Tales of the Kgalagadi.

[RogerFraser]

Wow what a sighting with the Owls .SO loves Owls so definitely a trip to Kalagadi is in the future plans .

That is a very pretty pattern on the Sand grouse

[Mel]

Not only are the sandgrouses pretty, I also love their noises when the fly to and from the waterhole.
And watching the drongo at Grootkolk is one of my favourite past times there

[Michele Nel]

As you most probably all know by now Kgalagadi is our most favourite place. Seeing we couldn't get to New Zealand for Christmas last year I made a very last minute booking for Kgalagadi . Camping at Twee Rivieren , Nossob and Mata Mata . We found the sightings a bit sparse . But having we said that we saw 49 lions. Maybe I should rephrase that and say that we found the "action" sightings a bit sparse. :)
Action does however occur when you least expect it.
This story is not for the feint-hearted and I do hope that everybody heeds my warning .....

13th Jan - Nossob Campsite - 5.00 am
My husband woke up on the morning of the 13th to find a puff adder cruising right next to our vehicle. Luckily he saw it just in time as he was about to lie down under Monty to check a leak that had developed. I just shudder when I think what could have happened. He kept his eye on it while it slowly moved towards the washing line area next to the ablutions and we warned everybody that was walking off to the ablutions. Yes some people were walking barefoot....
Later that afternoon we discovered that there was a cobra in camp as well. Apparently the Yellow Mongoose was doing a good job of chasing it back into a hole. He was finally caught and removed .
The next evening I visited the hide ..only to find another puff adder lying across the entrance way .....he started to move away but then backtracked towards the entrance. Luckily for me he decided to then curl up behind the fence so I was able to go into the hide. I didn't last long in the hide though ..after warning the two gentlemen in the hide of the snake's presence I decided that disappearing off to bed was a much better option. Another narrow escape....
The next evening we had a nasty little scorpion come and keep us company around our braai and three days later back at Twee Rivieren we had three scorpions joining us on our campsite. I was beginning to think that something was out to get us....
The moral of the story is of course to be vigilant at all times while moving around in camp. Mostly we hardly see any snakes while visit the park during these very hot periods....The temperature was in the low 40's but that didn't stop the snakes from coming out. Besides these three snakes we saw in camp we also saw 4 puff adders, 2 cobras and 2 sand snakes while out on our drives.

Puffie in camp ..right next to Monty

Puff Adder outside the hide

Puff Adder trying to go into hide.

[Michele Nel]

One of the two sand snakes that we saw - the other was too for me and I didn't get a photo of it .

This Puff Adder we saw coming out of Marie's Loop ...it was the hugest Puffie I had ever seen. It's entire length was stuffed full. I wish I knew what t had eaten...
Six minutes after seeing this Puff Adder we saw another disappear under a bush...I have a very out of focus photo - I shall save myself the embarrassment and not post it here . :)

[nan]

fantastic Michele, I love all of them
oh I miss all these sightings... and you of course
I really hope you can go to NZ.. soon

[Michele Nel]

This was yet another Puff Adder we saw ...a bit slow in the beginning but watch to the end. :)

https://youtu.be/oDyVmToSTNA

[Michele Nel]

fantastic Michele, I love all of them
oh I miss all these sightings... and you of course
I really hope you can go to NZ.. soon

aw thx Nan..miss you so much as well. We have just bought tickets for NZ for Nov this year . We will be going for 9 weeks..

[nan]

still more fantastic

did the Puffie want to kill the Scorpion ?
yes it is very fast

[Richprins]

Remarkable stuff, Michele!

This must be some sort of record, and I would also feel hunted!

Nice pics, and video.

[Lisbeth]

Those snakes are many and spectacular One did not even stay in one frame, you had to take two pics of it

It was hot alright, but so many You learned to wach your step

(I have just seen that New Zealand declares a national state of emergency after Cyclone Gabrielle causes major damage )