Kalahari Hiking Traverse
Kalahari 5-Day Hiking Traverse
COST: Sharing R 12 900 | Single R15 900
DATES AVAILABLE
(Register Below by clicking on the date)
You will experience white saltpans, black rock koppies which is known as the Lost city, red sand dunes, dry riverbeds, wide open skies and flat-topped acacia trees that symbolize the Kalahari Red Dune Route.
Kalahari 5-Day Hiking Traverse
You will experience white saltpans, black rock koppies which is known as the Lost city, red sand dunes, dry riverbeds, wide open skies and flat-topped acacia trees that symbolize the Kalahari Red Dune Route.
You will stay in lodges each night, no camping, and have the comfort of proper showers and toilets. You will have a feast each evening provided by our hosts while you just sit back and enjoy the sunset from your deck or from a red dune.
You will experience the Kalahari Meerkat, Vulture Restaurants and lots of birdlife and see lots of Game. You will have the opportunity to feel what the Dead Sea feels like by drifting on the water in the saltpan of 107% salinity.
It is said that no two visits to the Kalahari are the same. This ancient and beautiful land is not only amazingly rich in diversity; it also reflects an endless variety of moods, making each new encounter refreshingly different from the previous.
Highlights of the Tour
- Experience the best of the Red Dunes of the Kalahari while you are hiking,
- Experience with the Kalahari Meerkats
- Hike over big flat salt pans of the Kalahari;
- Experience the milking of the Camels;
- See the black rock formation of the Lost City of the Kalahari;
- Stay on Game Reserves and go on Game Drives each day;
- Enjoy the sundowners on a Red Dune or over a Saltpan each night
- Experience the Vulture Restaurant
- Experience the hospitality of the Kalahari people;
- Hike over salt pans;
- Swim/drift on the 107% salt water on the saltpan
- Stay in the middle of the Red Sand Dunes;
- Hike close to the Botswana border; and
- Stay on the Namibia / RSA border
Information
Each day you will travel to a new destination where we will hike for the day, see the best of that area, have lunch, dinner and breakfast there and experience the best of the Kalahari.
Each venue has its own character, and the routes are planned so that you will experience the best of the Red Dune Route of the Kalahari.
Fitness Level
Not suitable for Beginner hikers. Intermediate hikers and more. You must be able to do 15 km a day. The elevation is not a lot, but you will wlak through sandy areas and it coud be very hot. There are no shorter options on the different days. If you are 70 years old and more, please contact us 1st before you register.
Venue
Venues where you will stay:
Molopo Lodge, en suite aircon Chalets
Zoutpans Game Lodge, sharing bathroom between 2 rooms, aircon
Loch Maree Game Lodge, sharing bathroom between 2 rooms, aircon
Dreghorn Game Reserve, sharing bathroom between 2 rooms, with a fan per room
Kgalagadi lodge, en suite aircon Chalets
Distances
Day 1: 14 km
Day 2: 15km
Day 3: 8km
Day 4: 10km
Day 5: 5km
Entries Available
Limited to 16 entries
Entry Fee and Highlights Includes
- 5 Nights Accommodation in lodges
- 5 Days hiking;
- Branded item
- All meals from dinner Day 1, except last night dinner and last morning’s breakfast;
- Visiting of the Kalahari The Lost City;
- Staying on Private Game Reserves
- Sunset Game drive inside the Kgalagadi Game Reserve
- Hiking over the Salt pans
- Drifting in the 107% water of the Saltpan at a Saltwork project
- Sundowners over the Saltpans
- Game drives at venues
- Vulture Restaurant
- Experience the Camel Milking; and
- All permissions from private land owners.
Entry Fee Excludes
- Drinks;
- Dinner on last night and breakfast on departure
- Transport to and from Molopo Lodge;
- Tips; and
- Travelling from venue to venue
- Wild card fees into Kgalagadi Game Reserve
- Additional night stay at Kgalagadi Lodge after the hike, please make your own arrangements
Schedule
DAY 1
14:00 onwards. Arrive at Molopo Lodge, Askam
16:00 Drive in convoy to Loch Maree and Zoutpans Game Reserves
16:30 Check in and relax
19:00 Dinner
DAY 2
6:30 Breakfast
8:00 to 13H00 Hike, on the Game Reserve, see lots of game, hike over saltpans,
15:00 Visit a salt mine project and get the opportunity to drift on the saltpan filled with 107% salt water, it is much saltier than the Dead Sea (47%)
16:00 Sundowners over the sand dunes
18:00 Dinner
DAY 3
7:00 Breakfast
8:00 Drive to Koppieskraal
8.30: Experience the Camel milking, touching the camels and taste and feel the camel milk products
9:00 to 14:00 Hike over flat salt pan, through the Lost city, Light Lunch at Koppieskraal
14:00 Drive back to Dreghorn Game Reserve
16: 00 Game drive, visit the Vulture Restaurant and Sundowners on the Dunes
18:00 Dinner,
Day 4
6:30 Breakfast
9:00 Hike on Dreghorn on top of the sand dunes with amazing views and lots of game
14:00 Lunch at Dreghorn, swim in Dreghorn’s swimming pool overlooking Botswana while you have a cold beer. Chill the rest of the afternoon in your comfortable chalets in the middle of the red sand dunes
15H00 Drive to Molopo Lodge
18.30 Dinner
Day 5:
6:30 Breakfast
7:00 Drive to Kalahari trails
7:30 Experience the Meerkats, interact with them, watch their social behaviour and enjoy their interaction with each other, maybe they will come to you, smell you etc
9:00 Hike on Kalahari trails, a guide will teach us to “read the newspaper” by looking at the tracts of all the insects and animals that were walking on the dunes the night before or the early morning
12:00 Drive to Kgalagadi lodge, enjoy a light lunch a cold beer and swim in the pool overlooking Botswana
16:00 Sunset Game drive inside the Kgalagadi National Park
19:00 Dinner (own account)
Day 6
6:30 Last Sunrise hike on the single-track hiking trail at Kgalagadi Game Lodge
9:30 Breakfast (own account)
11:00 Check out and Good Byes or book an extra night with Kgalagadi lodge
This ancient and beautiful land is not only amazingly rich in diversity it also reflects an endless variety of moods, making each new encounter refreshingly different from the previous ones. The Kalahari Red Dune Route extends north of Upington into the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park that forms the shares its borders with Namibia and Botswana and is one of the largest conservation areas in the world.
The colour of the dunes in the southern Kalahari can be attributed to the high iron oxide content of the sand. In areas of higher rainfall and in shallow areas where water collects, the iron oxide is leached out, causing the sand ultimately to turn white. The gradual effect of the leaching transforms the desert into a wonderful variety of colours.
Besides the red dunes, some of the most obvious features of the Kalahari landscape are the nests of the sociable weaver birds. The colonies have up to 50 chambers housing as many as 300 birds.
Since the Kalahari is a desert, daytime temperatures can be extremely high and in winter, night-time temperatures can drop below zero, though the days are usually warm and pleasant. Thunderstorms are common during the rainy season between November and April.
