SANParks.org Forums

This is the first time we come to KTP.
Is there a complete reach for cell phones?
If the car has a problem, can we make a call for help?

Hi Maaike T and welcome.

There is only cell phone reception for about 10km round Twee Rivieren, otherwise none at all

The Park works on a permit system -- every time you leave camp, you take your permit and tell them where you are going and, when you get back to camp, or to the next camp, you hand your permit in. So, if you get stuck, they know where to start looking. Just stay in your car, carry water with you and you'll be fine. There are usually other people on the road as well.

Just enjoy

Thankfully cellphone reception disappears soon after entering the park. It is annoying to hear the asinine ringtones you can get and they scare off the animals & birds.
Nobody gets left in Kgalagadi, I was in Nossob in December and the ranger was leaving at sunset to pull someone out of mud.

Thanks you. Let's hope we don't have a flat tire or other problems in the early morning. It would be a waste of time waiting, unless all the animals will stop by and come to visite us. We could only made reservations for 4 days in KTP. Rest was fully booked.
1 Mata Mata
1 Nossob
2 Twee Rivieren

Maaike T when are you going exactly.
We are also first timers for KTP and we will be there from 21 - 27 March 09.
Hope you have a fab time.

Maaike if you're lucky you may have cellphone reception at Kieliekrankie. We had cellphone reception there two years ago.

Kieliekrankie is situation on top of the dunefield and that may be the explanation, but the reception is never guaranteed. We've also been at Kieliekrankie without any cellphone reception before.

Kielikrankie, I hope we go there just for sightseeing. We leave 26th of March from Schiphol and come back 26th of April. We wanted to start our holiday for one whole week in KTP, but everything was fully booked. The only possibility now were only 4 days at the end, when we leave Namibia. We arrive the 17th of April in Mata Mata, then 1 night in Nossob and 2 nights in TR. We are lucky that we also have several nights in Etosha and a destiny of time we stay in the east of Namibia, so there are a lot of places where we can see a lot of animals. We hope we don't need to make a phone call. Normally we don t use our cell phone, only in case or emergency. For 2 years we had 1 flat tire in Etosha Nat. Park. We were lucky we were still on the campsite, because the krik (high jack?) of the car didn't work anymore. It took 2 hours to make it work again and had a lot of help from the people on the campsite and the people of the garage in Etosha.

This might have already been covered, but I can't find it.

With no cell phone/phone coverage in KTP (except TR), is it advisable for one to hire/purchase a satellite phone. We are planning a trip in May 2010, just two of us in one vehicle, hopefully staying in the Wilderness Camps most of the time.

Concerns are problems en route as well as problems at home. I prefer some sort of contact when away. One trip to Botswana - first morning heard that our gate motor had been vandalised, one dog had very "upset tummy". Luckily, had cell phone reception on banks of the Limpopo and organised things!

I know one goes to the bush to get away, but sometimes there are things happening that need to be sorted out!

If you are in the camps I would not bother with the cost/disturbence...
If you don't turn up staff will come looking for you.

We get a house sitter and a go to person on standby, and find out anything when we get home.

To us the pleasure is not having phone coverage. We make sure that reliable neighbour/ family /friend checks up on our animals and house and you will find that they manage to handle any problems that arise!
We do suffer from cell phone "withdrawal" for a few days but "vasbyt" - the rewards are worth it :
Leave the park number (TR) with someone at home in case of serious emergency and they will get a message through to you.
As DuQues says you will be looked for if you don't turn up at camp and you will find other tourist are all very helpful : if you break down in the park.
You can also plan to take to drive to TR one day in the middle of your stay if you really need to check on things at home.
But after a few days in the KTP with the Kalahari sand between your toes you begin to think - "so what?" :

Thanks everyone.

Yes, we always have house -sitter as we have 14 horses, 3 dogs, 3 cats!! My resident staff are excellent and cope with most emergencies. Crises always happen when least expected, though (especially with horses - they are accidents waiting to happen).

Anyway, we have plenty of time to decide. It was just an idle thought!

We spend a lot of time in Kruger and at our farm near Lydenburg and manage with the odd call home.

Well.... I remember one evening we forgot to give our permit back at the reception... nobody noticed it !
But maybe they checked that we were well in another way?

Rather get the sat phone. We always do when we go there and it so much easier to relax when you know everything is taken care of. The cost is not that high and it certainly helps to phone the dealers in Upington from the middle of nowhere, when you find a stranded friend in a Discovery

I agree Bekke. Better to plan for a catastrophe and hope it never actually happens!!

We only plan to go to KTP in May 2010, so have plenty of time to investigate hiring a phone.

Thanks everyone for your input.

We enjoy our lifestyle on our large plot with lots of animals, but sometimes envy our friends who can just "lock up and go" and not worry what is happening at home.