Below is a summary of the parks and preserves that we visited in South Africa, Botswana, and Namibia. For perspective, Yellowstone National Park is 8,991 square kilometers or 899,000 hectares.
A private 400-hectare game farm, Matamba is home to a remarkable variety of animals (plains game) including sable, eland, nyala, impala, zebra, kudu, wildebeest, and giraffe. Birding at Matamba is also superb, especially during the summer months; it is estimated that over 300 bird species occur here.
Limpopo Lipadi is a shareholder-owned wildlife and wilderness reserve located on the banks of the Limpopo River in the Tuli Block, Botswana. The Reserve consists of 20,500 hectares of biodiverse landscape, with abundant natural flora and fauna. Over 300 species of birds and most of the iconic species of Southern African wildlife can be found here, including several endangered and threatened species such as elephant, leopard, southern white rhinoceros, African wild dog and brown hyena.
Goo Moremi Gorge sits on an expansive 1,836-hectare conservation zone at the foot of the Tswapong Hills. The official National Heritage Site is where perennial streams have cut deep gorges into the hills, with waterfalls cascading into deep pools surrounded by lush vegetation. The gorges are home to many wild animals and birdlife.
The Khama Rhino Sanctuary is a community-based wildlife project, established in 1992 to assist in saving the vanishing rhinoceros and restore an area formerly teeming with wildlife to its previous natural state. Covering approximately 8,585 hectares of Kalahari sandveld, the sanctuary provides prime habitat for white and black rhino, as well as over 30 other animal species and more than 200 species of birds.
Nothing can prepare a visitor for the sheer size and immensity of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve. The CKGR is the largest, most remotely situated reserve in Southern Africa and the second largest wildlife reserve in the world, encompassing 52,800 square kilometers or 5.3 million hectares (larger than the Netherlands and almost 10% of Botswana’s total land area).
The Makgadikgadi Pans are one of the biggest salt pans worldwide. They are formed by two large and thousands of small pans with an area of more than 8,400 square kilometers. The pans are surrounded by open grasslands, which attract the largest zebra migration after Tanzania. During the rainy season, large herds of zebras, oryx, wildebeests, impalas and springbuck roam the northern part of the Nxai Pan National Park. They then trek south into the Makgadikgadi National Park where they feed on green pastures and make use of the many small water holes.
Although just under 5,000 square kilometers in extent, Moremi Game Reserve is a surprisingly diverse game reserve, combining mopane woodland and acacia forests, floodplains and lagoons. Only about 30% of the Reserve is mainland, with the bulk being within the Okavango Delta itself.
Established in 1968, Chobe National Park covers approximately 11,700 square kilometers, encompassing floodplains, swamps and woodland. The Chobe River forms the park’s northern boundary, which includes four distinct geographical areas: the Chobe Riverfront: the Ngwezumba pans; Savuté; and Linyanti.
Savute (or Savuti) stretches from Chobe National Park’s most remote northern boundary to the Linyanti River. This remote corner of Chobe is renowned for its big game viewing.
Despite its modest size of 337 square kilometers, Nkasa Rupara National Park stands as Namibia’s largest formally protected wetland region. Comprising reed beds, lagoons, and islands, the majority of the park hosts diverse wildlife, including elephants and buffalo.
Bwabwata National Park is located in the far northeastern finger of Namibia – the Caprivi Strip – that lies across the top of Botswana. The park has a chequered history as it was declared a military area by the South African Defence Force during Namibia’s war of liberation. It was not until after independence in 1990 that the park could be properly run as a conservation area. At 6,100 square kilometers, it is the second largest national park in the country after Namib-Naukluft National Park.
Etosha National Park, located in northwestern Namibia, is one of the largest national parks in Africa. The park’s main characteristic is a salt pan so large it can be seen from space – 4,062 square kilometers of Etosha’s total 22,270 square kilometers. However, there is also abundant wildlife that congregates around the park’s numerous waterholes, leading to nearly guaranteed game sightings.
Creating a protected coastal area from the Kuiseb Delta in the south to the Ugab River in the north, Dorob National Park stretches for approximately 1,600 kilometers along the Atlantic Ocean. It covers an area of 7,800 square kilometers and was officially established on December 1, 2010.
Namib-Naukluft National Park lies between the shoreline of the Atlantic Ocean through to the beginning of the Great Escarpment which extends into South Africa. It borders the neighboring Dorob National Park to the north. The park covers an area of 49,768 square kilometers (nearly 50 million hectares) creating the largest national park on the African Continent and the fourth largest in the world. The Namib Desert is at the heart of the national park; as the oldest desert in the world, it displays brilliantly colored sand dunes that are considered some of the largest in the world.
Sossusvlei is a salt and clay pan nestled in a sea of towering sand dunes within Namib-Naukluft National Park. The pan is located in the southern region of the Namib Desert and is one of the favorite attractions of travelers exploring the national park.
The NamibRand Nature Reserve, located in southern Namibia, is a private nature reserve encompassing four distinct habitats: dunes and sandy plains; inselbergs and mountains; gravel plains; and sand and gravel plains. Extending over an area of 188,980 hectares, it is the largest private nature reserve in southern Africa. Additionally, the Reserve has been designated a Gold Tier International Dark Sky Reserve by the International Dark Sky Association. The first dark sky reserve to be recognized in Africa, it was also only the second place on Earth that was designated with Gold Tier status because of its exceptionally dark skies.
In 1999, Botswana and South Africa signed a historic treaty, forming the first transfrontier conservation area in Africa. Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, an immense wilderness of 37,000 square kilometers (3.7 million hectares), is now shared and jointly managed by both countries as a protected area. The entire park is completely unfenced, allowing wildlife to move freely along ancient migration routes that enable survival in the harsh desert environment.