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traffic which traffic ?
non you can't entry on the way to Urikaruus "guest only", but no problem less than 1 km, except for KK... 2-3 km and the waterhole is behind the cabins/chalets/tents
the trail, I believe you have to reserve first
the roads along the river beds are never the same... minute after minute, or almost
and there is only 4 roads... 2 from South to North and 2 from West to Est, or vice versa but what a roads ... not a circuit

have a nice travel and sightings

Thanks Anne-marie,
We've had the experience in the past with inconsiderate drivers spooking cats by getting too close and starting the engine and moving the car everytime an animal moves. That might be okay with a pride of lazy lions in the mid day heat. But when you've come across a solitary leopard and the cat is accepting of you being there, when suddenly a car comes acround the corner with loud excited visitors telling the driver to move every 30 seconds.....
Sometimes it's nice to find a loop where no one else is driving and just relax and watch a pair of Lilac breasted Rollers go about their business defending their tree hole.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not some cranky guy. It's nice to see others at sightings too and a great way to meet people when you drive into a camp and recognise a Landy you shared a sighting with earlier that day. Picking each others brains over a cold beer in the evening is a very nice pastime. I'm only enquiring about loops as it's our first trip to the park and I want to make sure I don't miss anything.

Absolutely NOT Unless you want a hefty fine. The wilderness camps are posted "residents only", so if you're not staying there, you are trespassing ...
Sorry to jump on you but this is one of my bugbears -- there is nothing worse than paying a premium to stay in a wilderness camp only to find you are actually at Picadilly Circus with all the traffic

There are lookout points along the Auob -- one in fact is just north of Urikaruus.



This sounds like the Leeudril 4X4 trail -- which you book first at twee Rivieren.



From Nossob you have 2 choices -- north or south If you choose south, you can then choose whether or not to do Marie's Loop Folk usually just drive off to a water-hole like Marie's or Kwang or, or and park off to see what appears.

From MataMata you only have one choice -- south You do then have a choice at each waterhole as to whether you want to do the loop past the waterhole or not.

Otherwise that's pretty much it. But don't think you'll see the same things on the way back as you saw on the way there -- animals move around

Enjoy !

Cool!

That's no problem. As I said being first timers we just want to make sure we get the most out of it (without stepping on anyones toes )

It is different evert day, so the same road can bring differing results and drama!

Good afternoon.
On next december I will be in Kgalagadi for 20 days. Do you know if I can reach Nossob from Twee Rivieren, passing through Leeuwdrill and Rooiputs waterholes with a sedan car? Until end of 2011 was possible only with 4x4 car passing through deviation in Rooiputs.
Thanks for your reply.
Bye.
Luca/Italy.

The deviation is still in place, the road is not in a good condition. You could probably make it with your 2x4, but the road works are on-going, lots of corrugations, and there seems to be less game along this route. I would suggest that you go up via the Auob road (MataMata road) - and then take the top dune road. It is in fact shorter than going up the Nossob river bed. We used that dune road coming back from Nossob, and it was in excellent condition - we saw lion, leopard, lots of game at the 3 water holes along the way, so it is not really a hardship going that way.

I am in the throws of booking our trip for April next year. I will need to get from Mabua Pan to Kaa Gate on the shortest route possible. T4A lists a route called Mabua - Kaa trail. Can anybody help me here - need advice, does it exist, can you drive it alone, can you pull a trailer etc. The other option is to take the cutline. Can this be reached by heading due north from Mabua Pan or do you need to go back to the Mabua East Gate?
Is it possible to do either of these routes in one day? What is the approx distance?

I would appreciate help and advice from fellow forimites.

I will be visiting KTP for the first time shortly and was wondering it if is reasonable to do Kalahari TC to Gharagab in one day?

Hi Berkhead,

Assuming that shortly means June or July, you'll have 10 and a half hours travel time per day.

From KTC up to the turn off towards Gharagab is about 300 km. which at 30 km per hour is already 10 hours.

That last part on the entrance road to the camp you'll need at least 2 hours.

Then you'll need some time at Nossob to book in.

This might be doable..............BUT then you'll have to travel at 45km per hour and have no stops at all except for Nossob.........

In the summer it's a different story and we've done it from TR to Garagab in a day with hours to spare..........

Hi
The best would be to go out Mabua Gate on the Eastern side, turn North for 25km till the corner of the park, turn West and follow the road for 32km. It will turn North-West, follow this road for 134km to Kaa. I believe this would be the best route. I Haven't done this all the way myself but I read some trip reports where the travelers had some very good sightings. The road through the park, past Nossob to Kaa is not do-able in one day. Can someone who did the whole route please confirm. I did drive some of it alone with a trailer, but you need a proper 4x4 and trailer. The road through the park is more challenging with a trailer than the cut-line i proposed.
Greetings

I agree with Lion Queen. I havent been to Gharagab yet, but on my special spreadsheet planning, and knowledge of gate times and distances, etc, winter will be a serious hard drive to be on time. Would then suggest you stay two nights at Gharagab to experience it in full!

Thanks for the advice. Think i will change the booking as i hate rushing to make a gate time

Book a evening at Nossob prior to Gharagab!

I would not recommend going from KTC to Gharaghab in one day. It took us 7 hours just to get from Nossob to Gharaghab (ok, we drive very slowly,) but if you do decide to make the trip, you won't have time to stop for anything! Rather try and get a night at Nossob before going up there. It was a fantastic experience to be at such a remote camp, and we will definitely go there again, and stay longer. I don't think 1 day up there is enough.