Central Kalahari Game Reserve

In depth guide to the wildlife, Bushmen & Seasons of Central Kalahari desert in Botswana.
The Kalahari is the largest sand basin in the world, covering 2,500km from northern South Africa, through Angola and Namibia and ending in the DR Congo. It may not have permanent surface water, but unlike other arid areas, Kalahari is well vegetated with a variety of habitats including acacia trees and patches of flat grasslands.

Central Kalahari Game Reserve
Central Kalahari Game Reserve, the largest game reserve in the world and Africa’s most remote area covers 52,800sq km of wilderness and dominates the central regions of Botswana. The Game Reserve is an extensive national park in to Kalahari Desert. It also doubles as the largest game reserve in Botswana and its characterized by vast open plains and salt pans. This extensive national park  and was established in 1961 and is highly remote characterize by unforgiving climate and harsh terrain which have kept it pristine and only the fully self-sufficient traveler would venture into the reserve alone. However of recent it has been closed to the public.
Flora and Fauna

Central Kalahari Blue Wildebeests
CKGR is a habitat to a wide range of wildlife including brown hyena, blue wildebeest, eland, gemsbok, cheetah, giraffe, warthog, wild dog, leopard, lion, kudu and red hartebeest. Game here is in barren region compared to what exists in the northern parks: desert species dominate: springbok, gemsbok and eland – and there is a sound number of predators, particularly lion. Although there are permanent waterholes, more water-dependent animals like elephant and buffalo are absent while the huge water-based migrations of blue wildebeests and zebra are, unfortunately no longer present.
Geography
This arid terrain is generally even and gently rolling covered with shrub grasses with some sections covered in sand dunes punctuated with areas of larger trees. Existing river valleys are fossilized with salt pans plus 4 ancient riverbeds whose rivers meander through the reserve; for instance Deception Valley-a dusty old watercourse which began to form about 16,000 years ago- but a radiant game watching vicinity today. The reserve is also dominant with flaxen grasslands. Some solitary mopane, camel thorn, Kalahari apple, and silver custer-leaf trees stand in isolation in expansive fields of grass.
The San Bushmen

Kalahari San Bushmen
Central Kalahari Game Reserve surprisingly was established not to protect the endangered wildlife, but instead focused on providing defensive cover to the nomadic San Bushmen. It was to create a refuge for the San Bushmen in this natural environment for their survival. These Bushmen have inhabited Kalahari for thousands of years ever since roaming here as nomadic hunters and being the original inhabitants of this land for the last 30,000 years.
They survived in nomadic-hunter cluster families, an art form in the Kalahari. They lived a defined lifestyle which turned disgrace to the stylish Europeans after colonizing Southern Africa. As a result the Bushmen found themselves being hunted to extinction.
It was because of this that their survival became a prime issue in 1961 when Botswana was still a British Protectorate, and the Central Kalahari Game Reserve was formed as their homeland. Most have now intermixed with other tribes such as the Bakgalagadi, and live in villages at the southern end of this reserve. Their traditional lifestyle is now extinct although some bush survival knowledge is still passed on present generations.
Best time to visit
Wet Season; The best time to visit the northern Central Kalahari Game Reserve is during or slightly after the rains which come in late November to late March. This is when the grazing is at its finest. The birding during this time is admirable especially when the resident species have been joined by migrant birds, and raptors are particularly well represented. However the rainfall is at times irregular. Rainstorms are common and in most times make the roads very muddy and impassable.
Dry season: May to October is hot, dry and dusty in the Kalahari with little water and limited animals. The hottest spell peaks in October.
Getting There
To get there you’ll need to charter a flight plane from Maun – a small town on the Okavango Delta, otherwise it’s a long and dusty drive. In the event of driving, a fully equipped 4WD is highly recommended.