Bitterpan Wilderness Camp — Local services in Mier Local Municipality

As the name says, this is a wilderness camp. As such, the accommodations are small and basic, but it is still amazing. The tent is small - two twin beds and a narrow walkway between them. Each tent has its own bathroom across an open area walkway. The kitchen and dining area are communal, but each tent has its own refrigerator. There are only two kitchen areas so tents pair up to use them, but each tent has its own braai. Be sure to bring your own firewood, none is available here. We learned the hard way that there is nothing to split the firewood smaller. Luckily the host had some paper and tender, but it would be best to bring fire starters with you.||||The waterhole has a night spotlight which is how we had our first spotted hyena sighting. During the night I heard a moaning sound, but didn't investigate because it was cold and my glasses were across the walkway in the bathroom. I regretted it in the morning when the host said it was a leopard wandering around for about half an hour.||||The drive in was some of the best 4x4 driving we've ever had. It does help to be comfortable with 4x4 driving, but don't worry if you don't have experience. There's lots of good YouTube videos about sand driving. Know that if things go wrong you can just sit tight and wait for help - the Nossob hosts know you left so the Bitterpan host will come looking for you if you don't arrive. In the morning we took the "escape" route instead of the "standard" route to have more time looking for cheetah so I can't comment personally, but the host gave me the impression that the second half is more challenging than the first.||||We had three people so had two tents. A couple from France was in another tent and the fourth tent was empty. Other than that, the only person was the host. I have never experienced so much silence; there wasn't even any wind sounds. There's also no light to ruin stargazing.||||Somewhere on TripAdvisor I read that at the wilderness camps it was a good idea to spray the cleaner HandyAndy on tires to stop lions from chewing on them. We dutifully found HandyAndy and sprayed it on the tires. When we were done the host asked what we were doing; I think he had a hard time not laughing when I explained. Apparently (1) he's never heard of this "trick", (2) it's only cubs that chew tires and their teeth are generally too small to cause damage and (3) lions don't come around Bitterpan. Oh well, at least we had cleaner for the mess when a jar broke on the wild ride in.||||We would come back here in...

We were worried about driving over the dunes to Bitterpan as we had been told that some dunes were very tricky due to deep sand and corrugations. We had visions of vast sandy dunes that could challenge the best 4x4 drivers. ||In the event, we had no difficulty but it was obvious that the longer dunes need a determined approach to get over. The red dunes are numerous and beautiful, flowing from SE to NW between the two river beds of the park. This explains the one-way, east to west, 4x4 track which allows access up the shallow side, then a drop down the steep side as you crest the dune. The dunes are actually all covered in scrub or grass, rather than being pure sand, and stretch as far as the eye can see: so wonderful. ||The sand on the road is mostly compacted, but deepens and is corrugated as you reach the crest of the dune. The most challenging dunes are on the section from Bitterpan to Craig Lockhart waterhole. There are three quite long dunes of which you are forewarned as they have two or three alternative tracks to the crest and can be seen from a distance. We found these easy to traverse, though bumpy, because the sand was damp after heavy overnight rain. Even so, engaging H4 seemed wise. These will be much more challenging in hot, dry conditions with deeper, looser sand. However, H4, good revs and determination to ignore the bumps and keep going will get you over. If you get stuck, just back off and try again. The fall from the crest of many of the dunes can be steep, so ease off the power as you feel the momentum will take you over the crest. Great fun!||Bitterpan Wilderness camp overlooks a large pan and has a waterhole in front of the main deck. It is a unique location, peaceful, remote and to be savoured. It feels a privilege to be there and easily counters the rustic accommodation and lack of sound proofing that has drawn many comments. Actually, everything that you need is there, and there is only room for a maximum of 8 people in 2-bed chalets. The chalets are about 3m apart and made of canvas and a corrugated material, so you can hear your neighbours change their mind. If that bothers you, don't go, but you will miss...

A truly unique and memorable stay at this wilderness camp! I was nervous about staying here as I heard the 4x4 road to the camp could be tricky, but our Hilux drove it easily and it was one of the most scenic drives we had in the KTC. We got lucky with the weather when we stayed as it was the only day under 35 degrees during our 2 week trip, and I think we might have struggled during the day if it was any hotter as the camp is quite exposed. At night though, the temperature drops and as you're in a canvas tent, you actually feel quite cold! We loved it during the summer, but it must get really cold at night during the winter months (we did find extra blankets in the room). ||Our tent was small, but very clean and comfortable. The bathroom is not connected and a short walk away, but is private. There wasn't much storage space in the room, but we only took an overnight bag and left everything else in the car so that wasn't an issue. It's a shared kitchen, but you do get your own fridge. The fridge was really cold, which I know is an obvious thing to say - but at Mata Mata, Kalahari Tented Camp, and Nossop, the fridges really struggled to stay cool. ||You do really get to know the other guests here as it's a communal kitchen and dining area (and the tent canvas is thin!) but the other people we stayed with were lovely and considerate so again, we were lucky.||The camp manager told us some fantastic stories about animals in camp, and we are still talking about the video he showed us of the honey badger in the kitchen bin! He also showed us the leopard and brown hyena spoor around camp. One of our most memorable moments of our KTC trip was watching the camp manager run out of his cabin to catch a cape cobra that was getting a bit close for comfort! He showed it to us (a very impressive snake!) and then walked off and let it go much further up the hill and made sure it slithered away from camp. ||We didn't see much at the waterhole (lit at night) but loved watching the oryx and ostrich over the pan. We wished we could have...