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Our tours to the Kalahari are typically combined
with longer western South Africa trips, which start in Cape Town and
include the West Coast, Tanqua Karoo and Bushmanland, but for the
more focused a shorter trip, using Upington airport as your entry
/ exit, is also feasible.
The Kalahari Desert is a vast and almost unpopulated area, stretching
from the northern region of South Africa’s Northern Cape Province
into central Botswana. It is not a true desert in the very strictest
sense of the word, but the southern Kalahari’s classic dune
landscapes and broad riverbeds, lined with gnarled acacia trees, will
appeal to anyone with even the remotest weakness for romantic landscapes.
Our tours to this region will ensure that you experience this vast
wilderness areas alluring combination of abundant game, superb landscapes
and good birding. The park is best known in birding terms for its
remarkable diversity and abundance of raptors. Target raptors on the
tour will include: Bateleur, Red-necked
and Pygmy Falcons and Verreaux’s Eagle
Owl. However, we will also search for a number of other often
underestimated specials, among them Burchell’s Sandgrouse
and Pink-billed Lark.
Birds aside, the area also offers very good mammal-sighting opportunities.
Antelope such as Gemsbok (Oryx gazella) and Springbok (Antidorcas
marsupialis) are common, and the park is also arguably one of the
best places in the world to watch hunting big cats, like Lion (Panthera
leo) and particularly Cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus). Spotted (Crocuta
crocuta) and Brown Hyenas (Hyaena brunnea) also occur. The latter
is actually the more common, but is rarely seen due to its crepuscular
habits.
