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Kgalagadi Winter 2024 Adventure

Writer's picture: InsideOut InsideOut

So I know this is a little belated :) This trip happened almost 8 months ago. I will say, it was absolutely one our best ever. The reason I am relayed in writing about it is simply that our YouTube has gotten a bit bigger and better and we (me really) have finally gained more confidence in talking on our videos, so our blog became more of a vlog. I know many of you may not watch our channel (although I recommend you do ;), but still want to share our travels in the written form, although it will be more condensed, which I think is better, details are in each video.


What made this trip so amazing?


We wild camped for the majority for the first time. If you read our Kalagadi Summer series from last year, you know that we wild camped in Botswana at Rooiputs for the first time. Those 2 nights where of our best ever wildlife experiences with lion kills, snakes and scorpions in camp and the incredible cubs playing for ages, in just 2 short days.


In this trip, we where super lucky (and hard worked for...) enough to get 3 nights at Rooiputs, 3 nights at Nossob, 4 nights at Polentswa and 1 last night at Two Rivers. Polentswa was indeed the most incredible part. This time we were there in Winter, so the sightings are different, as is the behaviour or the animals. It is but far easier to travel with almost no storms and fabulous weather (some colder nights). It is calmer and certainly felt more peaceful having had such a rollercoaster and anxiety provoking moments in the summer (we still had a few crazy moments in winter mind you), but the air is different.


We arrived at Rooiputs after a long 12 hr drive straight from Cape Town (we don't like doing stop overs as it takes time away from our destination in this instance). We stayed at a different site than our summer trip on the opposite side of the area near the waterhole. After an easy set up we went for our first drive from camp. Rooiputs, on this trip, was more about rest, relaxation and sunsets. We did have a jackal break into our tent to steal our bread dough we use for roosterbrood, naughty buggers. We played games, gazed at stars, had good food and wine and enjoyed the sightings. We saw most the little things, some distant cats and birds with the odd scavenger. Three nights of bliss and we where on our way to our next stop, Nossob.


At Nossob we managed to get 2 nights regular camping site and one night in the luxury camp sites, basically meaning we had out own ablutions and private kitchen. In both instances we were on the fence line with an incredible view. There is one big advantage for being in a fenced camp, we realised this upon arrival at Nossob, its bliss for the kids, and we can rest easy that they are mostly safe from the larger animals. We certainly made a good choice to do the fenced camp in between, we also got to charge up everything and clean some dust and dishes more thoroughly (water in the wild camps is less common or limited, where as we have hot running water in fenced camps). The night we spent at the luxury camp sites was lovely, but not worth the added expense for us. We did have a fabulous night with a lion roaring in the early hours of the morning and our sightings while at Nossob where lovely but again, less than summer.


Polentswa is 50km north of Nossob, so not far, 1-2hrs. We decided not to rush our leaving Nossob, instead, I tried to do as much prep work for food while still at Nossob, so we would have less dishes to clean (as Polentswa has nothing but a pit toilet). We had 4 glorious nights at Polentswa. It was our first time. Not only did we have fabulous sightings, but the area and drives from Polentswa are amazing. Our first night we had lion in camp playing with our belongings! By our third night we discovered a puff adder in our pit toilet!!!!! And yes... we have footage...


Our last night was at Two Rivers, the Botswana side of Twee Rivieren. Our time there was minimal as a home stop over, but was lengthened when we left our trailer jockey wheel at the Nossob picnic site. Fortunately, the incredible staff at Twee Rivieren arranged someone to bring it down, thus delaying our home trip by 6 hours :)

So here we go - the video series is below. Enjoy!























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Tel: +27 84 984 9817

Email: jasonbarnard48@gmail.com

Location​​​​​​: Southern Suburbs Cape Town South Africa

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