Tswalu Desert Reserve
Written: May 22 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Beautiful desert area, excellent game viewing, spectacular lodging
Cons: Very expensive.
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| Prim8Pal's Full Review: South Africa |
This luxury private reserve on the edge of the Kalahari desert was fantastic. The reserve is 100,000 hectares in an area of beautiful red sand interspersed with low hills and mountains. The reserve can be reached by a two hour chartered flight from Johannesburg or by driving from Upington.
The lodge itself is intimate with only 9 huge bungalows with very spacious living rooms with soaring ceilings, bedrooms, indoor and verandas overlooking the desert. Ask for # 6, 7, or 8 to get the best view of the watering hole.
The main lodge is an architectural work of art. Food is of five star quality.
Game viewing was very rewarding, and ideally you should stay three nights to see the most of this large, 100,000 hectare reserve. We saw many white rhino, but missed the desert black rhinos which are often seen. Other desert animals seen include great views of meerkats (suricates), and black-backed jackals, oryx (gemsbok), red hartbeest, and the rare roan antelope. The reserve also has areas where they're breeding the roan and also the endangered sable antelope, and it was nice to see these elegant animals even though they were in a large enclosed area. They are also breeding two rare king cheetahs (a genetic variation with a much more beautiful coat than the "normal cheetah", and we got to pet these wonderful animals and hear them purr loudly!
Wild cheetah are also present, but sadly they recently had to kill the resident pride of lions due to a virus. They are now in the process of relocating a pride from another region of the Kalahari, but this will take at least until July of this year. We also had great views of a spotted hyena, but missed the rarer brown hyena.
The guides are willing to accomodate your wishes to give you the best chance to see specialty animals. In our case, we asked for a longer night drive starting after dinner to get a better chance of seeing nocturnal animals. We were rewarded with sightings of porcupine, majestic spotted eagle owls, spotted genet, springhare, and cape hare.
This place is very expensive ($400-$500 per person per night plus the cost of the air charter), but you can make arrangements cheaper in South Africa. Despite the cost, we felt it was well worth the great game viewing in a wild and uncrowded setting.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
Prim8Pal
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Member: Glenn Hori
Location: Pleasant Hill, California
Reviews written: 41
Trusted by: 6 members
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