WITSAND NATURE RESERVE

Witsand Nature Reserve

Flowing white dunes, twenty to sixty metres high, are surrounded by copper-red Kalahari sand, Acacia woodland and the Langberg Mountain range. Home of the famous ‘Brulsand’ or Roaring Sands of the Kalahari, these dunes emit a strange roaring sound when disturbed (by wind, man or animal). This roaring only occurs in the hot dry months between September and April, as any rainfall mutes the dunes for a number of days.

Animals in the Witsand Reserve include: springbuck, gemsbok (orynx), steenbok, duiker, red hartebeest, ground squirrels, meerkat, porcupine, aardwolf, aardvark, pangolin, bat-eared fox, cape fox, genet, and spring hare.

Witsand offers an interesting combination of arid region and bushveld birds, such as sociable weavers, secretary bird, crimson-breasted boubou or shrike, kori bustard, lilac-breasted roller and three species of sandgrouse pygmy falcon Africa’s smallest raptor).