Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park

Mata Mata Raptor Interpretation Centre

Interpretation is in its simplest form, the act of providing meaning to something. Interpretation centres are a kind of new-style eco-museum, or visitor centre, connecting visitors with culture, history, or nature.

The Mata Mata Raptor Interpretation Centre in Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park was extended and enhanced in 2023.

SANParks has a partnership and MOU with the University of Sunshine Coast in Australia (UniSC), [an institution that specializes in interpretation services and with an international design projects unit], and through this partnership, the Mata Mata Raptor Interpretation Centre now has world-class interpretive displays to showcase the raptors… a collective name for birds of prey… the masters of the Kgalagadi skies, one of the many features of the park for which it is so cherished by patrons all over the world.

The centre originally featured the 27 resident species of raptor and the 10 or so annual migrant raptors or vagrant species that swell the numbers when the food supply is abundant.

During its recent enhancement, the Mata Mata Raptor Interpretation Centre had nine new display faces added featuring the raptor species found in the Park:

1. Raptor Real Estate – a delve into the place raptors call home… their nests for breeding, roosts for sleeping, and perches for scanning and launching attacks.
2. Raptor Romance – a look at the acts of courtship and copulation.
3. Raptor Conflict – the battles that take place within a species or between species
4. Raptors’ Restaurant – the real reason the Kgalagadi is so bountiful with so many different raptor species is the seasonal abundance of food supply, be it rodents, serpents, insects, small birds, or other menu items.
5. Raptor Refreshment – the relationship between birds of prey and water, to hydrate, bathe and hunt.
6. Raptors’ Reach – as humans we have always been captivated by birds’ mastery of flight and the span of their wings.
7. Raptors Running – Secretarybirds are renowned for their behaviour on the ground, and this display features some curious Secretarybird activity but also highlights other raptors’ terrestrial behaviour when they’re usually associated with exploits in the sky.
8. Raptor Adaptations – a deep look into the ways raptors are adapted to maximize their killing potential or their survival in harsh environments like the Kgalagadi
9. Raptors of a Feather – a look at all the various collective nouns for the different groups of raptors.

Visitors to the interpretation centre will be captivated by the quality of images and readily consumable information in the facility.