Our Stories

Using camera traps, GPS collars, drones and AI, conservation student Daniel Sacker is spending his year at Tswalu discovering how technology is quietly reshaping fieldwork, from tracking wild dogs to identifying brown hyena from thousands of images.

CONSERVATION JOURNAL ISSUE 10 - At Tswalu, conservation is regenerative as well as sustainable. Beyond protecting what is already here, natural processes have been restored and wildlife reintroduced, rebuilding the ecological resilience of the reserve.

Photojournalist Marcus Westberg has returned to Tswalu every year since 2021. He talks through the details that mark a Tswalu photograph, and the frame he almost missed.

Tswalu is more than a protected landscape. Through the Tswalu Foundation, it functions as a living laboratory, hosting multiple active research projects that build, over time, into a connected body of evidence about how the southern Kalahari works and how...

CONSERVATION JOURNAL ISSUE 9 – Elusive species are notoriously difficult to spot. Exceptional rainfall has made them harder – they thrive but are hidden in dense vegetation. Camera traps reveal populations of bat-eared foxes, Cape foxes, polecats, genets, jackals and...

Tucked into a private valley below the Korannaberg, Tarkuni has always felt set apart. Not just from the rest of Tswalu's vast wilderness, but from the world beyond it. The homestead has recently been refurbished, and the result is a...

At Tswalu, every guest has access to a private guide, a private vehicle, and 118,000 hectares of the southern Kalahari that feels, by design, exclusively theirs. Exclusive-use accommodation takes it further still, extending that privacy from the vehicle into camp,...

CONSERVATION JOURNAL ISSUE 8 – Biodiversity starts with the grass. After a record rainfall season, Tswalu's first vegetation research workshop brought together the scientists who know why – and what to watch for next.

CONSERVATION JOURNAL ISSUE 7 - The Korannaberg is the ecological backbone of Tswalu. This month, we explore four of the valleys that cut through the mountain range, wildlife corridors accessible to guides and their guests, and what plentiful rain has...

In December 2025, National Geographic published Why Alpha Females Reign Supreme in Meerkat World, photographed by Thomas Peschak. We sat down with him to find out what it took to bring this story to life.

CONSERVATION JOURNAL ISSUE 6 – Late rains have kept the southern Kalahari green well into March. New lion cubs, flowering black thorns and landmark giraffe research make this a month worth documenting.

Few places on earth swing as dramatically between extremes as the Kalahari. Tswalu's semi-arid climate is one of its defining characteristics – and knowing what to pack makes all the difference.

There are places on Tswalu where the rock holds memory. Not the kind that can be read like a text or decoded like a map, but something older and less certain, a presence that asks to be felt rather than...

CONSERVATION JOURNAL ISSUE 5 – Late summer rain, lion cubs still in hiding, a birding big day, and the launch of a PhD study asking an important question in pangolin conservation.

CONSERVATION JOURNAL ISSUE 4 – The new year has truly taken flight with millions of migrating butterflies, a phenomenon which extends beyond South Africa into neighbouring countries. A new species was added to Tswalu’s checklist, bringing the total to 84.

Electric storms, prolific birdlife, and a landscape impossibly green. Summer at Tswalu demands a different rhythm: early starts, long midday pauses, and evenings that stretch past sunset into star-filled silence.

For more than a decade Lepidopterist Reinier Terblanche has been documenting butterfly migrations at Tswalu. His long-term research has established the reserve as a critical source area for one of southern Africa’s most remarkable multi-species migration events.

CONSERVATION JOURNAL ISSUE 3 – Eight lion cubs were born in November, and the northern pride sisters are fiercely protective. Meanwhile, territorial tensions escalate as southern females push boundaries, and a young male navigates precarious new ground.

Researcher Geke Woudstra is studying how black-backed jackals influence predator-prey dynamics across Tswalu. Her in-depth fieldwork is revealing the surprisingly complex ecological role of this adaptable, intelligent canid in the southern Kalahari.

CONSERVATION JOURNAL ISSUE 2 – The first rains arrived early this year, greening the Kalahari and triggering new life. Lion cubs, migrant birds, meerkat pups, and flowering plants dotted across the red dunes mark summer's transformation.

