OUR WILDLIFE
Kalahari Trails better known as the Meerkat sanctuary, is home to one of the Kalahari’s best-known animals, suricates. Kalahari Trails Meerkat Sanctuary lies just 35km before the Park entrance to KTP better know as the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park. The Kalahari Trails, 3500ha is nestled right in the heart of the red Kalahari dune fields. This unique piece of heaven, offers visitor experiences like no others were you can get closer to nature and interact with the Meerkats like no other place in the Kalahari. This unique experience provides visitors with a chance to walk the dunes, and learn more about all the critters great and small that would be otherwise unseen, if you were traveling in a car or game drive vehicle. The dunes create miles of limitless beauty where the sky meets the sand and beyond.
This unique landscape is home to various game species as well as over 250 species of birds, but its all the small creatures that makes this part of the desert so unique. This piece of land is vast, safe and quiet, offering the photographers, birders, botanists, nature lovers, astronomers and just about anyone wanting a interesting, informative and peaceful getaway close to nature a unforgettable and unique experience.
Kalahari trails offers a both day visitors and overnight visitors the chance to visit our rehabilitated colonies. All these Meerkats re all ‘misfits’- animals confiscated for cruelty, orphans and unwanted pets – which, now rehabilitated, have formed their own family group.
They roam freely about the lodge grounds, breeding and living a natural life. Photographers will be delighted at the photographic opportunities they offer.
Kalahari Trails offers a wide range of accommodation at reasonable prices. The main guesthouse commands impressive views of the Nossob riverbed and the dune fields stretching to the horizon. It has a large verandah (stoep) where guests can sit in comfort and visitors are welcome to use the barbecue (braai) facilities.
Visit us at Kalahari Trails to learn more about the magnificent Kalahari and its animals on our guided walks and tours.
After reading some negative reviews on Kalahari Trails we decide not to take the extra 2 evenings booked and changed it to Kgalagadi. As we were already booked for 2 nights we had to go and what a pleasant surprise. The staff were very friendly and welcomed us arrival as well as the Meerkats!! Prof Anne’s son is now busy to upgrade and there is newly build camping sites each with it’s own ablution and power point. We stayed in the old camp and Richard is also busy renovating the bathrooms. What more do you want when camping…….clean facilities with warm water and that was there. They also supplied us with drinking water. Richard also visited our campsite and made sure we were OK. We booked a walk with the Meerkats the next morning and Marli took us on a unbelievable experience. The matriarch, Lavina, first have to approve of our presence by rubbing against us and then of we go. We loved the red sands and farm feeling of the place and then the meerkats visting us in our campsite was a very memorable experience. We will definitely make use of their facilities again. This was a very nice do it again, in the desert , experience.
We booked the cottage for 4 nights which was a great decision. It has its own little water point very close by so we were able to view numerous bird species as well as gemsbok, springbok and other small mammals. We thoroughly enjoyed our walk with Jaco and the meerkat family and Professor Anna Rasa proved to be a mine of information on insects and birds and answered any questions that we had, We loved staying at Kalahari Trails and would definitely book again.
We arrived very late having originally booked in for camping, but decided that fixed accommodation was probably a better idea. I’m glad we did as the rains were very heavy that night! We were greeted very promptly and given a choice of rooms. We stayed in the one at the end with double bed and bath. Honestly the rooms do need a bit of tlc, but we definitely weren’t complaining as the price was extremely reasonable and the rooms were clean and comfortable. Our friends stayed in one of the other rooms with shared bathroom. Again, clean and comfortable. There is a shared kitchen with all of the usual amenities, although we didn’t stay long enough to use them. Plus a small shop selling a few basics (beer included!). We did manage to see the meerkats the following morning which was very special and I would have loved to have stayed longer to explore. This is a good place to stay if you are pushing on from Upington and want to be at the park gates first thing in the morning.
There were loads of scorpions when we were there, so wear shoes.
We felt extremely welcome here and would like to return and spend a bit longer to do one of the nature trails. Thank you for a lovely stay.