5 things I hate about the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park

By Roxanne Reid
From my previous posts about the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park you’ll gather that this park, which skips across the border between South Africa and Botswana, has a special place in my heart.

But it’s not perfect. Here are 5 things I hate about the Kgalagadi.

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1. Roads, roads, roads. The sandy roads are infamous for corrugations that can devour even the hardiest of vehicles, rattling your rib cage and teeth, maybe even shaking your brains inside your head – depending on how long it’s been since  someone came to give them a good dragging with some tyres tied to the back of a tractor. (Secretly, I rather like that poor roads put dabblers off from returning, so Kgalagadi addicts like me can have the place to ourselves!) 

Shaking car parts loose on these roads is not uncommon

2. Badly behaved humans. Despite the park’s clearly stated and practical regulations, some people find inventive ways to behave badly. Sitting on the roof of their 4x4 so they have a better view of a leopard at a waterhole. Pushing in front of a car that’s giving a cheetah in the road some personal space, so that they obscure the view for everyone else and frighten the animal into the dunes and out of sight. Driving off-road to get a better view of a sleeping lion, nevermind the damage to the burrows of mice, geckos and many other little creatures. (Here’s a good – or bad – example.) Their motto: sure, no problem, rules are made to be ignored, hey.

Visitors happily picnicking at Cheleka waterhole, where predators come to drink and you're not allowed out of your car

These schmucks thought climbing a dune was a good idea, rules be damned; I almost wish a lion had chased them, but I wouldn't want the lion to be punished for the humans' bad behaviour

Why do these people have to park offroad? It's against park regulations and they're not much closer to the sleeping lion anyway

3. The unpleasant and dodgy water that comes out of the taps, meaning that we have to carry all our own drinking water into the park. Park water comes from boreholes and is brackish or soapy, and there have been reports of heavy metal baddies lurking in there, especially at Twee Rivieren. There was an expensive plan a few years ago to filter the water in the camps, but that flopped on its face. Park management makes other arrangements rather than drink the borehole water themselves; the lower-downs have no choice. 

4. Kissing any vestige of moisture in your skin goodbye as you collapse into flakiness that plays havoc with your wrinkles and sucks at your eyeballs till they burn like hell, turn ghoulish red and feel like they’ve been towel-dried and sandpapered.

5. Leaving the Kgalagadi behind to go home, although it’s true what locals say: if you get Kalahari sand between your toes, you’re destined to return.

What do you hate about the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

And just in case another Kgalagadi addict lynches me, let me just say that there are lots more reasons to love the Kgalagadi than to hate it. Read 10 reasons to love the Kgalagadi to find out about some of them.

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