Khutse Game Reserve

Khutse Game Reserve
 
Khutse Game Reserve, the southern extension of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, was established to conserve the pans of the Central Kalahari and is an ideal spot to experience true wilderness away from the busier parks of the north.
 
History of Khutse Game Reserve
 
This 2,500 sq. km reserve was opened in 1971, on Bakwena tribal land.
Prior to this date, due to the almost complete absence of surface water and the fragile vegetation, very few people lived in this area of undulating plains of dry Kalahari bush savannah. Those who did subsisted by gathering wild foods, undertaking limited hunting and keeping small stock. Wildlife was therefore considered to be a good alternative form of land use. Khutse is a protected area where development has been kept to a minimum and where the wilderness atmosphere has been carefully preserved.
 
 
General
 
Khutse Game Reserve is known for its peace and quiet as well as for its bird life with over 150 different species having been recorded.  
Khutse Game Reserve has an extensive mineralized pan system which provides an important habitat for wildlife. Herbivores are attracted to graze on the grasses of the pans and drink the mineralized water during the rainy season and lick salt during the dry season.  
Most types of desert herbivores can be seen here but they are mostly found around the pans or at Molose Pan where water is pumped from a borehole. (When travelling between Molose Waterhole and Moreswe Pan, visitors will be interested to come across a sign in what appears to be the middle of nowhere, proclaiming that this point intersects the Tropic of Capricorn). Boreholes have been established at certain points within the reserve as a form of attracting the wildlife to stay in the area throughout the year. These herbivores in turn attract predators such as lion, cheetah, leopard and hyena.
 
 
Travel Access
 
Khutse Game Reserve can be reached after a 4 hour drive, on varying road conditions, from Gaborone. There are no tourist lodges, no chalets or rest camps in Khutse Game Reserve.  There are areas that have been designated as campsites, some of which have pit latrines but no other form of development.
 
Although Botswana's central and southern parks and reserves are not as well known as their northern sisters, visitors who are devoted to the wilderness enjoy the wonderful sense of isolation and timelessness found in Khutse Game Reserve.
 
Wildlife

Visitors to Khutse should not expect to see large concentrations of game, however, game that can been seen are giraffe, gemsbok, red hartebeest, eland, kudu, wildebeest, springbok, steenbok, grey duiker, lion, leopard, cheetah, brown hyena, black-backed jackal, bat-eared fox and wild dog as well as other smaller animals. There is a wide range of birdlife from ostrich and kori bustard to smaller birds.