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I am looking to take my parents to the Kgalagadi in November. We are thinking of spending 2 nights at kieliekrankie, 2 nights at Grootkolk and 3 nights at the kalahari tented camp.

I see that drinking water is not provided at any of these camps. Do we need to take supplies with us for the full week, or can we replenish our bottles at the main camps? Other than firewood, is there anything else not supplied at any of these camps.

Does anyone know if you can get vacuum packed-deep frozen meat at a butcher in Upington?

How about dry frozen vegetables? Are they easy to get in supermarkets?

Gwendolen,

I have been to Kgalagadi 3 times now and every time when I went back to Germany, I went to the butchery and took some meat (also Biltong) with back which has to be vacuum packed. So it is definitively possible to get it vacuum packed. There is the Upington Slaghuis where I am 100% sure that you will get deep-frozen vacuum packed meat.

There is a Pick´n Pay in Upington, I am sure they will sell dry frozen vegis as well. There was a Spar, but it burned down and I am not sure if they rebuild it already.

Hope I could help you...

Gwendolen,

I just remembered, there is another butchery in Upington, it is called Skaapland. They sell frozen meat as well and they also vacuum pack it.

Yes

I'm not sure if you can drink the water from a health perspective (I'd guess that you probably could). I am sure that you wouldn't want to. It tastes really awful. We even used bottled water for making tea and coffee.

You can buy bottled water at Mata, but it would be cheaper to take it with you.

My suggestion is take extra water if possible. Even boiling pasta in the parks water makes the pasta taste awful! Squeezing in a few extra smaller bottles of water is easy.
Rather too much than too little.
Have a fantastic time.

Hi everyone. We've booked several nights at Kgalagadi next month and I've just read that the water is "salty". I need to make up baby bottles and this water will probably be fine for sterilising purposes but I am worried about using it for mixing with formula milk. Babies are not meant to have mineral water either as the levels of minerals can be harmful to them, so what I want to know is how other forumites have managed in these circumstances? Tok is planning to buy a Jerry can to fill with water, but as we will be in the park for 10 days or so, I am concerned that the water may be a bit stale by then. Can you buy bottled non-mineral water in SA? Would a water purifier remove any salts from the water? I'm sure we're not the first people to take a young baby to the Kgalagadi, so can someone offer any advice?

Hi Krok!

This issue has come up before, and the consensus is that the KTP water tastes awful. Even pasta cooked with the water tastes funny, and I've always used bottled water for making and coffee and tea. It's my guess that KTP water contains far more dissolved minerals than Evian or Perrier!

I suggest that you take your own water, or buy bottled water. You can most certainly get bottled non-mineral water in SA. In fact, most bottled water is either "spring" water or similar. Some of it is actually just purified tap water, since SA tap water is of a high quality. A bit of a chook, but good for baby.

If you are worried about the jerrycan water getting stale, then consider buying some 5 litre bottles of bottled water (the non-mineral type) and taking these with you. Pick 'n Pay and Woolies stock this.

I am not sure what brands of bottled water they sell in the park. Jannie, could you perhaps check and post the names? Then I can research whether they are mineral water or not for Krok?

Thanks Restio. I didn't know you could buy non-mineral water in bottles. Think that will be the answer. It would be helpful to know if it's available in any of the KTP shops as with all the other baby paraphernalia and our own stuff in the car, it's going to be hard to carry enough water for all of us (I'd prefer my morning coffee non-salty!)

Valpre is spring water, which generally has a far lower mineral composition than true mineral water.

Accordinng to the SA Natural Bottled Water Association, some bottlers use tap/municipal water as a source/ raw material for their processed water (eg Bonaqua). Although it seems from their website that Bonaqua then add minerals to the purified tap water!

The typical mineral composition of Valpre is as follows:

Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) 64 mg/l
Calcium (Ca++) 5 mg/l
Magnesium (Mg++) 1 mg/l
Sodium (Na+) 9 mg/l
Potassium (K+) < 1 mg/l
Chloride (Cl-) < 5 mg/l
Sulphate (SO4--) < 5 mg/l
Fluoride (F-) < 0.2 mg/l
Nitrate (NO3-) 1 mg/l
Hardness 38

By contrast, a true mineral water such as Evian has TDS of 357 mg/l:

Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) 357 mg/l
Calcium (Ca++) 78 mg/l
Magnesium (Mg++) 24 mg/l
Sodium (Na+) 5 mg/l
Potassium (K+) 1 mg/l
Bicarbonate (HCO3-) 357 mg/l
Chloride (Cl-) 4.5 mg/l
Sulphate (SO4--) 10 mg/l
Nitrate (NO3-) 3.8 mg/l
Silica (SiO2) 13.5 mg/l

Perrier is even higher at 475 mg/l

Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) 475 mg/l
Calcium (Ca++) 147.3 mg/l
Magnesium (Mg++) 3.4 mg/l
Sodium (Na+) 9 mg/l
Potassium (K+) 0.6 mg/l
Bicarbonate (HCO3-) 390 mg/l
Chloride (Cl-) 21.5 mg/l
Sulphate (SO4--) 33 mg/l
Fluoride (F-) 0.12 mg/l
Nitrate (NO3-) 18 mg/l

And I wonder what the TDS of KTP water is? Perhaps even higher?

I am nor sure how long you will be in G'teng, but there are purifying options available in places like Game.
You will need minimun 4 lt/day of water between the three of you.
I think Nestle sells 5 lt bottles. That is a lot of water though.
I know that I once bought a purifying unit that I could attach to a dispenser.
I will go and browse tomorrow and see what I can find.

Jannie, can you help me please with the availability of basics in the shops in the three main camps? Would one be able to get bread and milk from these?
Also, if you know the average temperatures in the park duing April it would help.
Thirs request please: If you know of anybody that have booked in Nossob the second week in April, please ask them to cancel so that I can get a place!!