Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park

Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, game reserve in southwestern Botswana and northwestern South Africa, in the heart of the Kalahari Desert. The park was created in May 2000 by the merger of two separate, adjacent parks: Gemsbok National Park in Botswana and Kalahari Gemsbok National Park in South Africa. The vast transfrontier park covers about 36,000 sq km (about 14,000 sq mi), about 75 percent of which is in Botswana. Within the park, only the normally dry Nossob River marks the boundary between the two countries.

Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park is a semidesert area, with reddish sand dunes, thorny scrub, and grassland vegetation. Only 102 to 127 mm (4 to 5 in) of rain falls annually, but the land supports large migratory populations of gemsbok, eland, gnu (wildebeest), hartebeest, and springbok. Predators such as lions, leopards, cheetahs, and hyenas are also found in the park, as are 140 species of birds. Roads within the park follow the dry beds of the Auob and Nossob rivers. The park is open year-round.

South Africa’s Kalahari Gemsbok National Park was established in 1931, and Botswana’s Gemsbok National Park in 1932. When the two parks officially merged in 2000, they created southern Africa's first formally recognized transnational conservation area. Tourists are issued with special permits to travel around the park unhindered by national borders.