The Central Kalahari Game Reserve was created in 1961 to protect an endangered species. This dying species, however, has nothing to do with the animals that roam the nearly 53,000 square kilometers of Reserve. The Reserve first started as a homeland of so

Today, there are roughly 200-300 San Bushmen still living within the park. The government has forcibly pushed these peoples to the periphery into settlements unsuited to their ways of life. The government’s excuse is that the economic (medical, educational and so forth) costs are simply too high. With millions of tourist dollars literally oozing through, this argument seems rather lacking. Most likely, say supporters of the San people, is the discovery of diamonds in the park. With 75% of the San bushmen kicked out in 1997 alone, something sure seems peculiar. Though these cultural inhabitants are pretty well gone, visitors can still see plenty of animals in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve.

Because the Central Kalahari (along with the Kalahari) is so expansive, nearly every kind of southern African animal can be found somewhere in the park. You’ll not only see giraffe and warthogs, wild dogs and cheetahs, wildebeest and hartebeest, lions and leopards, gemsbok and eland, but you’ll have chance encounters with springbok and cheetahs, aardwolf and jackals, wild cats and Cape foxes, black-footed polecats and bat-eared polecats, and badgers and mongoose. If these don’t fling your fancy, then perhaps the duiker, porcupines, Whistling Rat or hares will get you out of bed for an early safari. You’ll see the most animals around December to April.

If you’re not into land animals, per se, then the flying creatures may fit the bill. The Central Kalahari Game Reserve is an annual home to hundreds of cacophony clashing birds. The great nests of the weaver are often as big as a small ocean going vessels. These nests sometimes reach five to six meters long and two to three meters high. Birders have spotted as many as two to three hundred birds in one nest that can weigh over 900 kg. Additionally, you’ll have no problem glimpsing giant eagle owls, goshawks, kites and kestrels, raptors and martial eagles.

Visitors usually have the most luck with these animals after the summer rainy season. It's then that the animals really start moving from place to place, fattening up and moving on. The animals feed on the flaxen grasses, Kalahari apples, silver Custer-leaf trees and other acacia and mophane trees of the area. The terrain includes sand dunes, flatter plains and shrouded woodland in the more southern region of the Reserve. One of the best places within the park to view wildlife is the now-dried Deception Valley—an old river that flowed over 15,000 years ago that today looks full from a distance but dry upon reaching its banks. The Central Kalahari Game Reserve has salt pans dispersed throughout as well.

Though there is no fence around the park, there are natural boundaries that form the perimeter. This gives three official entrances into the park at Matswere in the northeast, Khutse in the south and Xade to the west though most tour operators and guides will have you enter through Matswere.

Depending on your personal preference, your tour operator can most likely book you accommodation close to the park or in one of the camp sites within the park (there are no lodges within the park itself). When you enter at Matswere, you’ll have several campsites available at Passage Valley, Leopard Pan, Sunday Pan and Deception Valley. It is wise to bring your own water and a trowel to dig your own latrine. Firewood can be collected from wooded areas but must be left around islands. The best way to enjoy your stay in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve is to book your trip through a tour operator that can ensure the most sensible stay for you and your family.