Kalahari Reflections March 2014*

[GavinW]

Martial reflections

The only sighting we had on the way down to Rooiputs after leaving the traffic cop behind was quite wonderful.

The roads, after all the rain had provided a whole lot of puddles in the road.
Fun for me as I added to the designer mud on my bakkie,
but even more fun for the birds, who suddenly had really nice fresh water bird baths available all over the place.

We were lucky enough to come across this Martial having a ball in a bird bath in the road..











And off it went

[GavinW]

We carried on to Twee Rivieren, where we did all the admin/logistical type stuff we needed to do before heading off to Rooipiuts

There we set up camp in campsite no 5

had a chilled evening braai and bed.





Wondering what the last segment of our trip would bring

[GavinW]

March 17: Kalahari Reflections


Today was going to be one of those days which keep you coming back to the Kgaladadi.

First up the sunrise….



We decided to head north up to Kij Kij in the hope of seeing the lion pride that had been seen around there recently

They obviously had different ideas. Zip , Nadda, not even a bokkie did we see till after Kij Kij.

As we were heading north up towards Melkvlei, I had a hair in my nose that was really irritating me, so I asked Debs to pull it out ………………. :redface: :redface: :redface:
Well I need to do that more often as whilst she was helping me out I suddenly saw something in the middle of the road... (but then I may get to have a really big swollen nose, so that is not such a good idea!!)

What I saw initially between the tears turned out to be one of the highlights of our trip:



I am sorry, you are about to get a photo overload!













A few of my photos as well, including the two BBj's who were hanging around as well:





This was by far the best sighting of a brown hyeana we had ever had. And the best was that we had it all to ourselves for over 20 minutes
Pure heaven



It eventually stopped drinking and went to claim the no entry sign by marking it as it's own




before disappearing over the dune

[GavinW]

Thanks nan and Tina

We eventually carried on to a very soggy Melkvlei!

[GavinW]

Raptors galore


After the brownie disappeared over the dune, we carried on towards Melkvlei.
The way up was littered with raptors of all shapes and sizes.
Loads of lanners, and tawnys, as well as a juvenile martial

A lot of the sightings were into the sun or a bit too far away to get decent pictures, but we did get to capture this tawny





As well as this juvenile bateleur being harassed by a fork-tailed drongo.

[GavinW]

We stopped for coffee and rusks at Melkvlei, before turning around and heading back down to Twee Rivieren

The trip down was really productive:

Just after Rooiputs, we spotted this honey badger in the road. By the time we got closer to it, it had moved off onto the dunes to the right, and continued to forage as it travelled along the dune and eventually out of sight






It was only our second ever honey badger sighting, neither of which have been great. All the more reason to return again!

We popped into camp for a short while before carrying on to TR to go shower and to get more wood, ice and petrol.


The road further south produced the usual suspects, including this Kori Bustard.





And then about 2kms before Twee Rivieren, this lioness parked off under a tree.






We heard that she had a cub with her, but we never saw it.

After refuelling at Twee Rivieren, we decided to head back via the Auob and Lower Dune Road.
Middle of the day, not much about barring the odd flower




and some ostriches parked off in the road,

[Toko]

Funny photo of the ostrich trio

The Violet is Aptosimum elongatum

[GavinW]

We carried on and saw some gemsbok at Kij Kij



And this bateleur trying to keep cool in the grass next to a puddle








Back at camp we had another evening in paradise :P








And then sunset :P

[GavinW]

March 18: A full moon and more reflections

We were up early as usual but left the “gates” as always at the official time (SO is a stickler for rules)

Original plan was to head south, but we changed our minds after yesterday’s sightings, and also the road around Leeudril had been pretty quiet the last few days.
In addition we would be travelling in the same direction as the cars from TR so we would have a whole lot less traffic. ( that’s if you can call the traffic in the KTP traffic!!) :lol:


The morning started with a sighting of the full moon setting in the west


All was pretty quiet as we wandered up Towards Kij Kij, but once again our feathered friends kept us entertained.

A snake eagle slowly waking up



And another glaring in our direction.



We still had not seen any other cars by the time we reached these Gemsbok sipping water in the road. We wondered if we had made a poor call in going north, but then looking at these pictures afterwards, I know we didn’t.








and one more for good luck!!

[GavinW]

Once the bokke had moved off the road we carried on towards Melkvlei. All was quiet, as it was further north, bar the lion tracks which teased us in the road.

We went up as far as Gunong before turning back. The roads were disgusting!!


All was pretty quiet…again. Well not really






But that is what the Kgalagadi is all about. You don’t see wow sightings every day, and when you do they are not always right on top of you.
But then often they are. Not today though

Instead we revelled in the inherent beauty of the park as illustrated in these images.










Our day included a pit stop at TR and on the way home we saw this cobra on top of a sociable weavers nest



And another stunning sunset that evening