Tswalu Loapi

the best non-malarial safari in Africa

Tswalu Loapi is located in the Tswalu Kalahari Reserve in the northwest of South Africa.

At around 1200 square kilometres, Tswalu Kalahari Reserve is one of the largest private conservation areas in Africa. With just three small lodges and only ten vehicles, it is also able to offer an unusually exclusive safari experience.

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.

The lodge is comprised of six completely independent mini-lodges, each with lounge, study, dining, kitchen, campfire and plunge pool.

Rooms

Guest accommodation at Tswalu Loapi is in a total of eight rooms. Two of the units have two bedroom suites, the other four have just one bedroom suite each, all with air-conditioning.

Activities

Tswalu Loapi provides access to an unusually broad range of activities, most of which are usually included in the room rate …

• Vehicle safari
• Walking safari
• Horse-back safari
• Bush meals
• Habituated meerkats (three groups)
• Unusual sightings including brown hyenas, aardwolves aardvarks and pangolins (some of which are radio-tagged and therefore can usually be found)
• Black and white rhinos
• Night vehicle safari
• Overnight sleepouts

It is important to note that there are no elephants in this area. For this reason, first time safari travellers often precede a stay here with a visit to a lodge in the Kruger area.

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.

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