• Summary
• Text account
• Data table and detailed info
• Map
• Reference and further resources

Site description (2001 baseline)
A large semi-arid southern Kalahari ecosystem in south-west Botswana, formerly the Gemsbok National Park, contiguous with the South African Kalahari-Gemsbok National Park (from 20°00’E to 22°10’E and from 24°10’S to 26°30’S). The park comprises vast areas of dunes and sandy flats covered by open shrub or tree savanna. There are calcrete outcrops with sparse shrubby vegetation and riverbeds and pans, seasonally inundated depressions, dominated by open grassland. The Mabuasehube area (a former Game Reserve) contains an abundance of pans. The most frequent trees include Acacia and Boscia. Amongst the many shrubs, Grewia, Rhizogum, Zygophyllum, Ehretia, Indigofera, Salsola, Hermanna, Asparagus and Lycium are common. There is limited tourism in the Mabuasehube area, although the Department of Wildlife and National Parks plans to open up some routes within the main park area, towards the Nossob river.

Key biodiversity
See Box and Table 2 for key species. The park supports large populations of many of the species restricted to the Kalahari–Highveld biome. It also has very healthy populations of Struthio camelus and Ardeotis kori and of regionally threatened raptors such as Trigonoceps occipitalis and Terathopius ecaudatus. Falco chicquera is common. However, whilst the Nossob river valley has been well covered, and the Mabuasehube area is regularly visited by ornithologists, the birds of much of the former Gemsbok National Park within Botswana are poorly surveyed. The population sizes of Falco naumanni and Circus macrourus within the park are unknown.

Non-bird biodiversity: The park supports important populations of large ungulates.

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Kgalakgadi Transfrontier Park (Botswana). Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/kgalakgadi-transfrontier-park-iba-botswana on 22/11/2024.