SANParks.org Forums

Hi Bentony

Everyone's advice I've read here is fantastic !! The only thing I can think to add is to remember to take lots of breaks at all of the available picnic spots - they might start getting cabin-fever after a while and they do need to get out and stretch their legs and unwind.

Also, don't worry if they get snarly with each other - I promise you this will pass pretty quickly ( if my kids are anything to go by ) but being in the car for long hours (especially on those "quiet" days where the sightings are not heart-stopping or even there at all ) can get to them a bit .....

Otherwise, have a fantastic time and GOOD LUCK

Bentony.

All the advice so far is great and should help you, specially the advice from BabetteB.

My 12 year old son is not a teenager yet in the true sence, but cannot go without his PSP that gets charge through the car charger. The other way to keep him busy at night is too take some DVD's along if you will be taking a Laptop along.

Let them also keep a diary of each days sighting and take photo's in the camp. At the end of the trip you can let them write a TR on the forum, which their friends can view over the internet. Before the time also get some books on interesting animal behaviour in the park.

My LO watch a squirrel cooling down by lying flat on its stomach just as his Bushwise guide on Desert animals desribe.

When will you visit KTP, in the summer or winter?

On our way to THE park 17-25 Feb....TR(1), Nossob (2), Bitterpan (2) and Kalahari tented camp (3). Taking my parents (almost 60 year old) for who this will be their first experience of the park. Has been watching the weather and this wonderful forum daily and cannot believe that we will have the pleasure of seeing a WET Kgalagadi! This is me & my husband's 3rd visit to the park and might be our last for a while as our baby is due in 3 months! Loopking forward to a wonderful experience as always, I simply cannot get enough of the blue air, the red sand and the general sense of wonder that surrounds one in the Park. Also hoping to have at least one good lion sighting, these magnificent creatures have been evading us on our prevoius trips, but we are not complaining, sure it is the park's way of luring us back for more! One question though, do one tend to see less or more when it is a wet as it is, since I would assume animals now don't need to get to waterholes to drink?

Hi there MNEL,

Depending on the amount of rain we have had and the pools of water in the dunes or riverbed. Animals would rather prefer the cleaner water, BUT they would rather stay in the riverbeds since the vegetation is more palatable.

Predators are still seen on a daily basis. As mentioned in a previous thread there are lions currently about 1,5Km outside Twee Rivieren camp.

Hope you find what you are looking for in the park during your stay.

Regards.

KG

Hallo and welcome MNEL, I just want to comment on two things mentioned in your intro above! Three actually! Firstly congratulations with the new delight in your life not far away now! You state that this (third) visit will be the last for quite a while because of the baby. Not necessary at all to stay away! I will include a photo of our grand daughter in KNP last October, then only three months old! (....and we are from Cape Town!)

Lisa at Nkuhlu Picnic Site


....and a photo of little Abbygail, my brothers grand daughter at Mata Mata, about eight months old! Abby is now four and she has been to Kgalagadi twice and twice to KNP and once to Addo!


Introduce them young and they will be going back when they grow up!

The last comment is about your "almost sixty" years old parents!
At that "young" age they can go camping in KTP next time! Haha!
Remember the Trip Report with lots of photos when you are back! PS: Do it before the birth, afterwards there will be NO time! FMJ

Welcome to the forum and enjoy the trip.

Enjoy your trip!

Hi, does anyone know what the condition of the road from Kuruman via Vanzylsrus towards Kgalagadi is? It is much shorter than the road past Upington.

I used that road at the end of Nov and returning first week of Dec 2011. Keep in mind it is tarred from Kuruman to +-20km from Van Zylsrust. Depending on the vehicle you drive the road is fair to good with a few rough spots. If you do not speed (>100kph) you should be fine. At least by taking this route you miss the stop start road works between Upington and Kuruman and the scenery is much nicer.

Enjoy the trip and travel safely (and please do a TR )

I will not see it again, but I will camp in KTP anytime....

Congrats and welcome MNEL

As Fotomaljohan says, "Not necessary at all to stay away."

Duke and I have been going to KNP ever since my daughter was 3 months old. Didn't have disposable nappies then

Hi MNEL,

It is possible to travel through Botswana on a tar road instead of the Vanzylsrus Askam gravel road. That why you will travel shorter as well. You can enter at Middelputs (north of Van Zylsrus) and exit at Bokspits. I haven't travel that way, but it is a good option when returning to the east of SA. The only thing that put me off was the border post time that closes at 16:30 (under correction), which means travelling from my home town I need to leave at least ~ 4 am in the morning.

Thank you for all the replies, we are now counting the sleeps.....5 more and we will be entering the park! We will definitely consider the PTA-Kuruman-Van Zylsrus-Middelputs-Bokspits option, we've heard about the tar road on the Botswana side but haven't had the opportunity to travel on it yet, and crossing the border makes the holiday even more of an adventure! Will book accomodation at a guesthouse in Kuruman tomorrow and then everything is sorted....just to get through this week at work. I will do a TRP if time permits, how can I not after all the wonderful help I've received on this forum.

Me - ditto

Just a warning MNEL.

My father was 80 when we took him to KTP. At 85 he was moaning about not seeing decent lions in Kruger and asked me to take him back to KTP.........

60....just out of teenage years.