Tswalu has superlative game and offers sightings of some of Southern Africa’s rarest and most extraordinary wildlife. In particular, our population of desert black rhino (Diceros bicornis bicornis) now represents one third of South Africa’s remaining population. Kalahari lions, with their celebrated black manes, are huge and gorgeous. Frequent cheetah sightings are possible in the open savannah and meerkats, with their enchanting antics, can be viewed at close range here.
Tswalu’s 90 species of mammals include rare antelope such as roan, sable and tsessebe. Giraffe browse upon thorny acacias. Burchell’s zebra wander across the grasslands whilst the rarer Hartmann’s mountain zebra scale the Korannaberg. In the dunes, the sharpest eyes might spot a desert pygmy mouse. And in the evening, the Kalahari comes alive with more elusive creatures such as aardvark, aardwolf, bat-eared foxes and brown hyaena.
Over 230 species of birds have been seen here at Tswalu. And every bush or dune crest has its own secrets to reveal; in the last ten years, four separate new species of insect have been discovered and identified here for the very first time.
The diversity of life here is spectacular. Yet sometimes the most beautiful sight can be as simple as the sun’s last rays falling over the silken bushman’s grass.
