Amber Sky Creations

Kgalagadi – Brown Hyaenas at Bitterpan

Posted on September 6, 2019June 14, 2020 by wilma

On our last morning at Bitterpan, we woke up to find a Brown Hyaena at the waterhole. After seeing them visit the waterhole several times during our stay at Bitterpan, this did not cause stunned amazement anymore, but only excitement at getting another opportunity to get an even better shot.

Then, another Brown Hyaena appeared, to which the first one seemed to take violent exception. What followed, was probably one of the most incredible sightings of the trip, if not our lives. The two hyaenas chased each other around the camp, and even briefly rolled around in a very unfriendly embrace (behind some bushes where we couldn’t photograph it, of course), before one was chased off.

After all of this, we were of course way behind schedule and had to scramble to vacate our unit and load the car, but what an incredible way to end our stay at Bitterpan!

Kgalagadi – Bitterpan

Posted on September 5, 2019June 15, 2020 by wilma

Bitterpan was an absolutely amazing experience, starting with the access road! After our morning at the hide, followed by the business of loading the car, checking out, stocking up with firewood and other necessities, filling up the car and letting down the tires some more, we finally hit the road just before 11 am. This was our first mistake, as the sun was already high in the sky and, as we would learn, heat loosens up the sand even more, making it even harder to drive!

Regardless of the late start and the mild difficulties on the road, we were still first to arrive at a deserted camp. Bonus – we got the best unit, and to be the first visitors to pick a fridge!

We set up our tripods in the braai enclosure that overlooks the pan, and one of our first sightings was of a herd of Red Hartebeest making there way across the pan towards the waterhole.

We stayed in Bitterpan for two nights. Bitterpan has a reputation for not providing very many, or very spectacular sightings, so we were prepared to spend two nights and a day just lazing about and enjoying the atmosphere. But, contrary to all our expectations, we were properly spoiled with some amazing sightings. There were Gemsbok on the pan, stunning scenery, and many small birds to keep us entertained. Brown Hyaena, Jackals and even a late-night Leopard visited the waterhole. Honey Badgers trotted past the camp in search of food.

And then there was the “Brown Hyaena Incident”, which deserves its own blog post!

Kgalagadi – Wildebeest in the dust

Posted on September 4, 2019June 14, 2020 by wilma

The morning before we left Nossob for Bitterpan, we decided to spend some time in the hide, rather than either going out for an early drive or leaving early for Bitterpan. The gamble paid of spectacularly, with a herd of Blue Wildebeest arrived at the waterhole around 7:30.

Under normal circumstances, a herd of Blue Wildebeest isn’t always the most spectacular sighting. However, with all the dust kicked up being gently back-lit by the early morning light, the resulting photos were quite special, and very quintessentially Kalahari…

Kgalagadi – Kieliekrankie

Posted on September 3, 2019March 28, 2023 by wilma

The first camp we stayed in after Twee Revieren, was Kieliekrankie. It is a beautiful camp situated high on a dune, overlooking a waterhole. There is no electricity, but with solar-powered lights and gas geysers, fridges and stoves, you hardly notice it.

First view of Kieliekrankie from the access road

The highlight of Kieliekrankie is definitely the deck, featuring a braai with a view over the red dunes and flood-lit waterhole.

The only downside of Kieliekrankie, for us, was that lack of wildlife in the area. You rarely see anything on the dune road. You really have to drive to either one of the main river-bed roads to see a lot of wildlife. So Kieliekrankie was not a good base for wildlife photography, in our experience. However, it would definitely be a good place to go if you want solitude, quiet and beauty.

Staying at Kieliekrankie, and hanging out around Aughterlonie as late as we dared in the afternoon, did give us one of the best sightings of the trip – an African Wild Cat, lying in the riverbed and then getting up and walking away.

Kgalagadi, September 2019

Posted on August 31, 2019March 28, 2023 by wilma

Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park has always been on our bucket list, so we were very excited when we finally made it there in August/September 2019.

We spent two weeks travelling through the park, staying in 6 out of the 9 camps on the South African side – Twee Revieren, Kieliekrankie, Nossob, Bitterpan, Mata-Mata and Urikaruus.

When we were there, the park was incredibly dry. So dry, that most of the wildlife had moved North into Botswana, where it was less dry. Nevertheless, we had an incredible time!

The South African side of the park has two main roads, running alongside (and sometimes in!) the two dry river beds. The Auob river road takes you West from Twee Revieren, past Urikaruus and Kalahari Tented Camp, and ends at Mata-Mata camp, where you can also exit the park across the border into Namibia. The Nossob road takes you past Nossob camp, up to Grootkolk and Garaghab and ends at the Union’s End picnic side, where South Africa, Namibia and Botswana come together. You cannot exit here, though. It is a dead end.

In between the two main roads are the two so-called “dune roads”. Contrary to their names, they don’t actually require any dune driving. Both dune roads are well-maintained gravel roads. In fact, they are usually the best roads in the park!

The “lower” dune road is closer to Twee Revieren and takes you past Kieliekrankie camp. The “upper” dune road is deeper into the park and passes a few kilometres East of Bitterpan, which can only be reached via its own, dedicated 4×4 access road.

In between the camps, there are a few basic picnic sites as well as a few viewpoints where you can drive onto the dunes that flank the river beds and roads to get a view of the interior of the park, as well as a bird-eye view of the river beds.