Tswalu Kalahari Reserve

Tswalu - the name still sends shivers of excitement down my spine. Arriving at Fireblade and being cared for by Grace and Mpho was a real treat - they are both wonderful, and the food and wine were exquisite. We spent seven magical, incredible days at The Motse where the food and drink were outstanding, both in the lodge and atop the sand dunes! The guidance from Vuyani and tracking by Jackson were phenomenal, and the quality of the sightings was exceptional. We observed the meerkats from the Rockstars' first appearance of the day, before they warmed up and set off to forage, and we returned another evening as they went back to their burrow for the night. We followed cheetahs on a successful hunt, wild dogs returning to their playful pups, experienced the roar of lions, saw rhinos, and encountered an abundance of plains game, porcupines, bat-eared foxes, cape foxes, Damara mole-rats, and so much more. We learned a great deal about the incredible landscape and also abut the animal behaviour. Klein Jan was mind-blowing, but it's something you have to experience for yourself! You will certainly not be disappointed. We would love to return one day.

We didn't know what to expect when we booked our stay at Tswalu. A couple we met in Montana highly recommended it, they wanted to stay at Loapi, but it was not yet available. We booked Loapi at Tswalu and absolutely loved it! Our guide Ivan, tracker DT, butler Mo and chef Ridwaan were the BEST! The wildlife was incredible! Lions, zebras, giraffe, kudu, rhino, warthog and wild dogs! The wild dog puppies that left their den when we were there was amazing to see! Ivan and DT were extremely knowledgeable about the wildlife and so much fun! We really enjoyed the horseback ride, which was a very different adventure. And the Klein Jan restaurant was such an experience! I can't say anything more about Klein Jan because I don't want to spoil the surprise... Our last evening dinner with Ivan, DT, Mo and Ridwaan was a blast! Thank you everyone at Tswalu for such an amazing experience!

I normally don't write reviews, but we had such a good time at Tswalu that we had to thank the team. The experience starts at the Fireblade Lounge at Johannesburg airport where you're greeted by the friendliest staff (despite we landed at 6am), a la carte menus and beautiful facilities. And an hour later as we landed at Tswalu airstrip, we knew we're in for something special as the plane touched the distinctive Kalahari red sand. We stayed at the two-bedroom Laopi lodge for three nights and it was spectacular - beautiful architecture and thoughtful designs. We came as a family of four and we had such a good time chilling in the common area between game drives and post meals. Each Laopi lodge comes with your own chef and butler which was amazing, and we rotated having our meals in our "formal" indoor dining room and outside. What really made an impression for us was our guide Sips our guide who is super experienced and has been at Tswalu for years. His passion for Tswalu is infectious, and our two game drives every day (in our private vehicle!) was always an adventure. We appreciated how much he wanted to make sure we had a fantastic experience, including him checking on us regularly during the game drives and also constantly trying to go above and beyond, such as organizing a surprise bush breakfast that the team put together on our second last day. Definitely an experience to have a delicious hot breakfast next to a water hole seeing curious kudus and impalas looking at us! He also brought us to his favorite spot one evening for a sundowner on top of the sand dunes with a majestic view during sunset as we sip on our G&Ts. Definitely something we'll remember for a long time to come. Before coming to Tswalu, we read reviews about setting expectations on the wildlife we see here, but we were nothing but awed by the game we saw during our stay. While Tswalu doesn't have elephant or crocodiles, we saw tons of giraffes, more rhinos than we could count (with their horns intact - which we later understood from Sips how rare it is and part of Oppenheimer family's conscious sustainability efforts, and was later confirmed when we were at Sabi Sands for our subsequent stay and all rhinos horns were cut off), Kalahari lions and their babies, and elusive species that we were lucky to see such as meerkats, oryx, pangolin etc. We loved Tswalu and can't wait to be back again.

