24th to 26th May 2022

Our friends Arthur and Rose stayed a few days longer in Kgalagadi but my sister and husband, Sally and I headed home a few days before them. On our way back home from our trip to Augrabies Falls NP and Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park we camped at Mokala National Park for two nights.

The Main gate is at the South of the park. There is also another gate – Lilydale – at the north of the Park. Reception in the south is about 6 kms from the main gate. And the campsite is a few kms from reception.

The main roads in Mokala had been battered by rain and they were terrible in places. The side roads were in far better condition.

Mokala only has six campsites each with their own ablutions and kitchen area. It overlooks a shallow dam.

We were in campsite number 5. Unfortunately, the ablutions for campsites 5 and 6 only had warm water. The solar panel on the roof is facing in the right direction but it has been partially placed behind an obstruction – South African style!!!

As you can see from the photos above the sites are nice and grassy and reasonably apart.

The park has two distinct regions – north and south. In the south it is more hilly and woody. In the north open plains dominate. Both are worth exploring.

There is one Bird Hide – Stofdam bird hide. It was very quiet when we visited. There are toilets present there.

Mokala is notable for the variety of Antelope inhabiting the park. Apart from the more common Springbok, Klipspringers, Giraffe, Blue Gnu, Zebra, Duiker, Meerkats there are also the rarer Eland, Roan, Sable and Tsessebe. Of the big five there are few.

And some of the birds we recorded.

And a few mystery birds:

Altogether we identified 43 different bird species. See the attached list.

Hope you enjoyed the report and photos.

Paul and Sally Bartho