Central Kalahari Game Reserve

 

 

 

In April 2016 I did my second trip to Central Kalahari Game Reserve in two years. My first trip was a solo effort in 2015 and was way too short. This time I did it properly with my younger brother and was also accompanied by our parents in their own vehicle and trailer.

 

Our primary destinations were Leopard Pan (CKSUN1) campsite and Deception Campsite (CKDEC1) and our stop over on the way would be Tuuthebe Lodge & Camping, close to Lethlakane. We crossed the border at Stockpoort in less than 10 minutes without any issues. On arrival at Tuuthebe we were all pleasantly surprised with the place and found a nice campsite for a quick set up. The ablutions and other facilities was very clean and I would recommend this to anyone looking for a stop over en-route to CKGR. Check them out at: Tuuthebe Lodge & Camping

 

Traveling through Africa can be slow at times with a lot of animals and villages, so be patient and enjoy what Africa has to offer. We had no troubles reaching Matswere Gate by mid day. The road into CKGR is in fair condition and we were able to reach Deception valley in 3 hours. We did incur some trouble with the trailer's brakes at this stage, so we disconnected them and pressed on and reached Leopard Pan another hour later.

During our stay here we did a short trip to Sunday Pan and a longer day trip through Passarge Valley coming back via the east-west cutline. A round trip of Leopard Pan is also a must when camping at Leopard Pan.

Deception Valley is undoubtedly on of my favourite places in the world. I can spend hours just idling up and down it and watch the sun set. We spend quite a lot of time doing just that and were fortunate enough to have some good sightings including a cheetah.

 

During our stay at Deception Campsite we also did short trips to Deception Pan and another longer day trip through the Letiahau River Valley all the way to Phokoje Pan. Didn't see many game on this trip and missed the bigger side of Phokoje Pan, but the scenery still made up for it.

On our last day we were planning on just cruising up and down deception valley again until a friendly couple told us about two male lions resting in a tree island which we simply had to go see.

 

Enjoyed splendid game sightings on the way there and back and was treated to another amazing sunset to cap off an amazing trip in an amazing place.