Kalahari Game Lodge

Once one crosses into Namibia distances are great

 & places are tiny!

Our exclusive camping site.

Very comfortable it was too!

The view of the Auob River from our camp.

By coincidence we met Artu's sister 

with her daughter & her husband.

 We crossed the border into Namibia on 4th March. There is a small border crossing at Mata Mata & then we drove another 25kms to arrive at the Kalahari  Game Lodge. We had both passed this lodge several times before without staying over. So this time we decided to stay for four nights & what a great place it proved to be.

The lodge

Inside the is a bar & nice lounge area.

The restaurant is in a separate building.

Campers have full access to the lodge,

including the swimming pool.

In front of the lodge is a waterhole, 

which always seems to have game close to it.

The dunes flanking the river bed.

The river bed is flanked by lots of Camelthorn trees.

While walking along the riverbed we came across

this large Leopard Tortoise.

Herds of Gemsbok were quite common here.

Blue Wildebeest

This herd had lots of youngsters.

Springbok

White-backed Vulture.

This individual was in the

 same tree every morning.

Lilac-breasted Roller

Surprisingly very scarce in the Kalahari.

This pair had a nest in a hole in a tree.

Our camp in the evening.

Birding wasn't all that great,but we saw species like Golden-tailed Woodpecker, Common Scimitarbill & Asht Tit. We spent a lot of time in the evenings at our camp looking out over the river bed & very pleasant it was too.

Bat-eared Fox.

We couldn't believe it when it started

 hunting a Springbok!

We are not sure if the Springbok

could believe it as well!

Very entertaining!

However, on our last evening we decided to go for a meal at he lodge. Before that we had a drink overlooking the waterhole & Delana spotted a Bat-eared Fox. First it came for a drink, but then started to hunt a Springbok! Very ambitious for this small species!

It was a lovely ending to our time here. We spent a lot of the days relaxing with no serious birding, but we both enjoyed the stay tremendously & we can heartily recommend the Kalahari Game Lodge to any other travellers. But now it was time to on ve on to the Fish River Canyon.

We spent our days exploring the river bed by foot & by slowing driving up & down. A good variety of game was seen & a few birds, although the variety wasn't great. But it was a pleasant place to put our feet up & relax after all the early starts in the Kalahari.