Customer Review: Tswalu, South Africa - Renewal of Land and Spirit

"The word ‘desert’ conjures up visions of endless sand and rolling dunes, as in the Sahara or Namib Deserts. Imagine our surprise when we arrived at the Kgalagadi or Kalahari Desert to find that, as far as the eye could see, desert sand was visible only as an ochre background to a foreground of blond savannah grass. Instead of the scrubby bushes we expected, our eyes were drawn across a great plain dotted with blossoms, yellow on the camel thorn acacia and white on the blackthorn, liberally interspersed with leafy green shrubs and small trees, some yet to bloom.

Tswalu before

Tswalu after

Welcome to the aptly named ‘thornveld’ and welcome to Tswalu, literally the ‘re-birth’ of this part of Africa.

We have often been disheartened in our travels round the world by witnessing man’s destruction of habitat and wildlife. In one nature reserve in India, poachers had preceded us and killed all the tigers. In a National Park in Borneo, two hundred metres from our lodge, we awoke to the buzz of chain saws ripping into the forest. In the Amazon, 25% of the rainforest has been mowed down. In Los Llanos, Venezuela, destruction of habit and wildlife is rife since the Chavez government ‘nationalised’ many ranches/nature reserves.


Doubly welcome then to Tswalu, a rehabilitation project that will restore some of your faith in human nature.

Over many years, cattle farming reduced this region of the Kalahari to a barren landscape, with patches of savannah, blackened shrubs and large areas of land scuffed down to the sand by bovine hooves. This is what team Tswalu, with careful husbandry, is gradually restoring to flourishing thornveld, re-populated with the animals that had previously inhabited it.


The restoration of the desert adapted animals has progressed so well that, after just twelve years, there are now small herds of ungulates, twenty two different species, happily breeding, as well as predators and a plethora of smaller mammals and birds. The investment is enormous. It provides for over 140 people, progressive fencing of 1,000 sq. kilometres and the import and export of suited species to and from other reserves.


They have created a haven here for the endangered rhino, both black and white, which, despite their bulk, are only found with persistent searching because the area is so vast. And what a place this is to go cheetah tracking: for three mornings the spotted cats led us a merry dance in and around the sand dunes. We did not find them this time but maybe next time, for surely this is place worthy of another visit in a few years to see how the re-birth is progressing.


The Kalahari is home to over 70 species of mammals and 240 species of birds. We had first ever sightings of black rhino (below), black maned lion, blue wildebeest, Hartmann’s mountain zebra, roan and sable antelope, red hartebeest, springbuck and the mischievously entertaining meerkats. At night, we had our first tantalising glimpses of aardvark, aardwolf, cape fox and spring hare.

We re- encountered white rhino, giraffe, Burchell’s zebra, eland, kudu, ostrich, oryx, steenbok, duiker, bat eared fox, rock monitor lizard, slender and yellow mongoose, ground squirrel, kori bustard and some non-indigenous antelope (nyala, impala, waterbuck) introduced by the founder, Stephan Bolar, but gradually being re-settled by the Oppenheimer family, who took over ten years ago when the founder died only two years into the project.


Save up your money and invest in a visit to Tswalu to refresh your spirit and your soul. Fly in on an executive turbo prop. See animals on your way to and from the airstrip. Set out your viewing ambitions with your private guide, Adrian, and tracker, William, two of the best in Africa, and discuss your likes and dislikes with the executive chef. Enjoy being pampered beyond belief in your own gorgeous Motse (thatched, private lodge) capacious enough to live in permanently. One evening you may be served diner on the deck of your Motse, another by the pool, another amongst the sand dunes, another in the Boma, where the dinners are ringed by fires, and take a leisurely brunch in the eagle’s nest, entertained by frolicking animals and overlooking thornveld which stretches to the horizon.


The author of this article, Alan Wood, a frequent traveller with Wildlife Worldwide, has made 25 journeys in search of wildlife in Africa, Asia and the Americas. Tswalu is the 21st reserve visited across 9 countries in Africa."

For Wildlife Safari Holidays in South Africa - Click here