Mabuasehube Wilderness 4x4 Trail

Oryx graze beside the Mabuasehube Wilderness Trail.

© Kate Turkington

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The Mabuasehube Wilderness Trail is a test of both driver and vehicle, but it's an unforgettable experience. On this challenging 4x4 trail you’ll battle sandy soil, corrugated roads and towering dunes, but the rewards are great because you’ll get a genuine Kalahari Desert experience with great game-viewing.

If you're an inexperienced or nervous 4x4 driver, then the Mabuasehube Wilderness Trail is not for you. Rather stay in the southwest part of the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park where the roads are more navigable and help is never far away.

The vast Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park (nearly twice as large as the Kruger National Park) is one of South Africa's most remote but starkly beautiful wildlife parks with red dunes, which dramatically change colour as the day progresses, punctuated by camelthorn trees and desert scrub.

The game is often spectacular. Look out for majestic black-maned lions, large herds of springbok, cheetahs hunting on the open plains, wildebeest, gemsbok, jackals and – everybody's favourite – the endearing meerkats. Leopard sightings are not uncommon.

If you're a birder you'll enjoy the many raptors (easy to see because of the dry landscape and bare trees), including several species of eagles, plus lanner and pygmy falcons. Stargazing in the evenings is truly awesome.

You start your journey at Nossob Camp in the South African section of the park, where you can stock up on food, water and petrol.

Drive east into Botswana to Mabuasehube, camping overnight in rustic camps on the dry pans, and then back to Nossob, via Mosimane, on the one-way Mabuasehube Wilderness Trail itself.

You can't travel alone; you'll need at least 1 more vehicle in order to get the necessary permits. But, if you're not in convoy, it's sometimes possible to hitch up with other visitors.