Wannabe Larnies in the KTP: December/Jan 2015*

[GavinW]

We got back to Nossob, and it was still quite early, so we decided to venture north for a bit.

We were pleasantly surprised to see that the sleeper had proceeded us that morning and we had a glass smooth road to drive on :dance:


Besides that, the bush telegraph was correct. There was nothing going on- Nadda - Zip

We went as far as Bedinkt, and the highlights of the trip were:

This secretary bird at Kwang ( Billyf this is for you)



And some wildebeest somewhere along the way



We returned to Nossob, had drinks with Myles and Karen, then a braai, checked out the hide, and decided that it was WAY too busy,

So went walkabout in the camp.

The Barn owl posed nicely for us before we went to bed.



Tomorrow we head back to Urikaruus

[GavinW]

Day 13: 7 January Nossob to Urikaruus

It felt as if our holiday was nearing it’s end as we moved back onto the Auob side and returned to Urikaruus.
In effect we still had 3 nights left in the park and a load more sightings to come.

We managed to leave Nossob after packing up at about 5.40am and headed south.

We immediately noticed that we were behind the tractor dragging the road as we had a nice smooth ride.

As we were a little late out of the gate, a few cars had gone south ahead of us, most of which had headed directly south (to Kaspersdraai no doubt) without doing Marie’s. We always do Marie’s.

Marie’s however, was quiet, bar this little steenbokkie peeping out at us.



We caught up with the tractor about a kilometre before Kaspersdraai. It was travelling really slowly being held up by a convoy of about 4 cars (the early risers from Nossob) who in turn were being held up by a lion and two lionesses on their morning stroll. The tractor obligingly let us pass, and we joined the convoy.


The vehicle right in front was driving in such a manner that no-one was able to pass him, even if they wanted to carry on down south, and also at the same time blocking everyone else’s view of the cats.


Eventually, about 200m before the waterhole the lions decided that the road was getting too uncomfortable and the moved off to the left. This gave us a chance to pass the procession.

I am not sure if the other cars realised how close we were to the waterhole, as the continued to watch the lions on the side of the road. I, instead went on to Kaspers, positioned my vehicle and we waited.


After about 5 minutes, the lions arrived.





They made their way to the waterhole and spent a good time drinking







They really were stunning specimens.



Eventually they came up to the little parking area and moved off over the road into the bush, and out of sight.

[GavinW]

Urikaruus and the Auob were calling, so once the lions had moved off, so did we.


We saw these vultures perched on a tree near Cheleka



When we arrived at Dikbaardskolk, we saw that there was a car parked up on the Dune Road just above the picnic area.
My FOMO (fear of missing out) addiction forced me to go and see what the attraction was before we pulled into the picnic spot. A lone, very flat cheetah was sleeping under a tree about 100m off the road. It was in shadow and too far away for a picture. 8)


We met up with a family of ostriches on the Dune road, but that was the sum of the sightings on the roller coaster road.



Being in the park and having booked in accommodation as opposed to camping has its drawbacks. When camping, you are not really restricted to check in and checkout times as is the case when you are going to a chalet.
It was still a bit early to book into our new accommodation, so we decided to take a drive down to Auchterlonie

At Batulama we found some more flat cats in the form of 4 lions doing what lions do best.





There is a deep well at Auchterlonie, which was dug by hand in the early 20th century, and we had heard that besides bees, there is a resident barn owl in the well.

Debbie went to have a look.





We then turned around and were greeted by Eric at Urikaruus, who allocated us to unit no 1, our favourite.




We spent the rest of the day in camp, just relaxing, before taking a drive back down to Batulama, only to find that the lions had disappeared.

We did see a kori bustard in the road,



and this hamerkop at Rooibrak.



To end off the day, we had a splendid evening in no 1 Urikaruus, and had visits from jackals as well as a family of bat eared foxes during the evening.

[GavinW]

Thanks everyone.

Yes it does seem that the barn owls live up to their name, even in the Kgalagadi. We saw them in Kileie in the pump house, in Nossob in the Reception building and in the well at Auchterlonie. ( thanks for the tip off Michele)

We have also seen then in a big tree on the southern end of the 14th borehole loop, but that was a few years back

[Toko]

Gavin

would you please post your guidline where to find barn owl in KTP here. Perhaps other Kgalagadi nuts will add thir experience, too and we can learn where to look for them

Or you start a new topic: Best spots to look for ... (or similar)

[GavinW]

Will do Toko

Day 14: 8 January Urikaruus

The Jap was getting thirsty again, and I certainly didn’t want to take any more chances with petrol availability so we were set to head north on our first morning in Urikaruus.

We were greeted by another amazing Kalahari sunrise. (Oh how I miss those!!)




The road up north to Mata Mata had deteriorated drastically since we were last on it about 5 days ago, so I needed to concentrate more on the road than what I normally would do.
We always drive slowly, but now we were driving even more sedately, with horrible memories past of broken leaf springs etched in our minds

A lion was lying under a tree fast asleep on the far side of the riverbed near 13th Borehole. We watched him for a while, but decided rather to carry on.

The rest of the trip to Mata Mata was dominated by the little critters of Kgalagadi:

A bat eared fox family out to play



A cape fox which continually put us on ignore



And these ground squirrels, which were really cute.







This white backed vulture showed us how it got it’s name.



Before we got to Mata Mata, we also had wonderful sightings of this lilac breasted roller



As well as of this swallow tailed bee eater



We got to Mata Mata, got the Jap her drink, we did all the battery charging we needed to do before we headed back down south.

[nan]

Gavin

would you please post your guidline where to find barn owl in KTP here. Perhaps other Kgalagadi nuts will add thir experience, too and we can learn where to look for them

Or you start a new topic: Best spots to look for ... (or similar)

like that a lot of people will disturb a lot of them

[GavinW]

A few black and white images from our morning drive included:


This springbok (inverted by my SO)






And this gemsbok and wildebeest picture

[GavinW]

We returned to Urikaruus and relaxed in camp for a while before going out on an evening drive at about 4.30.


We headed north up to 13th borehole and were just in time to see the previously flat lion get up.



He made his way towards us, and the waterhole, and we were sure he was coming to drink.



For once we were wrong. He changed direction and walked behind us and over the dunes to our right.



Earlier, we had heard rumours that a leopard and a cub had been sighted at Rooibrak, so after the lion sighting, and given the road conditions, we thought we would go see.

Nothing

We did get a really nice giraffe sighting on our way home though.







That evening we had visits from bat eared foxes, jackals and this cape fox at the Urikaruus waterhole.



Our final farewell to Urikaruus, came at 2am in the morning. We were woken by the distress calls of jackals outside. That could only mean one thing. A predator.
A big male leopard was drinking at the waterhole. We didn’t get any pictures, but we secretly hoped that we had seen Dakotah, a leopard we had spotted at 13th borehole way back in 2008 and had the privilege of naming.
The next morning, Eric agreed that it could very well have been Dakotah, as he had been seen in the area quite a bit in recent days.
If it was him, here is a pic of him we took back when we first saw the big boy.



Our last full day in the park follows over the page:

[Lisbeth]

Great pics of a very handsome lion! and I love the giraffe pics, even if I prefer the colour ones

To see a leopard is always an event also without photos