Camping in the Kalahari; Khutse Game Reserve in Botswana

this is a hands down one of my favorite places on the planet hi I'm Kristoff this is Vanessa please join us as we go camping in the Kalahari could see game reserve is located at the bottom of the Central kalori in Botswana footsie is 580 kilometers from Johannesburg in South Africa are you ready stopping over in motilano before heading across the scope attack border post then on to monopololi and then finally did Road from lift the king all the way to kutzing [Music] for about three hours we hit our first stretch of dirt far to go now heading north [Music] Carolina we've made it to our first stop which is Barcelona game reserve I have done a campsite reviewer before but I think I'll come back here soon and do a proper video about it we're just staying in the general camping area I booked it a little late so I couldn't find a bush camp but we literally just here for tonight and tomorrow we want to could see I have written an article about botsolana as well so you can have a look for the [Music] blacker or go wild places magazine it'll be in there I prefer the bush cams but this will do nicely as a stopover but then we don't mix it I'm joined by my wife Vanessa on this trip could see was our very first camping trip together so safe to say it always brings back a lot of fond memories but Solano is a great place to start your Botswana trip [Music] we're off to an early start it's going to be a long drive our trailer has a few different configurations for stopover is like this we just pop out the bed and pop up the roof very quick and convenient thank you turn it off yeah [Music] it's around 7am now we're crossing into Botswana at the scope attack border post then we head to maripololi it's 357 kilometers to kutzi from botsolano but this can take up to eight hours to drive we soon in beautiful Botswana and in the busy little town of Molly puloli where we stock up on provisions and fuel [Music] [Music] little King is the last town before you hit dirt just airing down we've just hit dirt so we almost did cootsie um yeah it was quite busy as usual but it's pretty much uh open Dirt Road from here [Music] it's a hundred kilometers from Little King to the cootsie gate but this can take up to two hours depending on the conditions of the road oh we've just reached cootsie gate it's about three o'clock in the afternoon now we left at about seven so it's a Long Day's drive it's a very hectic around Molly palole up to little King and then for metal King up to kutzi um there's about I think about 80 kilometers uh worth of not so great dirt road but yeah and we're heading to camp we staying at uh kuchi Camp first just to overnight because it's closer to the gate and then tomorrow we're at temalusi could to Game Reserve was declared a protected area in 1971. this 2500 square kilometer Reserve shares a fenceless border with the central Gallery game reserve [Music] it's time to Hitch off the trailer for our first game Drive amazing to be back in this place at Gucci pan you can expect scenes like this grazing herds of Springbok wildebeest James book and Roy artbears as well as the ever-present call of the northern black Quran squabbling over territory these goof balls are everywhere and quite entertaining all right [Music] our first evening back here does not disappoint we're on cootsie one this used to be my favorite but elephants have pushed over the single acacia trees so there's no shade now I'll show you around just now but first we're just popping back to the gate [Music] uh we just went to the cootsie gate uh as we stole fairly close to it the Grizzy Camp is only about 12 kilometers away from it uh so we just uh topped up on some water in the cars tank the trailer is full uh that's about 140 liters but we're here for a whole week so yeah you do need a whole lot of water the campsites don't have water obviously there's some water at the gate that's not portable though so remember to bring enough water the campsites at kitty cap and the rest of the reserve are unfenced with a fire pit and very basic ablutions some of the ablutions like number two here are quite far from the campsite for your own safety drive to these at night don't work we also meet some familiar faces it was great seeing you guys Karen footsie number nine is my favorite with a nice big acacia tree for shade right now though we're heading to our main destination malusi there are two routes to milosi from kutsi both just under 60 kilometers and they take up to two hours to drive we're setting up the works now as we're here for a few days behind me are what the pollutions look like in the ckgr and could see Reserve basically have a pit toilet and a bucket shower I have to be honest considering you paying around more than 700 rounds per person per day these could be in a lot better state oh [Music] we're heading to the main attraction at malusi the Waterhole it's not far from camp this usually doesn't disappoint early mornings and late afternoons foreign [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] even though it's April already it's not from coming to still get thunderstorms and critics a lot of rain this year it only means one thing another nap it does clear up in the afternoon though so let me show you more esri morissa is only about 20 kilometers from malosi and the drive takes about an hour [Music] we just