SANParks.org Forums

Hi wanderlust
We were in the KTP in August 2005 and experienced temperatures of -5 at night going up to 20 in the day. The majority of the day is chilly with the period from say 12 to 2 warmer. So pack your winter woolies!!

September is warming up and you can get quite hot days, but you might just get the last of winter as well.

Thank you GavinW & BB.

Eish, now I'm wondering...... old bones etc..

BUT will the birding be good?? Maybe the birding and game viewing will make up for the brrrrrrr..

Game viewing will be good at that time of the year. Summer rains have not started, so game should be plentiful around the watering points.

Birding - Well all the residents will be there but the summer migrants will not have arrived yet.

Have a great stay -

Back to the question, Braai in the evening is fine. But the Temp are very cold sometimes. as the others said. Prepare for the coolness. During the day it will be round about 20C, which is absolutley fine better then 45C. :-)

Just returned from a 11 day stay in the park (May 30 - June 9) and a summary of the temp and braai conditions:

Day temp between 14 degree (with a cold front passing through) and 30 degree on our way to Bitterpan (the day before the cold front).

Late evenings arriving back at the camps (and everytime we were last to arrive as my wife wanted to catch that last golden light for photography) around 18H00 - 14 degree to 20 degree. And yes, we had a braai every evening, not too cold as the cold only starting to hit you later at night and early mornings.

Early mornings (leaving the camp at 07H00 (May) and 07H30 (June) once again to catch the golden sunlight for photos): -5 degree at Nossob after the cold passed through (clear morning) and the warmest was a nice 5 degree (overcast at KTC). So glad we need to braai in the evenings and not the in the mornings.

I visited the park in December 2010 - what a different experience! And it was before the rain - dry and dusty. Now the park is full of grass and gemsbok everywhere (in December there were only a few gemsbok arond the waterholes) and nothing to see during the hottest part of the day. No problem with braai during the summer. I found that you can get nice sightings throughout the day during winter.

I hope it will help you.

Thanks WillemK

I have 7 days to spend in KTP. 2 nights in Mata-Mata, 1 night in the Khalahari Tented Camp and 4 nights in Nossop.

How would you spend your 7 nights? We have a 6 year old son and are therefore limited to certain camps.

Thx
Anton

Sounds good to me Anton.

From Nossob (with a 'b') you can take a day trip to Union's end, or drive to Kwang etc in the north or do Marie se draai to the south. All can be productive.

Thank you Bush Baptist

What kind of weather can we expect end September , beginnining October?

We were there last year mid-end September. Mornings were cold (ie beanies & 2 layers) if you got up early to go game viewing. But by 10am all that came off and it was shorts & t-shirts.

I wonder whether some of the guru's will comment on how recent weather patterns have affected the game. I saw a posting in another forum that unusually late rains had led to game and predators moving north.

What will be viewing like in mid-October or should I rather re-book for the dry season winter 2012?

Welcome to the forums!

It is not possible to say where the animals will be of course. And it is quite a while till you will be in the park, so weather will change, and the animals will move.
When I was there (so far the only time yet ) there was a drought and very little animal food in the Bots side of KTP. But was that bad?
Not really, I have seen more eland than most people ever did in the park then.

Lions and many of the other animals are territorial animals, and will not move unless absolutely needed.

So yes, just go. This year!
It is always the matter of being at the right place and the right time.

Thanks. I was surprised by this post on another forum but weather patterns currently do seem abnormal over many parts of SA.

This will be my third trip.

I understand there is some bio diversity between the various areas - for instance Mata Mata is renowned for being cheetah country. Anyone have details on differences in animal and plant spread?