This is what Wikitravel has to say about the camp…
- Kalahari Tented Camp
Situated up on a sand dune, overlooking a waterhole in the dry bed of the ancient Auob River, the Kalahari Tent Camp is a unique and novel way of staying over in the Kalahari. This camp has 15 desert tents with rustic finishes using wood, sand and canvas exteriors. The tent camp is 3 km from the Mata-Mata Rest Camp where Kalahari Tent Camp residents can refuel and get basic supplies at the shop.
This tented camp cost R690/ night and sleeps 4… that is about $ 86/ night… all you need bring is your food, drink and clothes everything else is supplied… this is a bargain in anyone’s language (£ 53 approx.)
But let me add a few things… this camp is not fenced, so a close encounter with the animals is possible. Lion do walk through the camps occasionally but as yet have eaten no one… the lion had passed our tent the morning we arrived, not 5 metres away… how I wish we had been there then…. Your vehicle is behind a fence so the Hyena do not chew on your tyres, which they’re adverse to, so the camp Manager told us… but when you sit on the stoep you have a 3ft. wall between you and the animals, this makes these tents a marvellous adventure….. The smaller tent is your kitchen.. fully kitted, also a gas fridge and stove and the lights are a battery operated 12 v. system…
There is even a small swimming pool where one can cool off during the day… If I had of known they would swim I’d have taken my costume.. no way Linda would have allowed me to skinny dip there with people like that around….
But we did have some visitors come to see how we had settled in…..
Had a friend that was on a safari somewhere in Africa and they had been looking for .. lions for days without any luck, then the last night when he had to go to the can – there was 2 starring at him in the dark. Talk about sh ….. himself – the guard was with with him and a couple of shots .. and they were of. He stayed in some hut like you did. Amazing adventure you was on – like that little thing in the end that you feed. The two squirrels are funny too.
I love that shots had to be fired to frightened off the lion.. that’s Africa.. must have given him a real rush..even if it was to sh.. himself… marvelous…
Yes, he was truly scared … and so was the guard. They were only some meter away from them. Who wouldn’t be scared, but it makes a good story now afterwards.
He told me he felt shaky for a couple of days.
I remember a walking guide telling his visitors.”if we walk into a lion.. take one step to the left.. and walk back slowly…” one of his visitors kept quiet for a while and asked “why do we take one step to the left?” “Cause you don’t want to stand in your own sh.t” his answer… now that’s a true story… and they all believed him…
Good one! My friend he sat on the can .. so least that wasn’t his worries. *smile
I don’t know how I’d react to a lion walking by so closely! I might be just a little intimidated? Squirrels I could handle. 🙂
I think the Lion would probably totally ignore you as they walk along… most of the time you’re not on the menu… and if you don’t jump the wall and go chasing after them calling “pussy pussy..” they would not even bother with you…
Ma quanto sono belli gli scoiattoli e la mangusta, chissà che emozione potersi avvicinare così tanto a loro 🙂
Ciao, Pat
Thanks again Pat… yes to get so close to wild animals is a special experience…
hahahahahahaha your “costume” !!!
I think I’ve told you before we have many south africans living here in Vero Beach. (almost everyone I’ve met has either dated/married/lived next door to/worked with a South African expat. Consequently, ours may be the only resort town in America where costume is used interchangeably for bathing suit! LOL too funny to see you use the word!
Good point I wonder how many of my followers thought I was going to dress up as a Lion or something.??? Glad you know what I was talking about… send my regards to all the expats…
OHHHHH!! Those little guys are SO cute!!!!!!!! A LION WALKED RIGHT BY !!…..What an incredible place !!
It is Africa of old… so much closer to nature… lovely.. the little guys were so entertaining I took 100s of photos of them…
I can’t believe you didn’t take more pictures of that rare and lovely creature–the Female Bikini Walker. She’s rarely seen in public… 😉
I took quite a few… and used the zoom lens to its utmost… then Linda asked what I was taking photos of .. my answer a “lesser dressed body bird” she unfortunately came to look as she had never heard me talk of that one before.. the photos had to stop… Damn and she was getting so close..
Some birds are just so elusive… 🙂
specially when the wife is around… mind you at my age I probably wouldn’t know what the hell to do with something like that…
Your work is always so superb, I sure enjoy your blog.
