Deception Valley is the classic destination, a fossil river bed of pale grass that fills with springbok, gemsbok and wildebeest after rain. The lions here are the famous black-maned Kalahari cats, and cheetah hunt the open pans. This is the valley made famous by decades of desert lion research.

Passarge and Piper valleys to the north are the quieter equivalents, with the same seasonal flush and even fewer vehicles.

The pans throughout hold the Kalahari specialities: brown hyena, bat-eared fox, aardwolf and honey badger, most of them best found on early mornings or, where permitted, at dusk.

The deep south around Xade is where meerkat groups habituated to people can be watched at close range — standing on visitors as lookout posts — usually arranged through the lodges on the reserve's edge.

December to April is the green season and the productive window — the opposite of most of Botswana. The dry months from May to October are stark and beautiful with far less game, though the predators remain.

Practicalities

This is serious self-drive country: no fuel, no water and no supplies inside the reserve, deep sand tracks, and distances of hundreds of kilometres between campsites. Two vehicles, full recovery equipment, and enough water for several days beyond your plan are the standard expectations, and campsites must be booked in advance.

The alternative is flying into one of the small lodges on the reserve. The Central Kalahari is also the ancestral land of San communities whose relationship with the reserve has been the subject of long legal dispute — worth reading about before you go.