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Wildlife Safaris in Central Kalahari Game Reserve
One of the largest protected wildernesses on earth, over 50,000 square kilometers of red Kalahari sand, fossil river valleys and grass pans in central Botswana. Ancestral land of the San Bushmen, it is known for black-maned Kalahari lions, green-season cheetah viewing and profound isolation.
Why here
The Central Kalahari is one of the largest protected areas on earth, over 50,000 square kilometers of red sand, fossil river valleys and grass pans with almost no one in it. Its signature animal is the black-maned Kalahari lion, larger and darker-maned than its northern cousins, whose roar carries for miles across the silent dunes. The reserve also holds some of Botswana's best cheetah viewing, along with gemsbok, springbok, giraffe and the rare brown hyena. When the summer rains fall, the pans of Deception Valley green up and draw grazers in numbers, and the predators follow. The other reason to come is the San: this is the ancestral land of the Bushmen, and walks with San trackers read the desert as both a larder and a pharmacy.
Best months
The green season from November to April is the game-viewing peak, when rain transforms Deception Valley and the pans and cheetah and lion hunt the gathered herds; December to March is the most productive and also the hottest and wettest. The dry season is stark and quiet, better for solitude and desert-adapted specials than big numbers. The reserve is remote, so most guests fly in and self-drivers need a fully equipped 4x4 convoy. Nights and early mornings are the active hours.
Getting there & around
The Central Kalahari is deeply remote: fly-in guests reach camp airstrips by light aircraft, while self-drivers face long stretches of deep sand track and must travel self-sufficient in a fully equipped 4x4, ideally in convoy, carrying all fuel, water and recovery gear. There is no fuel or supply inside the reserve. Camps handle drives and San Bushman walks; the green season needs booking well ahead. Distances between pans are large, so days start before dawn.
Skill levels: beginner, intermediate, advanced
Schools & guides (2)
Kalahari Plains Camp
OutfitterWilderness's camp on the edge of a vast pan south-east of Deception Valley, deep in the Central Kalahari. Eight insulated en-suite tents each carry a rooftop sleep-out deck for the desert night sky, and the whole camp runs on solar power. When the summer rains fall from November to April the pans green up and draw springbok, gemsbok and wildebeest, followed by black-maned Kalahari lion and some of Botswana's best cheetah viewing. Guided walks go out with a local San Bushman.
Tau Pan Camp
OutfitterThe first and only permanent camp inside the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, run by Botswana operator Kwando Safaris. Tau Pan means lion pan in Setswana, and the solar-powered camp of nine suites looks over a waterhole that draws the region's famous black-maned Kalahari lions, along with gemsbok, springbok and cheetah. Days are spent on game drives and on foot with San Bushman trackers, with picnic day trips out to the ethereal grass plains of Deception Valley.