Thanks Cee.. I have re-registered to get notifications of your blog.. I don’t know why I’m not… kind of been missing it…
Great post! What an adventurous place to camp! (loved the mongoose)
They were very cute… and kept us entertained… my only concern was that my son (animal lover) would give all our food away…
beautiful photographs… are they the squirrels of our dear Suzanne’s…. 🙂 I am being jealousy. Thank you, have a nice weekend, love, nia
No these are my squirrels from the Kalahari.. that I’m training to send to Suzanne so that she can take photos of them…
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Brilliant photos again! I love the little squirrels, and what’s the little guy in the last pictures, he is cool!
Rohan.
A yellow mongoose… thank you for the kind words…
Cool, thanks for letting me know!
Rohan.
The camp looks great. Like that your vehicle is behind a fence but you are not 😀
Got to protect the tyres from marauding hyena that think they must puncture them… we get to see them up close and to talk to them…
You say the camp is unfenced? that’s a bit scary – looks really adventurous though Bulldog 🙂
This park is just so much more than any I’ve ever been to… picnic spots “No Fence” tented camp “None” it really gives one a feeling of being within nature… lovely..
Beautiful shots!!! Squirrels shots is amazing!!!
Thank you..
That camp looks amazing. I love structures like that. Of course the thought of lions outside your door is something to think consider:) Nice shots of the little ones. What an amazing trip…
The thought of Lion right there is part of the attraction… at a camp site in the old Rhodesia in the Tuli circle, we had them walk right through the middle of the sleeping area of our tent.. the paw marks showed they had actually sniff at us sleeping on stretchers almost in the open…
now that is excitement..
Lions ~ oh goodness… other than that …. this looks amazing — and your shots are so wonderful. It sounds like camping at its finest bulldog ~ the skinny- dipping would have been fun too — if you guys had privacy 🙂 ~ x much love ~ RL
I was all for skinny dipping but when Linda saw the others that would be sharing the pool with me… it was off…. so selfish of her..lol
I love those animal photos and the place looks really unusual!
It is an experience to sit there at night and just listen to nature happening all around you..
look at its eyes..seems so sharp and observant..nice photos
It is one of those little animals that amazes me… scared of very little.. and to see them take on the deadly snakes is unbelievable..
Beautiful, love those last two!
The yellow Mongoose is a feisty little fellow…
looks like that particular guy has the tourists figured out, taking food from your hand, they are beautiful.
The squirrels, birds and just about everything else will help themselves from your hand… there was a warning out not to carry you meat for the barbecue on the back of your truck as some lion had decided that this was also a hand out and had jumped on the back and they couldn’t get him off…. now that would have made for a good photo…
Might be worth the photo shoot to try it? It’s an adventure, right?
If they had of told us earlier I might just have set up the shoot… seeing as we came across lion which we approached as close as 4 ft. away… might have got them to come aboard..
wow! that is CLOSE! Did you get a shot?
I got probably 100 shots but it was so close sometimes it is just a portion of the head or foot or other parts… got 4 post of lion photos coming up soon… took so many had trouble trying to decide which ones to post…
Love it! Can’t wait to see them.
Sounds like my kind of place 🙂
Ingrid it is certainly your type of place.. you would love it..
Mongoose? But there are two, so mongeese?
Now that is a good question.. we refer to two mongoose.. I believe some refer to two mongooses and yet in some countries I believe mongeese can be used… I cannot get my spell check to accept this no matter which language I use (English, Amer-English etc) so actually I do not know which is correct..
Afrikaans being my language we actually refer to it as a “muishond” roughly translated “mouse dog”
The monGEESE comment was said “tongue in cheek” and probably isn’t correct at all. But I like the mouse dog term!
You had me thinking and researching on Google… and believe it or not your tongue in cheek might be right… and now I can’t find what is correct… but you’re the published author.. come on help us out now… what is correct I am really interested to know..
I’d put my money on “mongooses.” Otherwise moose would be meese, And then you could get into the mouse dog version of them. Would the plural be mice dog or mouse dogs or mice dogs? Speaking of mouse and mice, and louse and lice, would it then be house and hice, grouse and grice? Oh, don’t get me going!!!!
Laughing out loud….. yes the English language as she is spoke… no wonder I have so much trouble with it… still laughing… I just love the “look at all those grice!!!”
What are those animals in the last pictures?
Yellow Mongoose..
Great adventure, Rob! Thanks for sharing it with us.
Pleasure…
Well of course you fed the animals! You & Linda may as well skinny dip as well. 😉 Lovely photos!
I certainly considered it when I observed the others heading to the pool….
Don’t blame ya!