The best game sightings always happen as the gate is about to close! Dust rises as visitors hurry back to Mata-Mata at sunset.

This superb lion stalked across the road between Cheleka and Dikbaardskolk on the Nossob River road, on the heels of a lioness.

Big camps and little ones
I decided to explore the tamer South African side of the Kgalagadi, because it’s not a good idea to tackle the Botswanan side on your own.
I spent most of my time in the three main camps – Twee Rivieren, Mata-Mata and Nossob – as well as the six wilderness camps – Urikaruus, Kalahari Tented Camp, Kieliekrankie, Bitterpan, Grootkolk and Gharagab.
The main camps reminded me a bit of the Kruger, with some chalets, a campsite, swimming pool, shop and filling station. The wilderness camps offer a wonderful experience. They are small and unfenced, and each one has a waterhole.

The size of the Netherlands!
The Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park officially opened its gates to visitors on 12 May 2000.
It was Africa’s first transfrontier park and is just smaller than the Netherlands – a huge 38 000 km² spanning South Africa and Botswana. Only a quarter of the park lies within South Africa (9 591 km²) but animals have always moved freely across the border.
The environmental authorities in both countries decided to work together to manage the park, and visitors are allowed to travel freely between the two countries as long as they stay within the boundaries of the park. 

Roads and river beds
All you really need to know is that the Kgalagadi’s roads are clustered around two large, dry river beds.
There are only four gravel roads on the South African side: one up the Auob River, one next to the Nossob River, and two crossroads through the dunes that link the river roads.
The Auob and Nossob rivers are fossil rivers, which flow only after really heavy rains. So don’t expect the Orange River.
What you’ll find are two shallow valleys that run for hundreds of kilometres through the red dunefields of the Kalahari.
The Auob and Nossob actually converge about 5 km north of Twee Rivieren – at a place aptly named Samevloeiing.
At some spots in the Auob the river bed is so narrow that Herchelle Gibbs could toss a cricket ball from one side of the dunes to the other.
The Nossob River bed is much wider, especially in the north, and here you’ll need something the size of the telescope at Sutherland to spot that cheetah with her cubs under a tree on the far side.

Let them know where you’re going
Every morning I got up at 5 am to be first at the gate, because in October the gates open at 6 am. In the Kgalagadi you have to say where you’re going when you leave camp. When you get back, hand in your permit at the office. That way the park officials can keep track of you.

A herd of springbok keep an alert eye on a cheetah north of the Melkvlei picnic spot because although she has killed already, she might have another go.

A meerkat on guard duty north of Grootkolk.

The Kgalagadi is big cat country
The Kgalagadi is synonymous with lions… notably, huge male lions with black manes. At Dalkeith waterhole south of Mata-Mata
I see an old, scruffy lion mating with a lioness over a period of four days.
I also see two more adult males between Montrose and Dalkeith.
And cheetah and leopards. Leopards are often spotted between Houmoed and Auchterlonie as well as around Grootkolk.
But cheetah can be found everywhere. The best time is early in the day when these spotted cats are active, or late in the afternoon, but you might also spot them hunting mid-morning. 

No buffalo or ellies, but snakes galore
Aside from the big cats, there are lots of other mammals, birds and reptiles to be seen. This is an arid environment, unlike the Kruger, so there are no elephants, buffalo or rhino. It’s exciting to see hardy survivors like gemsbok, eland and red hartebeest, and of course, springbok – which are as prolific as the impala in the Kruger National Park.
There’s no shortage of game. All along the river bed are man-made waterholes that are fed with water from solar pumps. Along the 120 km of the Auob River there’s a waterhole every 8 km or so, and along the 300 km of the Nossob, every 12 km. These waterholes have interesting names like Kamqua, Kij Kij, Jan se Draai, Kameelsleep and Klein Stofpan.
The grass and trees in the river bed are also a magnet for animals. A few weeks after the rains come, the river beds look almost like English parkland and the yellow flowers of the devil’s thorn blanket the red dunes. Everything from ground squirrels to ostriches, red hartebeest and thousands of springbok gather here. I count more than 1 500 springbok in the Auob River on a four-hour drive.
What surprises me is that I see more snakes on the road than cars.
And my favourite animal of all has to be the meerkat. I find at least six colonies and easily spend two hours at a time watching them feeding and playing.
The highlight comes on my second-last day. North of Melkvlei I see a hyena in the distance. I assume it’s a spotted hyena but as it approaches I realise that it’s a brown hyena. These are very rare and shy and usually travel alone – or so I think – because next thing I see more crossing the road ahead of me… Bathed in beautiful morning light.

Keep an eye and books in the reception areas of the camps.

1. It’s all in the timing!
It can get very hot early in the day, and it only cools down much later. The best time to go on a game drive is before 8 am and after 4 pm when the animals are active. But don’t think nothing happens between these times. Birds of prey visit the waterholes between 11 am and 1 pm. It’s great to sit at Qubitje Quap just north of Nossob and wait for them to arrive.

2. Keep your eyes peeled.
Because the animals and birds of the desert are so well camouflaged you might easily miss them if you shoot past a waterhole. Rather drive really slowly (25 km/h) and look carefully in the shade of the camel thorn trees for Verreaux’s eagle-owls, snakes, wildcats and even leopards.

