Aardvark Night Foraging — Kalahari Botswana
The aardvark (Orycteropus afer) — one of Africa's most sought-after and least-seen nocturnal mammals, a 65-kg pig-sized termite specialist that spends the day sealed in a deep burrow and emerges only after full darkness — is most reliably seen in the Kalahari's central regions at Deception Valley in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, where the red Kalahari sand and the desert's low vegetation provide the best night-drive visibility conditions in Africa. Aardvarks walk 2–5 kilometres per night sniffing for termite mounds, their pig-like trot and enormous ears visible in the spotlight at 50-metre range before they scent the vehicle and accelerate away. The aardvark's ecological importance — its abandoned burrows provide shelter for 30+ other species including warthog, hyena, and monitor lizard — means a sighting implies an entire community of secondary users, and finding a fresh aardvark dig at dawn in the red sand is one of the Kalahari's most satisfying tracking moments.
About this spectacle
After full darkness descends over Deception Valley, the red Kalahari sand takes on an otherworldly glow in the spotlight beam. If you are lucky, a large, pale-grey shape resolves itself out of the darkness — an aardvark, pig-snouted and enormous-eared, trotting purposefully across the open pan in search of termite mounds. At roughly 50 metres the animal pauses, nostrils working, then catches wind of the vehicle and breaks into a surprisingly swift accelerating lope that kicks up small puffs of red dust. The silence is total except for the distant yip of jackals. Dawn brings its own reward: fresh conical diggings in the rust-coloured sand, claw marks splayed wide, tunnels that will tonight be claimed by a warthog or a hyena cub. The Central Kalahari's low scrub and flat terrain give spotlights exceptional reach, making this arguably the most favourable set of physical conditions anywhere in Africa for finding a species most wildlife enthusiasts never see in a lifetime of safaris.
When to go
May — Oct, peak May — Sep
Getting there
Nearest airport: MUB. Nearest city: Maun.
Booking options
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