South Africa’s largest private game reserve, Tswalu is famed as one of the best sites for encountering rare and sought-after mammals including ground pangolin, aardvark, aardwolf and brown hyena.
The reserve is located in the foothills of the Korannaberg, one of the few mountain ranges that run through the Southern Kalahari, and this helps to create a landscape of rolling dunes and expansive grasslands broken sporadically by patches of thicker vegetation. Tswalu also happens to receive more rainfall than other regions of Kalahari which promotes a greater diversity of wildlife. So far, 80 mammal and 240 bird species have been recorded in the reserve including a dazzling array of mammals that are much harder to see in the other national parks and protected areas of Southern Africa.
Tswalu is among the very best locations in Southern Africa to encounter ground pangolin, aardvark, aardwolf, African wild dog, cheetah, brown hyena, cape fox, Hartmann's mountain zebra, gemsbok, bat-eared fox, desert black rhino, small-spotted genet and African wild cat - some of which are among the rarest mammals on the continent. The reserve is also home to a habituated family of meerkats and a range of other species that can be observed at other more traditional safari locations such as lion, leopard, honey badger, buffalo and greater kudu. Tswalu is also a haven for a myriad of birdlife including sociable weaver, spotted eagle-owl, common scimitarbill, secretarybird, Kalahari scrub-robin and kori bustard.
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