UK
South Africa
Botswana & Namibia
Zimbabwe & Mozambique
Zambia & Malawi
Cruises
Campsites
Khutse is a relatively small Reserve at the southern end of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve. The Central Kalahari Game Reserve with Khutse at the bottom. You can drive north to the Central Kalahari but it's a long way on sandy tracks and as we've currently only got 1 fuel tank we decided to take our time and have a couple of days in the 3 mains areas of the Reserve, Moreswe, Molose and Khutse. In the 6 days we were there we only saw 5 other vehicles. It took us nearly 2 1/2 hours to drive the 70km from the gate to Moreswe. This was typical of most of the tracks around the reserve. We put the seed net over the radiator as the centre of the track often had long grass. There was mostly thick bush on either side of the track so unless animals were on or very close to the track you didn't see them. Moreswe Great to be able to watch bush TV every evening! A group of red hartebeest There were plenty of birds around the campsite and the Pan so I was able to use my zoom lens to get some photos. On our way to Molose we stopped to watch this group of giraffes. Molose. As we left Molose to drive to Khutse campsite we saw elephant prints on the track very close to our site. We then followed the tracks nearly all the way (about 30km) until we eventually came across a group of 3 elephants. We saw several ostriches around the Reserve. This rather shy family ran off as soon as they heard us. Khutse I spent several hours at the parking near the waterhole with a great view out over the Pan. As I was the only vehicle there I was able to position myself so the sun was behind me and so that I could see the Pan as well as some of the the nearby bushes which were popular with birds. A couple of female kudu. On my way back to camp I came across these 2 elephants keeping out of the sun. This giraffe took some time to approach the waterhole but then stayed around for some time. A black-backed jackal which returned to the waterhole several times. Is the jackal thinking "Wow she's tall!" A pair of red-headed finches. I saw lots of raptors flying over the Pan. Is the jackal thinking "Wow she's tall!" After leaving Khutse we drove 100 back along a fairly good gravel road to Lethlakeng where we filled up with fuel and then took a sandy track for about 70km rather than the longer tar road. For the most part it was easy driving at about 60km/hr. Diary (pdf document) A springbok 'pronging'.
Botswana. February / March 2018 - Khutse Game Reserve.
We camped at site 2 (there are 4 sites which are well spread out). It's the best site as you do get a bit of a view of the Pan from the site(the others have no view at all). The Pan and waterhole are a short drive away. As it was the rainy season the waterhole wasn't used much but there was always some game on the Pan, usually springbok, gemsbok and red hartebeest However they were obviously not used to vehicles as they ran off as soon as they heard and engine. We drove around the Pan several times and also further along the valley to another Pan.
We camped at site 1 (there are 4 well spread out sites). It's a short drive to the waterhole and during the dry season it must be a great spot however in February
this area is no good for game viewing as there's no proper Pan and only the 'main' tracks to drive along. In the 2 days that we were there we saw 1 gemsbok and a jackal that visited our campsite one evening. There were a few birds about but not as many as at Moreswe.
There are 10 sites which are fairly close together compared with Moreswe and Molose but all separated by bush. It's the nearest campsite to the Entrance Gate and therefore the most popular for weekenders, however when we were there we only saw 1 other couple who departed soon after we arrived. It's a short drive to the waterhole by a huge Pan. There was excellent grazing there so we always saw plenty of animals and they were a lot more used to vehicles so didn't immediately run off.