You’re in for a real treat. Starting with FireBlade, private air transfer from JNB, and landing at the strip where there is a real flushing toilet (IYKYK) before meeting your dedicated ranger and tracker. In our case Hailey and Sibo. This is a unique aspect of Tswalu. Drives can be at traditional morning and afternoon times. Or at your desire. Our stay was at Motse Camp with a leggae that looked out at a watering hole where roan, oryx, eland, baboon, giraffe come for a drink. Rooms have indoor and out of doors seating areas to relax and watch. The land at Tswalu is vast. 228,000 acres. As a result, each drive had a destination in mind. It could be a long drive (45 minutes to an hour) to a specific locations. Yes, there are stops for sightings along the way. The cheetahs at one end, a lion pride on the prowl at a different spot, denning wild dog somewhere else, and black rhino with horns further afield. This is land with species you may not see elsewhere. The antelope are plentiful. From Duiker and Steenbok to Sable and Eland. Tswalu with a limited number of guests during your stay will be a real treat.

“The experience was great and we had a great view of the watering hole.We enjoyed it a lot with the fun activities and fun game drives.I liked it a lot. In fact love.❤️” ~Isabel, 7+ “It was a great experience and the guides were friendly. We saw many animals and did fun activities such as making pizza and bracelets. Overall it was an experience.” ~Isaac, 10 We spent 6 nights at Tswalu on the “Best of Tswalu” offer, which included 3 nights at Motse and 3 nights at Loapi, with one complimentary night and complimentary transfers from the Fireblade Hangar. We booked this last minute because I managed to redeem three award flights to Johannesburg and was looking for an accessible safari that can be enjoyed by all ages, and Tswalu had amazing reviews! Everything went very smoothly and the office was very responsive. Best of all, we were offered complimentary upgrades to two-bedroom suites at both Motse and Loapi which gave us a lot more space! Loapi was so spacious, I don’t think we had time to sit on all the chairs! Motse is in the style of a classic safari lodge, with amazing views over a watering hole. We spotted baboons, giraffes, zebras, wild boars all from the comfort of our suite. One afternoon, we had a pearl-spotted owlet fly into the window—luckily it was only dazed for a bit and recovered after a few minutes. The only bug about Motse was the presence of many armoured crickets—I suppose it’s par for course in the bush, but it meant having to avoid them while sitting at the patio outside our room. And then, we moved to Loapi and was simply blown away! Each unit was a standalone property with its own host, butler and chef, and set faraway enough from each other that it felt that like we were alone in the reserve. The bathroom had an ottoman large enough to be a bed, and I think that is *bathroom* goal for me! The staff were uniformly awesome—from our guide, tracker, camp staff, and staff at Loapi and we really appreciated all their little touches. Many properties ask you for preferences, but this was only of the few properties where I felt they really took it to heart. My mother was with us on the trip and she does not take red meat—and when there was ostrich on the menu and she chose it, they were quick to confirm that she would be all right with it. When my son had insect bites at Motse, the camp staff got a skin cream for us without us asking. Before we moved to Loapi, our hostess came to introduce herself to us! There was also complimentary child minding services, and a lovely minder who played games with the kids—they truly enjoyed it, while the adults got to have afternoon naps! The game drives were also amazing! Tswalu had a great system, such that the guide/tracker teams help one another, but there is also an implicit understanding that whoever finds an animal of interest gets to stay with them as long as they want. This meant that it never felt crowded and we always felt like we had the whole reserve to ourselves. We saw everything we wanted to! From cheetahs, to black-maned lions prides, including a pride with the cutest 8-week old cubs, and another larger pride running up to a watering hole… We also got to scramble in the bush to track a pangolin at midnight (our guide and ranger carried my children on their shoulders!) and spend time with meerkats. As city-folks, even small sightings like our guide spotting a chameleon on a tree 10 metres away at night was such fun for the kids. All the sundowners and drives were so beautiful—the Kalahari had such vast beauty from dawn to starry night! There are fixed timings for the private air transfers, and on our day out, there was a long gap between when we arrived at the hangar and our international flight from Johannesburg— we were allowed to stay at the hangar for as long as we liked, and given all the food and drink we could want, before being whisked off to the airport, through custom and security. This was such an amazing trip that set such a high bar! We’re still looking forward to going back!