Remote, rugged and unforgettable

A fly-in safari experience transports guests into one of the last great remaining wilderness areas

- Brian Berkman

The Oppenheimer family is the force behind Tswalu Kalahari Reserve, a semi-arid southern Kalahari reserve of 114 000ha, the largest privately owned wilderness in South Africa. The Korannaberg mountains run from north to south while rolling red sand dunes and small hills shape the landscape. Known as the green Kalahari, there are many more species here than further up to the north.

Remote and rugged, the area is so vast that a number of days is required to fully explore it. When Farmer’s Weekly visited in September, the grasses were golden and the incredibly fine red sands gave way underfoot as if we were walking in an hourglass.

Tswalu Kalahari Reserve may be among the last great wilderness areas where the primary role is to return the land to its natural state and to reintroduce animals that naturally occur there.

You may be lucky, as we were, to see a family of lion feasting on a zebra, its hind legs already chewed off, within the first hour of visiting. Or, as we were on the second day, lucky to encounter a cheetah mother with her three cubs with an oryx kill.

There are three colonies of meerkats that have been habituated by a team dedicated to these charismatic animals so that they are comfortable with guests on foot near their burrows. Experiencing this was a highlight of our stay.

GUIDES ARE ESSENTIAL