Safari, or game drive as they commonly call it in Southern Africa, intended as animal sighting, is not the main reason for visiting the Central Kalahari Game Reserve; the main reason why you come here is to live the experience of being in one of the few unspoiled areas of the African continent.

The CKGR is located in the center of Botswana and has four entrances: one to the South, one to the North-East, one to the West and one to the North-West; the most used is the Maswete Gate that is located in the North-East part and is the gateway from where we also came in and from where we go out and then head for Maun.

The most visited part of the reserve is the Northern one, as here there is the greatest chance of sighting animals; but, in spite of this, it is really difficult to meet other vehicles during the day, as often when crossing other travelers, it happens that you stop to exchange a couple of words.

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There are all species of animals typical of desert areas, along with other species that are also present in other areas such as gemsboks and brown hyenas, giraffes, wildebeests, red hartebeests, Burchell or plain zebras, springboks, ostriches, meerkats, various bustard and kohraan species, spotted hyenas, lions, leopards, cheetahs, jackals, wild dogs and various bird species.

Sometimes it is possible to spot some elephants or some buffaloes, but it is very rare that they are in this reserve because they are animals that require the presence of water.

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We, in the two days we visited the Kalahari Central Reserve, went to some places to look for sightings; especially we went to the Deception Valley, the Passarge Valley, we visited the Sunday Pan, the Leopard Pan, the Pan Motopi and the Passarge Pan.

The landscapes are very beautiful and constantly changing, the two valleys are open and here the grass is lower and the sightings are simpler; it is very beautiful, though a bit more difficult, to climb the dunes that are around them, but from above one can admire a wider view; finally the pan, sometimes salty, sometimes grassy or with some water puddles, are very scenic, as well as being the places where you can see herbivores and carnivores.

Distances, but especially travel times, are not to be underestimated; the roads are all dirt, some are sandy and need to proceed slowly, having deflated properly the car's tires.

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The Northern part is where, during the dry season, you find the simplest trails, although you still need a good amount of sand driving experience and a 4x4 to travel around.

We liked the CKGR so much, for the landscapes, for the wild experience and also for the sightings, that we decided to come back soon, maybe with a little more time to explore the part a little further South.