groups only taking what they needed to survive - which is an art form in the

Kalahari. Their simple lifestyle became anathema to the sophisticated Europeans

who colonised Southern Africa and the Bushmen found themselves the hunted rather

than the hunter.

Bushmen survival became an issue in 1961 when Botswana was still a British

Protectorate, and the Central Kalahari Game Reserve was formed as their homeland.

Most have now intermixed with other tribes such as the Bakgalagadi, and live in

villages at the southern end of this reserve. Their traditional lifestyle is all but gone

but some bush survival knowledge is still passed down from generation to generation.

Safari lodges based in various parts of the Kalahari often hire people of Bushman

origin to guide visitors into the desert and to impart their wisdom of how to survive.

Often dressed in traditional animal skins and carrying a bow and arrow, they show

you how to find water-filled tubers in the sand and explain how to catch an ostrich -

which is no easy task! Bushmen are great storytellers and like nothing better than to

embellish a tale with elaborate and hilarious demonstrations, accompanied by their

fast and furious clicking language. At the end of the day they take off their working

clothes - in this case animal skins - and go back to their village. The romantic dream

that Bushmen might still be able live as they once did is not a reality, and even the

CKGR is no longer theirs as diamond mining companies are taking over what was

once Bushman land.

ANIMALS & BIRDS
After the summer rains arrive in the northern section of CKGR, from Deception Valley

to Piper Pans, the vast plains burst with sweet grasses and it becomes one of the

prime game-viewing areas in Botswana. Not many people seem to be aware of this

and visitors are few. The clear blue sky fills with gigantic clouds and the stage is set

for an amazing transformation. Into the scene enters thousands of gemsbok,

springbok and wildebeest, with plentiful lion, cheetah and jackal in attendance. This gathering of animals is a sight to behold and can be compared with the Serengeti/Masai Mara migrations of Tanzania and Kenya.

Out in the bush, the ceaseless daytime call of the Black korhaan is replaced at night

by the continuous loud cough of the male barking gecko, and under the cover of

darkness scorpions emerge. Those with thick tails and small pincers are the most

dangerous, while the ones with small tails and big pincers give a painful but harmless

sting.

SEASONS
Rainy season: Summer rains are expected to fall on northern CKGR between

November and March, but as rainfall is erratic this is by no means certain. Rainstorms

are frequent but fast and roads can become very muddy and a fully equipped 4x4

vehicle is essential. Dry season: May to October is hot, dry and dusty in the Kalahari

with little water and limited animals. October is the hottest month.

CENTRAL KALAHARI GAME RESERVE SPECIALITIES
· Magnificent cloud formations during the summer rains
· Thousands of grazing animals on the grass plains of northern CKGR from

February to April
· Fascinating reptiles, scorpions and insects
· Beautiful Deception Valley
· Starry nights of spectacular proportions

FACTS
CKGR is the largest game reserve in Botswana covering 32 808 square miles

(52,800 square kilometres).
It is located right in the centre of Botswana
This is a malarial area

Source: game-reserve.com

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