3. Listen carefully.
Most animals have a unique call when they spot a predator. If you observe a herd of springbok making a snorting noise and staring in a particular direction, try and see if you can tell what’s disturbing them. It could be a cheetah on the hunt.

4. Follow the spoor.
The sandy roads of the Kgalagadi are a good place to look for tracks – you might spot the large pawprints of a lion that passed by the night before. If there is fresh spoor on top of older tracks then you know it’s worth following the tracks and scanning the veld at the spot where they leave the road.

5. Look on both sides.
You will often find yourself driving along the dry river bed with a dune or low hill to one side. Don’t just look for animals in the river bed. Many predators like the advantage of height on the dunes or ridges when looking for prey.

6. Be patient.
Park next to any of the waterholes in the river beds and wait for the animals to come to you. But be prepared to wait. After rain, when there’s water all over the place, then the waterholes might be less productive.

7. Ask your neighbour.
Don’t be shy to ask your neighbour or the game rangers what they have seen. It’s the best way to find your way to the nearest Cape fox den, meerkat colony or lion kill. Keep an eye on the sighting notice boards and books in the reception areas of the camps.

There’s life in the grass, in the scrub, on rocks and camouflaged at the roadside. Don’t just focus on big game; watch and listen for these guys too.

The creepycrawlies
Puff adders are one of the three common snake species that occur in the Kgalagadi. They are venomous, and the belief that they only strike backwards is not true. 
Cape cobras are very poisonous and can be deadly. They like climbing trees in search of prey. 
Mole snakes are harmless, but they bite readily. They prey mostly on rodents.

The canines
Blackbacked jackals can be seen throughout the park, usually in pairs. They’ll hunt anything smaller than a springbok. 
Cape foxes are not as common as jackals but you can look out for the dens around October/November. They eat mainly insects but also some birds and reptiles. 
Bateared foxes are common throughout the park and occur in small family groups. They mostly feed on insects. 

The little guys
Brant’s whistling rats can be found in groups, especially in the dunes. Look for their holes, usually in colonies under a shrub. They make soft whistling noises.
Striped mice are common in the roads and close to Nossob. Look for them in the shrubbery.
Agamas can be seen basking or scuttling across the road. They’re usually quite nondescript, but in the breeding season the males’ heads turn blue.

The Kamqua picnic site in the Auob River bed has running water and flush toilets.

I can’t help thinking about flying hubcaps and broken shocks as the Condor gobbles up the last 60 km between Andriesvale and Twee Rivieren. Not so long ago this was one of the worst roads in South Africa. It used to make mincemeat of anything from Venter trailers to new BMWs.
Now it’s tarred and you can comfortably drive at the 100 km/h speed limit – but I am cruising at 50 km/h to take in my surroundings – the red dunes of the Kalahari are beautiful.

I’d only visited three times before this. The first two were as a child with my family when it was still called the Kalahari Gemsbok Park. Later I returned as a nature conservation student. Now, I’m here on assignment for the magazine.
At Twee Rivieren, I spot a vehicle hitched to a tow truck. It’s so badly damaged that it’s difficult to make out whether it’s a Toyota Fortuner or a Jeep Commander.

Probably took a corner too fast on one of those dangerous dune roads with their sharp turns and blind rises.
It’s 1 October 2009, the start of the rainy season in the Kgalagadi. I pitch my tent under a camel thorn tree in the middle of the Twee
Rivieren campsite – and I’m grateful for the shade. Temperatures easily climb above the 40 ºC mark here!

And there’s so much life all around me. A black lizard stalks insects on the trunk of a tree, sociable weavers and red-headed finches hop around my feet while a yellow mongoose comes to inspect my camping arrangements – it sniffs around my campchair, my ammo boxes and even the fridge in front of the tent. Ah, this is heaven! 

In 41 days I drive 5 095 km and stay in 9 of the 10 camps on the South African side of the park. With a bit of perseverence and lots of patience I manage to see everything I could possibly have wanted to see: 59 lions, 14 cheetahs and 4 leopards. I am also lucky enough to see 5 brown hyenas, 2 honey badgers and a caracal. On one memorable day I see a mother lion at the Polentswa waterhole. After a short while, a little head peeks out from behind her, and then another two, slowly, uncertainly, with their big yellow eyes filled with curiosity – three tiny cubs.

One of the cubs falls over its feet and lands in the water. Plop! Without any help it manages to swim to safety.
This is the kind of sighting that makes the Kgalagadi so special. Often a game drive is like a story that plays out as you look on, and you feel like you’re part of the narrative…

A story that captures this spirit is the book about Ousus, the lion, by Piet Heymans and Henriette Engelbrecht. (It’s still available in the shops at the park.) Piet was a regular visitor to the park, where he photographed a lioness that lived north of Nossob. He called her Ousus and followed her fortunes from birth to old age.

When, eventually, after five-and-a-half weeks in the park I lie down on my bed at Urikaruus Wilderness Camp and think about everything I’ve experienced, I can’t decide what has impressed me most.

Was it the pride of lions that roamed around Bitterpan and roared all night?
Or perhaps the four cheetah that walked in the road right in front of me outside Twee Rivieren? Or that incredible lightning display at Nossob?
No, next time you’re wondering whether it’s worth driving so far to visit the park, believe me, it’s worth it!