SANParks.org Forums

Nossob not good for sightings???

Must be a rumor made up in order to keep the spot for some selfish one (maybe me ) ... or someone who doesn't count cheetahs lions and leopards as good sigtings maybe ???

But yes, you have to be there at the right time, which is never guaranted!

To be more specific, during our last stay in October we saw lions at Marie se draai, a Leopard at Bedinkt ( so close we could have touched her) and we know there are cheetahs around, also we never encountered them there so far.
Before that, in January, lions sightings right outside the gate, very very close, a pack of 5 youngs sleeping nearly on the trail, and a few others on the way north ...

Add to this that Nossob area is a lot less busy than the TR-Mata Mata one

Up to you now!

As somebody once said

When in the Kalahari, you do not find the animals, they find you


Wise words when you have spent a day in your car and seen nothing, I use "nothing" in the sense of the "big" ones. Even parked in the middle of nowhere will give you some "life" to view, be it bird, insect, animal or tracks

I just booked in Nossob (5 nights) for June 2009.
We will be camping and because it is winter we will use electric blankets.
Now someone tells me that the powersupply is off for parts of the night.
Can someone please tell me if it is true and at what tmes.

Hi Henk,

The power switches off between 10pm and 11pm at night and switches on at 5am. "Lekker Slaap"

Hi Henk,
Afraid that is true Generator runs 18 hours per day but is off between 11pm and 5am.

You should be able to warm up before you go to sleep though

It is blissfully quiet when the jenny's off, and the stars are breathtakingly bright. There are compensations.

Last year when we were there in May, the weather was pretty warm.Up to 28 degrees in the day and quite pleasant at night.We took hot water bottles but never used them. We even swam!You can never tell though, we may just have been lucky

Irene09,

You must never under-estimate the happenings under the watchfull eye of the Nossob Webcam !

On a cold winter Sunday afternoon towards the end of May 2008, Tilandi (a 1 000 kilometers away) saw something moving arround the waterhole on the WebCam . . . when she noticed something else slashing in the water, she imediatly saved a sequence of pictures . . . allthough she could not see what it was . . . she only posted it on the Forum on 24/10/2008. Do take a close look at Tilandi's first posted picture !
viewtopic.php?f=38&t=23071&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&start=15

At that very second when Tilandi was capturing the pic from the WebCam . . . I was in the Nossob hide with my camera focused on the waterhole and with the 'bust mode' on, I capured the following pic of what was actually happening in the water. It was only a few months later when I saw her posting and I recognised the senario . . . when her question could actually be answered with the following picture !
http://www.reddune.info/photopages/photopage42.htm

An amazing chain of events with the Nossob WebCam leading the way !

Hi Dreamer,

The draining of the waterhole was as a result of damage to the pipes which needed to be repaired. Needless to say, and as you will have seen, the animals, particularly the wildebeesties, tend to have a bit of a rough-house when trying to drink. They also trample loads of mud into the hole. The poor rangers have a tough task, what with animals waiting for them to go away and the public having a good laugh!

Francois is back in Bloem (I believe to finish his doctoral studies?). New rangers still in training - they need all the support they can get.

Hello all-
I'm off to KTP at the end of June.
I'm starting to get the preparation butterflies.
I have not stayed in NOSSOB before and would like to know from the experienced mob where the best spot is to camp.
I have one stretch of 3 nights there then mabua 5 nights and back to Nossob for one night.
Can I reserve/book a specific campsite?
I would like somewhere with a bit of tree shade, power, not too far from ablutions yet pref on the remote/isolated quiet side...
Is this too much too ask? !
I do recall a thread last year that had something about this but cannot find it in the forums.
Help appreciated.
Bruce.

Hi Bruce_1, we like the campsites 12,13,14 - have shade, close to the fence - not too from ablutions. However, it would not appear to be possible to pre-book.I have tried in the past but when you get to reception they tell you to select whatever is available.

The secret is to try to get to Nossob as early as possible - around 12h00 if possible. That normally gives you a good choice.

Only 5 sites do not have power - so no problem.

Enjoy

Hi Bruce _1
Welcome to the forum I'm sure you will receive loads of valuable info here, Billyf has already begun

This is a first for me... a real grumble and it is because it directly affected me at the beginning of the month. Just a word of warning : Please don't rush!!! I have heard reports before and have never been on the receiving end,,... however... I now understand I am going on assumption here that this may be the reason for some bad driving. We were leaving Nossob heading south and it was just past lunch time.... the number of speeding vehicles (all were towing camping trailers) was scary!!! No Jokes... we were nearly 'taken out' on two occasions. I need to clarify this... Don't get me wrong... not ALL campers behave like this. It's the same as NOT all 4x4 ers are guilty of bad behaviour.
The roads are sandy here and I was very lucky to have escaped two very near accidents and both were because they were speeding...
Please be careful guys..... all ended well here but it was not a good experience at all !!
Travel safely and Enjoy

Dreamer, we have also experienced this in the past. Some of these who are speeding are heading up to Polentswa, hence the need for speed

What I meant was to leave TR or Mata Mata early, don't stroll into Nossob at 5h30 pm and expect to get the best campsite.

That's cool Billyf...I know for sure that you were giving tips and advise because that's what we do here
My comments were negative but felt they were worth mentioning as a warning to be careful
Wish I were on my way to camp right now