came out to mareshwe to show you around um most of the morning we spent around Camp because it was raining so we just took it easy so yeah it's pretty much been my day off um pretty nice Pan the campsites are sort of around the pan there's actually some water here as well and yeah there's a little bit of game around as well so nice campsites campsite one is right on the road with limited shade campsite 2 is probably the best with a very nice view of the pan campsite 3 is the largest but has no shade overall I like this area we also bump into some of Vanessa's family doe and Esther and some new friends Peter nevonne thanks for the awesome dinner guys [Music] number two by the way it has a great view of the pan [Music] [Music] oh [Music] good morning uh we heard uh lines last night and uh this early this morning they sounded really close so we went to the water Hall and we just found them quite an ice sighting uh it's female with uh oldish Cubs obviously but they look to be all male about five five of them um have a look at this hello [Music] I've been walking for days and days [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] divided by the single mode [Music] and I've been waiting something now don't dripping in my stall out stop thinking you're too tall magnificent take time to reform yeah just give me the food for a while if you don't fall down fall down while I live if you don't fall in this town it's been tearing me apart that's my heart [Music] [Music] I'm still getting used to seeing elephants especially this many in the Kalahari I don't recall seeing one elephant here in the early 2000s now there are many most of them are bulls as well all this testosterone leads to frequent scuffles two three bird life is also great around the water holes oh that was an awesome line sighting off to maricelle and Kanki at the moment just to show you around a little bit nippy this morning uh being April I suppose it's time to get cold already does and look who we run into again this is one of three main Prides in and around kutzi these Lions have vast territories over a thousand square kilometers reaching far into the central Kalahari sadly their numbers are declining in the central and southern calhori folks that are doing amazing lion and leopard research and conservation work in this area is the leopard ecology and conservation group I'll put a link to them in the description below it's around 30 kilometers to Mauritius from malosi and another 11 to Conkey this takes about two hours foreign [Music] a lot happening here and it's probably because there isn't any water in the area so I mean we've seen absolutely zero Wildlife here as well the campsites aren't bad all of them have zero shade so just watch out for that as well campsite one is one of those with no shade campsite 2 has a big G for shade campsite 3 used to have a big acacia tree but it seems that's also been pushed over by elephants foreign s in the area on a previous visit though so this is uh Kanki which are on the conquer I think pan so you've got a pretty nice view of the pan uh this is number one and very similar to the rest of Couture and the central Kalahari obviously incidentally this is technically in the central Kalahari now let me show you around campsite one is on the road and has limited shade [Music] campsite 2 has a nice big Central acacia tree for shade campsite 3 has some shade and a nice view of the pen campsite 4 has the best view of the pan but limited shade [Music] this time of year after good rains the grass gets quite tall in the tracks as well so I recommend the seed net fuel radiator we run into these guys yet again on our way back I'm definitely not complaining though incidentally it's pretty difficult getting hold of wood here actually if I would um we managed to find these in Molly palole for around 35 puller bag which is not cheap by South African standards um you do get the the bundles on the road that we usually prefer to buy in Botswana but these are huge to the point where you won't fit those in a normal truck or car foreign [Music] Camp what's happening in the car and the trailer and it's generally how we camp so first off at the back here if you haven't seen my previous video I've recently had to had to upgrade my whole dual battery system in the car Ah that's working really well so there is a video on patreon uh if you're interested in more info on that uh behind you I've got a drawer system um all the DC to DC stuff which includes a DC to DC charger an mppt solar charge controller a smallish 375 watt inverter as it's only for charging camera gear and a AC to DC charger as well as well as a myriad of different ports and points and connectors I've also got a 60 liter Engel Combi fridge freezer and then the drawer system at the back a recent addition that's really nice from a garden wild Outdoors is this rack it's basically an attic it's a rack that mounts to your existing handrails but it's really nice for you know soft storage and anything that that's light it's not too heavy it can take about six kgs so bulky but in the way this stores it really nicely you'll notice I don't have the eye camp on the roof at the moment that's because I'm throwing the trailer so I do have Front Runners quick release kit mounts mounted to the roof rack which allows me to take off the rooftop team fairly easily without any nuts and bolts because it does affect