Kgalagadi District

Kgalagadi is the south-west corner of Botswana, 105,200 km² of Kalahari sand pressed against Namibia and South Africa. The name comes from a Tswana word for a waterless place, and fewer than 60,000 people live here. Kgalagadi North, the Hukuntsi and Kang end, has 0.3 people to the square kilometre. Tsabong is the capital. More than a third of the district is the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, and that is why most visitors come. The rest is scattered villages and very long roads.

Getting there

Two tar roads do the work. The A2, the Trans-Kalahari Highway between Lobatse and the Namibian border, runs through Kang in the north of the district. For the south you leave the A2 at Sekoma and turn down the A20. Buses leave Gaborone for Tsabong each morning and take six to seven hours. Hukuntsi is about 110 km of tar west of Kang.

From South Africa, McCarthy’s Rest is the post for Tsabong. Middlepits and Bokspits are village crossings further south-west. All three shut at 16:00 on the Botswana side.

When to go

May to September, when the heat is off. Winter nights freeze, and Tsabong holds Botswana’s record low of minus 15°C, so campers should pack for it. Summer is harsh. Tsabong’s record high is 42.6°C. What rain there is, around 250 mm a year, falls between November and May.

What to do

Mabuasehube, the eastern end of the transfrontier park, is the reason to be here. The park has its own page.

Outside the park, Tsabong has the camel park about 10 km from town. The herd began with 40 police camels handed over in 2003, a leftover of the days when the border police patrolled on them, and has grown to around 500. A trust for Tsabong, Maubelo and Maleshe runs it with the tourism board, with camel rides, quad bikes and chalets. It has had money and grazing troubles, so phone before you drive out.

Hukuntsi (the name means “many corners”) is mostly Bangologa, with Tshane, Lokgwabe and Lehututu close by. Tshane has a !Xóõ cultural centre. Khawa, west of Tsabong on dirt roads, hosts a desert challenge every year.

Kang is a stopover and nothing more, but a useful one, with fuel and a handful of places to stay.

Good to know

Plan around fuel. Tsabong, Kang, Hukuntsi and Sekoma have it and the park has none, so fill up at every one. Tsabong has a bank and a hospital. Travellers disagree about its shops (one calls the supermarket well stocked, another found very little), so buy food earlier.

For the sand tracks to the park you need a 4x4 with good clearance, tyres let down and all your own water. The UK government advises a convoy or a satellite phone for country this empty. Livestock and wildlife stray onto the tar, so don’t drive after dark.

Malaria is close to a non-issue. The CDC records only rare cases in Kgalagadi North, and UK advice for the southern half of Botswana is bite avoidance, no tablets.

Last updated 12 October 2026. Sources: Statistics Botswana, 2022 Population and Housing Census preliminary results (Kgalagadi South and North population, area and density, Tsabong), Department of Immigration and Citizenship, Botswana ports of entry with operating hours (PDF, updated April 2025, copy hosted by pcf11.org), US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Botswana traveller health (malaria by district), UK National Travel Health Network and Centre (NaTHNaC), Botswana malaria risk areas, UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, Botswana travel advice (road travel, remote areas), Botswana Daily News (BOPA), Camel Park jewel of Kgalagadi Desert (10 March 2019), Botswana Daily News (BOPA), Plans afoot to exploit Camel Park value chain (14 July 2022), The Patriot on Sunday, Tsabong camel park land allocation standoff (24 September 2024), Wikipedia, Kgalagadi District (area, neighbours, rainfall, share covered by the park), Wikipedia, Tsabong (record low and high temperatures), Wikipedia, Kang (on the Trans-Kalahari Highway), Wikipedia, Hukuntsi (meaning of the name, Bangologa majority), Wikipedia, Tshane (cultural centre, neighbouring villages), Wikipedia, Khawa (annual desert challenge, dirt roads), Wikipedia, Bokspits (border post, position), Wikipedia, Middlepits (border post, position), Wikipedia, A2 road (Botswana) (route, Sekoma junction with the A20), Wikipedia, Kalahari Desert (meaning of Kgalagadi), Wikivoyage, Tsabong (buses from Gaborone, camel park distance, bank, hospital), Ostrich Trails, Mabuasehube guide (fuel at Tsabong, Kang, Hukuntsi and Sekoma, road surfaces, freezing winter nights, Tsabong supermarket; updated 27 June 2025), Tracks4Africa, Mabuasehube, the Kgalagadi's wild side (Tsabong shops, sand, self-sufficiency).