Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park – Nossop, Polentswa and back to Twee Rivieren

Back at Twee Rivieren we checked at reception to see if any Nossop campsites had become available. Alas, it was still fully booked but we were again able to make a plan. Roger met another visitor, Danie du Toit, who was travelling alone and had 4 nights booked at Nossob. He had no problem with us sharing his site and in no time we were booked for three nights at Nossop; thanks Danie!

The Polentswa Camp is situated 60 Km north of Nossob on the Botswana side of the ‘river’, and consists of 3 very rustic, unfenced sites. We were keen on spending a few nights there, so after sorting out the Nossob accommodation we walked across to the Botswana counter. There we dealt with a very friendly and helpful lady. The camp was fully booked but after we explained that we are completely self-sufficient she offered us the ‘reserve’ campsite for 3 nights.

The road to Nossop was very corrugated, with short smoother ‘relief’ stretches every now and then. It took us the best part of a day to travel the 160 km from Twee Rivieren, taking into account all our stops for sightings and the condition of the road. But we had amazing raptor sightings and generally enjoyed the changing landscape and scenery.

The next morning Roger decreased the tyre pressure still further in an attempt to soften the ride over the sandy corrugations. Near the beginning of our morning game drive we drove up a rather rocky track to a lookout point where we witnessed a spectacular aerial chase! A Red-necked Falcon was after some small bird high above. Each time the falcon swooped in for the kill, the quarry darted out of the way in the nick of time. On the fifth pass the desperately diving LBJ reached the cover of the thorny shrubs below and the very disappointed falcon landed on a nearby Camelthorn tree, looking for another victim.

A few minutes after leaving the lookout point Roger asked me to look at the front wheel on my side as Ufudu seemed to be pulling to the left. As I opened the door we heard the last of the air escaping from the wheel as the tyre separated from the rim! No problem we thought – have compressor, will inflate! That was easier said than done. While I kept vigil for anything hungry and scary, Roger jacked the wheel up and tried to get the tyre to re-seat on the rim. He had to remove the inflation nozzle from the air hose and the valve from the wheel to get the air in fast enough! After much sweat and bad language and half a tin of silicon spray on the rim, the tyre finally started inflating. Our elation was short lived however, as it soon became evident that the side wall was punctured! No problem we thought – have spare wheel. Now, before we left home our friend Robin suggested to Roger that he made sure he was able to undo the wheel nuts. He hadn’t, and try as he might, those nuts were going nowhere! Luckily, while browsing through a 4×4 shop before departing on the trip, Roger bought a tubeless tyre puncture repair kit and decided it may come in handy. It did. Eventually after 2 hours, stranded on the side of the road, and with a plug in the hole, we were able to continue. Thanks for the assistance JC.

Back at camp Roger set up the camera trap to see who came to drink at the tap at our campsite. We got more than we hoped for…

On our last day at Nossop we decided to get back early and try out the hide at camp before the masses returned at the end of the day. The hide overlooks a waterhole near the gate. It is very popular and mostly crowded. It was deserted when we arrived but a few others trickled in. Soon after we sat down someone spotted a lioness approaching in the distance. We watched as she descended the dune and strode purposefully towards the waterhole. According to Daan and Jeanette, who are regular visitors to the Kgalagadi, this was one of the best lion sightings they had experienced at the hide.

Our stay at Poletswa was probably the most enjoyable period in the Park. There were no fences, no electric lights, no other people; just a big Camelthorn tree, the Kalahari and the stars.

The campsite is about 2 Km from the Polentswa waterhole so we could get there early and stay until just before the curfew time.

We spent hours watching the herds of Wildebeest, Red Hartebeest and Springbok jostling for position in the queue to drink, and also watching falcons waiting for a chance to snap up a dove or sandgrouse.

We noticed an unmarked grave a few hundred metres from the camp and wondered who had been buried there. We joked that perhaps it was a visitor who hadn’t abided by the rules of staying in their vehicle or who wandered out alone after dark. An internet search turned up the following information:

According to the book called ‘Kalahari Gemsbok National Park’ by Gus Mills and Clem Haagner, the grave was that of one Hans Schwabe, a diamond prospector who was passing through the Park on his way to Namibia (then South West Africa) in 1958. He enquired whether there were diamonds in the area and didn’t believe it when he was told that there weren’t any. Schwabe abandoned his car and went in search of diamonds on foot. He left a note in his car saying that there was no water for the car (which was untrue as the radiator was found to be full) and did some illegal prospecting along the way. Game rangers later found his unsteady tracks and saw vultures overhead. It wasn’t long before they came across what was left of his remains. As it was impossible to remove his body, they buried it where they found it and placed a little wooden cross on his grave.

One of our best sightings was a Cheetah with two cubs. We watched her for 4 hours, during which time she made two unsuccessful hunting attempts.

The first attempt failed because a Kori Bustard gave away her position as she was stalking a lone Springbok male. She then rested for a long time before she spotted a group of 5 Springbok approaching but this time her timing was off and they all lived to see another day. We eventually left them, not knowing whether they had to sleep hungry that night.

We later spotted another Cheetah with 3 cubs of about the same age but unfortunately did not have the time to sit and observe her.

We had been dreading the 240 Km journey from Polentswa back to Twee Rivieren so were most elated to find that the road had been graded. What a pleasure it was!

Unfortunately we caught up with the grader 20 km after Nossob. By now the tyre plug had started leaking and we were forced to stop every few kilometres to re-inflate. When we reached Twee Rivieren we also noticed that the water tank level was low and discovered that the connecting pipe between the two water tanks had chafed through on the chassis.

We spent a further two nights at Twee Rivieren so had a day to drive out for a final experience before leaving the park. On that day we had a few sightings of seriously over-eaten creatures!

Back at Twee Rivieren Roger again tried unsuccessfully to remove the wheel as the repair was leaking badly. We decided to re-plug it and hoped it would last for the 250 Km to Upington.

It was Roger’s birthday so we went to the camp restaurant for dinner; a fitting end to a most enjoyable two weeks in the Park.

According to Anthony Paton of African Birding Company, a ‘twitcher’ is an obsessive list keeper. Perhaps we are becoming twitchers? We ended with a list of 72 bird species spotted during out stay in the Kgalagadi.