Kalahari Hiking Traverse

Kalahari, Northern Cape

On the Kalahari Hiking Traverse, you will experience white saltpans, black rock koppies which is known as the Lost city, red sand dunes, dry riverbeds, wide open skies and flat-topped acacia trees that symbolize the Kalahari Red Dune Route.

You will experience white saltpans, black rock koppies which is known as the Lost city red sand dunes, dry riverbeds, wide open skies and flat-topped acacia trees that symbolize the Kalahari Red Dune Route.

You will stay in lodges each night, no camping, and have the comfort of proper showers and toilets. You will have a feast each evening provided by our hosts while you just sit back and enjoy the sunset from your deck or from a red dune.

You will experience the Kalahari Meerkat, Vulture Restaurants and lots of birdlife and see lots of Game. You will have the opportunity to feel what the Dead Sea feels like by drifting on the water in the saltpan of 107% salinity.

It is said that no two visits to the Kalahari are the same. This ancient and beautiful land is not only amazingly rich in diversity; it also reflects an endless variety of moods, making each new encounter refreshingly different from the previous.

2025 Dates:

4 – 9 May
10 – 15 May

Highlights of the tour

Experience the best of the Red Dunes of the Kalahari while you are hiking,
Experience with the Kalahari Meerkats
Hike over big flat salt pans of the Kalahari;
Experience the milking of the Camels;
See the black rock formation of the Lost City of the Kalahari;
Stay on Game Reserves and go on Game Drives each day;
Enjoy the sundowners on a Red Dune or over a Saltpan each night
Experience the Vulture Restaurant
Experience the hospitality of the Kalahari people;
Hike over salt pans;
Swim/drift on the 107% salt water on the saltpan
Stay in the middle of the Red Sand Dunes;
Hike close to the Botswana border; and
Stay on the Namibia / RSA border

Information

Each day you will travel to a new destination where we will hike for the day, see the best of that area, have lunch, dinner and breakfast there and experience the best of the Kalahari.

Each venue has its own character, and the routes are planned so that you will experience the best of the Red Dune Route of the Kalahari.

Fitness level

Not suitable for Beginner hikers. Intermediate hikers and more. You must be able to do 15 km a day. The elevation is not a lot, but you will wlak through sandy areas and it coud be very hot. There are no shorter options on the different days. If you are 70 years old and more, please contact us 1st before you register.

Venue

Venues where you will stay:

Molopo Lodge, en suite aircon Chalets
Zoutpans Game Lodge, sharing bathroom between 2 rooms, aircon
Loch Maree Game Lodge, sharing bathroom between 2 rooms, aircon
Dreghorn Game Reserve, sharing bathroom between 2 rooms, with a fan per room
Kgalagadi lodge, en suite aircon Chalets

Distances

Day 1: 14 km
Day 2: 15km
Day 3: 8km
Day 4: 10km
Day 5: 5km

Entry fee and highlights includes

5 Nights Accommodation in lodges
5 Days hiking;
Branded item
All meals from dinner Day 1, except last night dinner and last morning’s breakfast;
Visiting of the Kalahari The Lost City;
Staying on Private Game Reserves
Sunset Game drive inside the Kgalagadi Game Reserve
Hiking over the Salt pans
Drifting in the 107% water of the Saltpan at a Saltwork project
Sundowners over the Saltpans
Game drives at venues
Vulture Restaurant
Experience the Camel Milking; and
All permissions from private land owners.

Entry fee excludes

Drinks;
Dinner on last night and breakfast on departure
Transport to and from Molopo Lodge;
Tips; and
Travelling from venue to venue
Wild card fees into Kgalagadi Game Reserve

- Additional night stay at Kgalagadi Lodge after the hike, please make your own arrangements

Schedule

DAY 1

14:00 onwards. Arrive at Molopo Lodge, Aska
16:00 Drive in convoy to Loch Maree and Zoutpans Game Reserves
16:30 Check in and relax
19:00 Dinner

DAY 2

6:30 Breakfast
8:00 to 13H00 Hike, on the Game Reserve, see lots of game, hike over saltpans,
15:00 Visit a salt mine project and get the opportunity to drift on the saltpan filled with 107% salt water, it is much saltier than the Dead Sea (47%)
16:00 Sundowners over the sand dunes
18:00 Dinner

DAY 3

7:00 Breakfast
8:00 Drive to Koppieskraal
8.30: Experience the Camel milking, touching the camels and taste and feel the camel milk products
9:00 to 14:00 Hike over flat salt pan, through the Lost city, Light Lunch at Koppieskraal
14:00 Drive back to Dreghorn Game Reserve
16: 00 Game drive, visit the Vulture Restaurant and Sundowners on the Dunes
18:00 Dinner

Day 4

6:30 Breakfast
9:00 Hike on Dreghorn on top of the sand dunes with amazing views and lots of game
14:00 Lunch at Dreghorn, swim in Dreghorn’s swimming pool overlooking Botswana while you have a cold beer. Chill the rest of the afternoon in your comfortable chalets in the middle of the red sand dunes
15H00 Drive to Molopo Lodge
18.30 Dinner

Day 5:

6:30 Breakfast
7:00 Drive to Kalahari trails
7:30 Experience the Meerkats, interact with them, watch their social behaviour and enjoy their interaction with each other, maybe they will come to you, smell you etc
9:00 Hike on Kalahari trails, a guide will teach us to “read the newspaper” by looking at the tracts of all the insects and animals that were walking on the dunes the night before or the early morning.
12:00 Drive to Kgalagadi lodge, enjoy a light lunch a cold beer and swim in the pool overlooking Botswana
16:00 Sunset Game drive inside the Kgalagadi National Park
19:00 Dinner (own account)

Day 6

6:30 Last Sunrise hike on the single-track hiking trail at Kgalagadi Game Lodge
9:30 Breakfast (own account)
11:00 Check out and Good Byes or book an extra night with Kgalagadi lodge.