It's so dusty, the animals can't see...*

[Mel]

Some oryx huffing and puffing at Houmoed



Because of her

[Mel]

Owl check at Samevloeiing





And now I'll leave the rest for the day to be continued next week.

[Mel]

28 October continued

We got to Twee Rivieren without further ado. Well, not far from the owl tree to the camp anyways. A quick fuel stop and some shopping was in order before checking the sighting board and heading out again. There were cheetahs pinned down all over the place but we hadn't seen so much as a flicking tail of them. Just before getting ready to leave again, a couple came walking over and told us about 5 cheetahs lying in the shade towards Leeuwdril. They were certain that those cats wouldn't go anywhere for the time being and we should be able to find them... They had no idea what cheetahs would do just to avoid me. Even walking off in 40 plus degrees.

First stop was Samevloeiing waterhole. In the pan on the opposite side there were again some huffing and puffing oryx, but this time I forgot to take a shot because I was too antsy to get up to Leeuwdril and check out if Corinne and her offspring were still there. And with 5 cheetahs in one go, it must have been her. Well, as before at Houmoed the behaviour of the oryx gave away the lions who were parked in the shade behind the waterhole.

Proof shot and off we went again.


The description of the couple at Twee had been a bit misleading we found out. We had been convinced that we would have to drive up to Leeuwdril and then some kays further to find the cheetahs, so we were doing 50 when all of a sudden something registered in the corner of my eye. I had thought lions, but with the help of my binocs quickly realized that Corinne and family were much closer to Twee than we had anticipated. Well, they were flat out...

[Mel]

It was boiling hot, but of course there was no way that I'd leave without a picture of at least one cheetah getting up and giving me some leg for easier identification

Chase was the first to do us the favour:


Corinne herself was next:


And finally Carina:


For the first time I would have preferred to stay in Twee instead of Uri because I would have been able to sit with the cheetahs until happy photo hour.
But arrangements being as they were, we had to get on our way again.

[Mel]

Leeuwdril itself was a spitting image of Houmoed and Samevloeiing... Huffing and puffing gemsbok on one side:



And a flat out lion on the other.

[Mel]

At Kij Kij we decided that we would go up to Melkvlei to make use of the ablutions there. Good decision, as we should find out because
there was yet another lion parked in the shade just before the picnic spot.



Quite a cat count today...

[Mel]

On the dune road we encountered a proper road block

[Mel]

Just before Kamqua, some kudus had gathered in the shade, some of them really tired out by the heat.

[Mel]

Back in the camp some more excitement... A young cobra had disappeared in a hole in the ground between the guest units and the camp assistant's cabin...
Eventually, it re-appeared between unit 2 and 3 and was about to make its way into the roof of either of them...



... when we had to call Eric who took the cobra for a walk in the riverbed



We were totally knackered from the heat and the excitement of the day. But also very happy with what we had seen on our round trip!

[Mel]

Two more full days to go before this trip ends...

29 October 2015

This was a quiet morning for us and it took all the way down to Houmoed before I took the first pic at 10.00 am But even a quiet day doesn't go without a lion sighting, it seems.

I loved the hairdo on this lady



Them two were up to no good though

Foreplay... about a second or two...


The act... another two seconds or so...

And whoever said men aren't up for cuddling afterwards hasn't met this lady...
She was fast asleep again before her guy had gotten off

He didn't seem to be bothered too much and looked rather pleased with himself.