Safari to Tswalu

the best non-malarial safari reserve in Africa

At around 1200 square kilometres, Tswalu Kalahari Reserve is one of the largest private conservation areas in Africa, offering high-end safari experiences to the lucky few who can afford the elevated prices.

Tswalu is the best non-malarial safari area in Africa, which makes it particularly attractive to families with very small children, older travellers and anyone else keen to avoid taking the pills.

History

The original Tswalu reserve was originally created by an Englishman, Stephen Boler, during the 1990’s, who bought up 35 farms and merged them together to create an area for trophy hunting.

When he died in 1998 the area was purchased by the present owners, the Oppenheimer family, who immediately stopped the hunting and started the work of properly restoring the landscape to its wild state.

In 2014 Tswalu Kalahari was declared a nature reserve and given formal protection by the government of South Africa.

Landscape

The reserve is a classic tract of Kalahari sandveld, characterised by vegetated fossil dune ridges, punctuated by occasional granite outcrops.
The Korannaberg is the only range of mountains in the southern Kalahari and provides shelter to a range of animals, greatly increasing the biodiversity of the area, as well as providing a stunning visual backdrop.

Wildlife

So far on this reserve they have recorded 77 species of mammals, 240 species of birds, 42 species of reptiles and 4 species of amphibians. Insect life seems boundless, with a prodigious variety of butterflies in particular.

Wildlife is naturally sparse in this desert environment, but there is plenty here, notably black and white rhinos, classic black-mane lions, cheetahs, as well as a good range of large herbivores and lesser creatures.

The area is unusually strong for more unusual sightings including wild-dogs, caracals, pangolins and aardvark.

There is also a habituated group of meerkats here, which can be a real highlight.

As much as we would love to recommend Tswalu to everyone, the truth is that it remains something of a niche option, reserved for experienced safari travellers with healthy budgets.

The usual stay duration is 4-7 nights.

Seasonality

Tswalu has a similar climate to other safari areas in this region but, importantly, it gets a great deal less rain than Kruger, so can be much more attractive during the key rainy season months of November to March …

Apr-Oct is the long dry season in the Tswalu Reserve, the best time for wildlife viewing. Although it can get very cold at night in May-Jul and very hot and humid in October.

Nov-Mar is the short green season in Tswalu, when relatively light and sporadic rains freshen the landscapes, but can occasionally become prolonged. As the season progresses, the increase in grass and foliage cover can make wildlife viewing more of a challenge.

Getting there

The Tswalu area is almost always accessed by shared light aircraft charter flights operated by the camp owners from Johannesburg (1.5 hours) or Cape Town (2 hours) into the local airstrip, from where it is a vehicle safari of just 10 minutes into camp.

Where to stay

The Tswalu area contains just three small lodges, all under the same ownership as the reserve.

The main property is Tswalu Motse, which can be booked on a room by room basis, in the usual way. The smaller Tswalu Tarkuni is for private groups of up to ten guests.

Their newest camp is Tswalu Loapi which is a tented lodge of just 6 suites, but unusually each suite is self-contained and only bookable on a private basis.

Although the majority of guests tend to stay 3-4 nights, we definitely feel that this is the kind of place you could spend 5-7 nights without running out of new and interesting things to do, especially given there are usually so many research projects going on to get involved with.

fabulous desert wildlife experiences