September 1-2: Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park – Mata Mata

We made it to the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park (KTP), the anticipated highlight of this year’s journey. The KTP is a place I have been hearing about from other overlanders for 3 years and having been chomping at the bit to visit.

After a brief one-night stand at a nice private campsite called Die Skuur outside of Mariental, located halfway between Sesrium and the KTP, we completed the rather delightful drive to the KTP on a combination of asphalt and nice gravel surface. I only mention this because I didn’t have to curse once about the road conditions the entire drive, much to Nancy’s delight and relief!

Prior to leaving Mariental, we managed a carwash that featured a serious undercarriage power wash to remove the caked on and solidified mud we picked up in Walvis Bay. And how much do you think a 1 hour car wash of this type cost? 5 bucks! That’s right, although we tipped heavily.

We left Namibia – with some reluctance – breezed through the border post and entered the KTP and South Africa through the Mata Mata gate – the only entrance to the KTP from Namibia. Nancy even opened the gate to let us into the KTP:

The KTP, as it is generally referred to locally, is a transfrontier park in the Kalhari Desert, which you may recall from previous year’s posts, is a large semiarid sandy savanna in southern Africa covering 350,000 sq mi, including much of Botswana  as well as parts of Namibia and South Africa. In the local native Tswana tounge, the name “Kalahari” means “the great thirst” and the Kgalagadi, which occupies a portion of the Kalahari, means “a waterless place” – because there is no permanent surface water.

The KTP was created by combining the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park in South Africa, created in 1931, with the Gemsbok National Park in Botswana, created in 2000, and together they encompass 15,000 square miles. The two Parks are combined into one management area to allow the wildlife to move freely between the two countries – wildlife without borders – and to facilitate management of the greater Kalahari ecosystem.

Our visit to the KTP this year extends over 18 nights – that’s right, 18 nights. Why so long, you might ask? Because this is a vast area and to fully experience the KTP in all its geography and subtleties, and to have time to observe ALL of the characteristic wildlife with liesure, and to be able to fully immerse ouselves in the sublime environment of the Kalahari – takes time. Here’s a map of the KTP with some annotations to help explain our trip. The numbers on the map correspond to the sequence of our movements through the Park:

1. Mata Mata (2 nights)
2. Nossob (2 nights)
3. Polentswa (2 nights)
4. Nossob (1 night)
5. Bosobogolo pan(2 nights)
6. Mbuasehube pan (2 nights)
7. Mpayathutlwa pan (2 nights)
8. Kiding pan (1 night)
9. Musemane (1 night)
10. Nossob (1 nights)
11. Twee Rivieren (2 nights)

Because our journey through the KTP is so long, I am not going to cover it in one massive post at the end of our visit – my usual mode of posting. Rather, I am going to break it up into several posts, WiFi permiting. Note, for the Botswana wilderness portion of the trip (#5-9), we will be totally disconnected from the world (and that means no WiFi), so do’t expect to hear from me for a week or so during that portion of the trip.

For this post, let’s focus on our first stop for two nights at Mata Mata (#1) and wildlife drives along the Aoub River valley. I can’t begin to cover all the wonderful wildlife sightings and encounters, so I will mostly let the pictures and composite video do the talking. One of the main highlights of these two days included a couple of different sightings of cheeetah, but some of the smaller, less notable widlife species produced some amazing encounters as well. Hope you enjoy!

Here’s the composite video for those that like (or need) action:

KTP Mata Mata video (10 minutes)

Here’s some selected pictures:

Our next stop is the Nossob Rest Camp, located roughly in the middle of the Park (#2). Hope to see you there!