Fire has shaped the Kalahari for millennia. Tswalu's fire ecology project is uncovering the intricate dance between flames, rain and resilient vegetation, revealing how this remarkable ecosystem adapts and thrives through changing conditions.

CONSERVATION JOURNAL ISSUE 1 - Tswalu’s vast landscapes shape everything guests experience, from the wildlife encountered to our approach to conservation. Appreciating the Kalahari ecosystem is key to understanding what makes this a unique safari destination in South Africa.

Amy Jacobs, a nature conservation student from Cape Town, traded the coast for the Kalahari, discovering her true calling through research, resilience and Tswalu’s unexpected beauty during her transformative Work Integrated Learning year.

Desert black rhinos (Diceros bicornis bicornis) were reintroduced to Tswalu from Etosha National Park in neighbouring Namibia in 1995. Today black rhinos serve as a flagship species for conservation on the reserve.

Tswalu has become the first privately protected area in southern Africa to earn carbon credits as a result of wildlife management interventions, creating a pioneering model that has the potential to restore degraded ecosystems, fund conservation and community development, and...

Attaching a device to reveal an animal's movements and activities across the landscape offers a practical approach to tracking. The data these collars provide is invaluable, offering insights into daily movements, home ranges, social interactions, and dietary habits. Each transmission...

As the world faces mounting environmental challenges, conservation has transformed into a dynamic, interdisciplinary field, drawing on insights from economics, anthropology, sociology, and beyond. This evolution underscores the importance of hands-on learning, which not only sparks enthusiasm but also provides...

Everybody dreams of seeing a pangolin in the wild or, at the very least, learning more about this notoriously shy creature. Having access to scientists, like Ben, who can provide firsthand experience of a close encounter with one of these...

Tswalu's annual game count represents more than just numbers on a spreadsheet. It's a testament to the power of consistent, long-term monitoring in conservation. Over 26 years, an invaluable dataset has been created that not only guides management decisions at...

Tswalu is a year-round destination, offering a private wilderness experience that is consistently rewarding. The vast reserve offers something increasingly rare in our crowded world – space to breathe and time to absorb the subtleties of each season.

Tswalu is a place that deserves to be experienced at a slower, more immersive pace. Private-vehicle safaris across almost 1200 square kilometres provide the time and space to encounter the soul of the southern Kalahari.

Tswalu is proud to announce that it has been awarded Global Ecosphere Retreat (GER) status by The Long Run, achieving the organisation’s most advanced sustainability standard.

Tswalu is the embodiment of a bold conservation vision to restore the southern Kalahari ecosystem’s rich biodiversity. Since 1999, the Oppenheimers have been the custodians, committed to continuing the legacy of the late Stephen Boler.

Klipbak, Steenkamp and Picnic Valley are just a few of the documented rock engraving sites at Tswalu. Rock engravings are usually associated with water, such as natural springs and depressions in the rock where water collects.

In an unusual year for tourism, characterised by travel bans and fewer guests, wildlife photography became field guide Barry Peiser’s focus while living and working on the reserve during SA's lockdown.

Anthony West, a regular guest with his wife, Sue, saw his first black rhino on his first safari to Tswalu. Before that, the black rhino was a creature that existed only in his imagination.

Conservator Richard Satekge has witnessed the steady rehabilitation of Tswalu through the removal of old farming infrastructure and the restoration of natural habitat.

For the San people, stars were sites of cultural meaning in both the earth-bound world and in the sky. Pippa Skotnes explains the value of the stars to the San.

Gordon Cumming described how he stood on the fore chest of his wagon, watching the springboks pass like the flood of some great river, with nothing but springboks as far as the eye could see.

The southern Kalahari has been both home and refuge for many groups of people over an extended period of time: hunter-gatherers from at least the Middle Stone Age; Later Stone Age ancestors of N|uu speakers as well as seasonal visitors, and pastoralists from about 500AD.

To help Tswalu measure and assess its sustainability goals, Tswalu retains the services of an independent sustainability officer, Julie Cheetham. This is the first of what we hope will become regular, thought-provoking contributions by Julie, tracking Tswalu’s journey towards greater...

Tswalu’s health care centre provides free primary health care services not only to all staff and their families on the reserve but to anyone in need in the remote, rural communities surrounding the property.