Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park

• Mabuasehube pans

  Mabuasehube, Mpayathutlwa and Bosobogolo are the three biggest, with Lesholoago, Khiding and the Monamodi valley on sand tracks off to the side. Mabuasehube Pan's bare clay floor is rich in salts and animals come to lick it. Bosobogolo is short grass, which brings antelope to graze and predators after them.

  Botswana Tourism Organisation, Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park (archived copy of 27 December 2024)
• The Nossob riverbed

  The border between Botswana and South Africa follows this dry riverbed and the park has no fences, so the game moves across as it always has.

  Botswana Tourism Organisation, Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park (archived copy of 27 December 2024)
• Union's End

  The point in the Nossob riverbed where Botswana, Namibia and South Africa meet, at the park's north-western corner. There is a picnic table and an information board. A straight fence has run along the Namibian side since 1966.

  Wikipedia, Union's End
• Polentswa Lodge

  A small tented lodge on the Botswana side, owned by the Ta Shebube group, with each unit looking over a waterhole that is lit at night. It first opened in 2013, was destroyed by a veld fire in September 2021 and has reopened with five units.

  Tourism Update, Kgalagadi lodge reopens following fire

• Some 28,400 of the park's 38,000 square kilometres are in Botswana, but the three rest camps with shops and fuel (Twee Rivieren, Nossob and Mata-Mata) are all on the South African side. source
• The Nossob riverbed, which carries the border for more than 200 km, is said to flow about once a century. Water under the sand keeps the camel thorn trees along it alive. source
• Kgalagadi means place of thirst. The park has recorded temperatures from minus 11°C to 45°C, and January days often pass 40°C. source
• The Mabuasehube pans are old lake beds. Wind scooped out the hollows some 20,000 to 25,000 years ago and piled the sand into dunes on their southern rims. In a wetter spell that followed they held permanent lakes, and the clay those lakes left is the pan floor you see today. source
• Mabuasehube is said to mean red earth. The old reserve is a rectangle of about 30 by 60 km, some 1,800 square kilometres. source
• In 2017 UNESCO listed the ǂKhomani Cultural Landscape, in the Kalahari north of Upington in South Africa, as a World Heritage Site. The sand country has no rock for paintings or engravings, so a cultural mapping project is helping to keep its traditions alive among younger people. source

Checked 12 October 2026.

• very likelyGemsbokOn and around the pans at Mabuasehube and along the Nossob valley. The tourism board calls gemsbok and springbok ubiquitous here. All yearsource
• very likelySpringbokPan floors, where the short grass and salty clay draw them in. All yearsource
• very likelyRaptors, including bateleur and pygmy falconAcross the park. White-backed and lappet-faced vultures are common too. Wikivoyage counts more than 50 raptor species for the whole park. All yearsource
• very likelySociable weaverCommon across the park. Look for their big shared nests in the trees. All yearsource
• likelyLionMabuasehube, where the black-maned Kalahari lions regularly walk through the campsites, and the Nossob valley. All yearsource
• likelyRed hartebeest, eland and blue wildebeestRiver valleys and pans. The herds move around the park with the seasonssource
• likelyMeerkat and leopard tortoiseOpen ground and sandy tracks. Tortoises like to walk in the tyre rutssource
• possibleBlack-backed jackal, bat-eared fox and Cape foxThe tourism board lists all three for the park, the two foxes at Mabuasehube in particularsource
• possibleBrown hyenaAround the Mabuasehube pans and campsites, at first light or after dark. Normally a very shy animalsource
• possibleLeopardAround the Mabuasehube campsites after dark. Visitors report them watching from the edge of the firelightsource
• possibleCheetahOpen pans such as Bosobogolo, and the dry riverbedssource
• possibleSpotted hyenaReported at the Monamodi pans, where they have gone through camp at night. Regulars do not see them on every tripsource
• rareAardwolf and black-footed catOn the Mabuasehube pans in the evening, for people with sharp eyes. Count yourself lucky with eithersource

Likelihood is for a normal visit of two or three days, from the sources linked. Nothing is guaranteed in the wild.

Malaria

The risk here is very low. UK travel health advice puts the southern half of Botswana in its lowest category and recommends awareness and bite avoidance, not tablets. Cover up and use repellent between dusk and dawn, and see a doctor promptly if you get a fever after the trip. source

Lions in camp

The campsites at Mabuasehube have no fences, and lions, leopards and hyenas walk through at night. Regulars say to zip the tent and stay inside it after dark. One regular visitor would not take young children at all. source

Staying in the vehicle

Botswana's park regulations, which cover this park, forbid getting out of a vehicle except at a designated facility such as a campsite or day use site. Nobody may ride on the roof or a roof rack. The limit on park tracks is 40 km/h. source

Gate hours and night driving

Driving between closing and opening time is not allowed, and the hours change with the month: 07:30 to 18:00 in June and July, 07:00 to 18:30 in April and August, 06:00 to 19:00 in October, 05:30 to 19:30 in November and December. source

Heat and water

Summer days are very hot and winter nights very cold. There is no water you can rely on at Mabuasehube, so plan on at least 5 litres a person a day, more if you want to wash, and keep 10 litres untouched for a breakdown. source

Travelling in convoy

The Botswana Tourism Organisation says self-drivers must travel in a convoy of at least two vehicles, in well-equipped 4x4s only, and the number of vehicles on the wilderness trails is strictly controlled. With no fuel on this side and help a long way off, a second car is the sensible way to go. source

• There is no fuel on the Botswana side. The last pumps are at Tsabong coming from the south, Hukuntsi or Kang from the north and Sekoma from the Gaborone road, or at Nossob camp if you cross inside the park. One couple who logged every litre suggest at least 80 litres for getting to the park and back, plus 10 to 15 a day inside it. one source
• Let your tyres down as soon as you leave the tar and carry a compressor and gauge to pump them up again. Forum regulars run 1 to 1.2 bar at Mabuasehube and blame the corrugations on people who do not bother. several sources
• Book months ahead for a particular pan in the dry season. The DWNP sites and the trails go through the DWNP reservations office. Mabuasehube and Mpayathutlwa pans are booked with Inter-Tourism Group. Neither has online booking, so some people pay a Botswana booking agent to do it. Turn up at the gate with the booking in hand. one source
• Do not count on the taps, showers or pumped waterholes. Visitors over several years report them broken or dry at most sites, including the ablution block at Mabuasehube Gate, and what water there is tastes of salt. A-frame shade shelters and long-drop toilets are the most you should expect. several sources
• Pack everything away before bed and when you leave camp for a drive. Hyenas chew what smells interesting: one group lost a camp shower and another a new spare tyre. several sources
• The track between Nossob camp and Mabuasehube is about 170 km of sand, and reports of the time it takes run from five to nine hours. It carries traffic in both directions. The two Matopi campsites about halfway split it into two days. one source

Checked 12 October 2026. Conditions change, so confirm with the park or venue before you go.