The Last Minute Crazy KTP Trip!

[Wanda]

Lisbeth, Mel, nan, Tina, Toko, Bush Brat, Richprins, Flutterby and pooky - Many thanks for the comments.
@Richprins - Thanks for the added info on lion mating! I did realize the Lion was the 'King' but he just seemed to be having a very difficult time that day. On our last trip we saw a lot of mating lions so we have seen a lot of associated behaviour. However this time, the lioness seemed to be extra spunky, perhaps we got there at the start of the mating, hence the energetic reactions!

[Wanda]

We went on to just past the 20km sign and found hyenas trying to catch the early morning sun on top of a ridge - 2 adults and 2 youngsters.



The one youngster decided that the best position was on top of mom.(Please excuse the quality of pix - they were quite far off so I have cropped quite a bit, and the light was not great)



We decided to go onto Melkvlei. On route a Tawny eagle

[Wanda]

Our first Hartebeest!



A Battle of the Wildie Wills at Rooiputs. They were like statues and so we left after a few minutes.



Near Melkvlei we came across a Springbok creche and Mom was giving one babe a tail curling snack!

[Lisbeth]

Nice pic of the two wildies. The newborn bokkies never fail to thrill me

[Wanda]

On our return to TR we passed the lions again. They were flopped out but we waited about a minute and the action started again. This time there was no wallop from the lioness - probably because it was getting hot and I think they were both getting tired.

An after action pic! Notice the flattened lioness!

]

The lion decided to lie down close to his queen, and amazingly the queen’s paw came up -perhaps a warning for him to keep his distance or coincidence? I started to feel sorry for the poor chap.



We had a quiet drive after that, and at Samevloeiing, decided to head over the dunes into the Auob riverbed for a small drive( at Melkvlei people had told us that there were lots of cheetah on the Auob side).

We found a sleepy Spotted Eagle Owl near Houmoed

[Wanda]

Well, the cheetahs were invisible and we turned around to head back to TR. We decided to give Samevloeiing another check and found some spots in the shade!

At first this sighting was not the best - 2 cheetahs lying flat in deep shade at lunchtime - but we hung around and things got better.

They were very affectionate.



And finally one decided to go drink at the waterhole...



And the other joined her(could not see any ‘male’ evidence).







When they walked off together, we went onto to TR to book in. We had booked a campsite with power, but Reception told us to take our pick, and we ended up with a lovely campsite without power. We set up our tent, had lunch, and were ready for the afternoon drive(we were learning that time disappears exceptionally fast when you are camping).

[Wanda]

Thanx Lisbeth!
I love the little bokkies too!(all legs)

[Lisbeth]

Beautiful cheetahs

[Flutterby]

The little springbok is too cute! Great lion and cheetah sightings!

[Mel]

A super day in KTP!

I ticked everything (even the same cheetahs ) but the spotted eagle owl.