your fuel consumption especially if you're towing and have an rtt on top you'll see I've got the easy on Swift awning on the car that works really well I only really use that when I'm just car camping not with the trailer those it's not needed at the back here if you watch my rig walk around before you know I've taken out the back seat so I've actually got a deck system in here in here is mostly uh camera gear to be honest I've now got the lifebo 4 battery at the back here as well the recovery gear trauma kit Medical Kit all of that goes in the back here have a look at this so front of the trailer in the nose cone you have two uh alpegasso propane gas bottles that powers the stove and then as well as the the Giza hot water boiler um so I recently had one a new one fitted by outdoor campers thanks for a stunning job guys the previous Hanson geez I had here just give gave endless endless trouble so very happy with this unit it's from duhot and the guys at outdoor campers filled it for me as we basically I'm being here for a couple of days we've got the full awning set up as an L-shaped awning that attaches to the trailer itself it's really nice uh in bad inclement weather gives a lot of shade it's uh it's a bit of a PT to set up but uh it's it's really nice over here we've got the kitchen it's got a slide out kitchen with a 90 liter National lunar fridge that we've had from the get-go really good fridge fridge freezer and then a smav stove that hooks up to the propane I mentioned earlier appears your pantry so really everything you could need it's got hot water on tap thanks to the geyser this is uh inside the trailer you'll see it's got uh two double beds which is quite nice if you've got a family obviously uh it's for us it's just the two of us so we usually just use the one bed what's really nice here is I can stand upright you can change clothes in here it's very roomy very comfortable for solar power I'm still using the flexor power Mojave 150 watts uh both for two for the trailer and I want it for the crawl this is the shower Cube we use obviously the shower water comes from the trailer but we've got one of these easy on cubes as the shower Cube works really well on the menu tonight something a little different uh we actually making nachos I couldn't show you a lot of the other dinners because of uh lion friends uh coming into Gap the Dutch oven is a great way to extend your menu at cap very tasty foreign [Music] but before you go we're going back to kutzi first uh because that's closer to the gate stay there in the evening and then I'm going to my favorite camp in South Africa what's a lot of the rocket Camp uh one of the tasks come not so crazy about is putting extra diesel in even with the long range tank the closest town to here is a little King which is quite far away so yeah if you're driving around inside the reserve or crossing the ckgr floor for that matter if you're going up north the next fuel stop is some 8 900 kilometers away in rockhops so carry enough extra fuel [Music] thank you foreign even with everything set up it still doesn't take long to tear down camp [Applause] [Music] thank you you're stopping at the gate quick [Music] take out the garbage so pack out your garbage obviously there's some disposal here at the gate and leave it at the campsites you want to see if we can get number nine liquidity camps uh quite like that we're back for our last game drive around could see pan [Laughter] incidentally this is rocket he's been the dominant male around cootie for around three years but there are some Interlopers around didn't see him this time but keep an eye out for him we ended up at kutzi number five you couldn't get number nine there's apparently somebody booked there already but this will do nicely uh it's really nice uh number five is not bad actually brilliant Sunset as usual so yeah yet another tough day in Africa [Music] I'm going to miss this place safe to say we'll be back soon [Music] are you uh just leaving could see now uh like I said stick around I'm on my way to La Roca camp in Barcelona which is also a favorite [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] it's a long days Drive even though it's uh 580 odd kilometers we left at eight and it is now four in the afternoon so it's still quite a long drive uh let me show you around Camp a little the Rocco is definitely my favorite camp at Barcelona how's this for review not bad having all of these guys on your front lawn so to speak foreign thanks for coming along I hope you enjoyed it if you haven't been to the central Kalahari or Christian Reserve I can highly recommend it yes it is fairly pricey at the moment with Botswana Park fees being hiked but I definitely think it's a bucket list item I hope you enjoyed the video thanks for watching until next time get out there [Applause] oh [Applause] [Music]

Channel: Get Out, GO!

Views: 116,877

Keywords: botswana, africa, kalahari, camping, bush camp, overlanding, khutse, overland vlog, adventure, botswana overlanding, offroad, 4 wheel drive, 4x4, 4x4 ventures, get out go, Edward bath, overlanding escape, overlanding in botswana, botswana self drive, self drive in africa, 4x overland, wild camping, 4wdaction, central kalahari, molose, moreswe, mahurushele, khankhe, self drive safari

Id: G1hlfJy_vMI

Length: 40min 10sec (2410 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 24 2023