McCarthys Rest, Kalahari
McCarthy's Rest lies snug up against the border with Botswana, just outside the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park - its name something of a misnomer, for, whilst it is a border post, there is no town here called McCarthy's Rest. Instead there is a group of game farms in the most isolated corner of the Northern Cape.
But perhaps it is this very isolation in the northern perimeter of the Kalahari Desert that makes McCarthy's Rest the incredible experience it is, and offers access to some incredible game parks and scenery bar none. The Kalahari, in which McCarthy's Rest is situated, is a large semi-arid expanse of desert that covers much of Botswana as well as parts of South Africa and Namibia.
It is an ever-changing wilderness that once discovered by travellers, is re-visited time and time again. It offers incredible, and almost incomprehensible, stretches of savannah that present excellent grazing opportunities for game after rain; there are blinding saltpans under baobab trees, and only one permanent river, the Okavango, which draws an incredibly rich assortment of wildlife to its delta.
It is interesting that the word ‘Kalahari' is derived from the Tswana ‘Kgalagadi', which in turn is the name given to the trans-border conservation area, one of Africa's most impressive parks.
Just across the border from McCarthy's Rest, and one of the main reasons for passing through this part of the world, is a huge preserve of wildlife and conservation area. Meaning ‘land of thirst', the park straddles the border between Botswana and South Africa and merges the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park with the Gemsbok National Park - some 38000 square kilometres rich in wildlife.
In the vicinity
Hotels & other accommodation options
Springbokpan Guest Farm
Springbokpan Guest Farm is the nearest Guest farm to the border of Botswana at McCarthy's Rest Border Post. Our aim is to provide you with maximu...
Cullinan Guest Farm
Choose Cullinan Guest Farm for Kalahari accommodation and hospitality. We are just off the main road between South Africa and Botswana, on the R3...
Noteworthy attractions
Tswalu Kalahari Reserve
Surrounding the rugged Koranneberg Mountains in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa, Tswalu Kalahari Reserve covers 1000km² (100 000 ha) o...
Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park
Africa's first formally declared trans-border conservation area, the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, on the border of South Africa and Botswana, wa...
Witsand Nature Reserve
The Witsand (White Sands) Nature Reserve is a 2 500 hectares island of brilliant white sands surrounded by a sea of regular Red Kalahari sand. Al...
Sishen Golf Club
Of all the golf courses in South Africa, Sishen Golf Course is one of the most remote. Situated on the outskirts of the town of Kathu in the Nort...
Orange River Wine Route
In a part of South Africa that is, for all intents and purposes, practically desert, one does not expect to find a wine route. But the Orange Riv...
Riemvasmaak Community Conservancy
North west of the town of Kakamas and bordering the Augrabies National Park is the Riemvasmaak Community Conservancy - 75 00 hectares of land bet...
Kalahari Meerkat Project
The Kalahari Meerkat Project is based in the Kuruman River Reserve, just south of the border of Botswana. There is infinite beauty in this semi-a...
The Eye of Kuruman
The Eye was discovered in 1801, when an expedition called Truter Somerville was being conducted. It was only a little while later that a mission ...
Khomani Cultural Landscape
The area in the southern Kalahari, bordered in the east by Botswana and the west by Namibia, is where you will find a small group of the Khomani ...
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