I was nervous about going outside before daylight this morning. It was freezing and I got dressed under the blankets! Earl said he was feeling better but I made him lie in bed until the last minute. The Italian neighbours had also heard the lions in the night and were up looking for prints - they showed H2 Pete and I and they were huge. They were right behind H2 and Pete's hut.
H2, Pete and I packed up and loaded the car and by 9 o'clock it had warmed up a bit. Earl wanted to drive but I refused to allow that. The return track was a bit more hectic but with his careful instruction and my sound effects I managed. The Italians were just ahead of us and at one point we spotted them stopped up ahead. They had found meerkats close to the road!
This chap found a good vantage point
We saw more of the small rodent type creatures - lots of food for birds of prey
As we were travelling along we came across these Sandgrouse parents herding their chicks across the road.
They were so tiny - just little balls of feathery fluff.
One of the tiny creatures struggle to make it up the embankment
The parents could just stand by and watch - he had to do it by himself. Earlybird was tempted to give it a helping hand but he finally made it.
We stopped at a waterhole to observe wildebeest
And gemsbok
The weather was once again hot and we started to strip off our outer clothes. We arrived at Nossob just after 2 o'clock and checked in. Earlybird was feeling very much better and after lunch went to spend some time at the hide.
I was pretty tired and spent the afternoon resting and downloading photographs onto the computer. Pete and H2 walked around camp for a bit and then also had a rest. Our huts were quite far apart but we kept in otouch with the walkie talkies. I did a chicken stir fry for supper and for the first time in days, EB ate well.
6 July 2012
This morning we were up early and made our way to Twee Rivieren. We were supposed to spend a night there but decided to push on to Upington. EB was much better but his sinuses were troubling him and he wanted to get to a chemist for Sinutab which I didn't have in my kit.
We saw lots of bateleurs flying and were thrilled when we finally found one perched in a tree.
There were plenty of juvenile pale chanting goshawks
It was great to find a herd of eland
Nearing Twee Rivieren we found another troop of meerkat
And the ever-cute ground squirrels
This sub-adult Pale Chanting has almost completed growing his adult plumage
We had hoped to have lunch at the restaurant at Twee Rivieren but found that it only opens for breakfast and dinner. So we settled for some very good pies from the shop, refuelled and checked out. We got to Upington just before 5 o'clock, got medication from a local chemist and then checked in at Evergreen B&B. We were given two well appointed en suite bedrooms and the owner recommended we go to a Bilou Bistro for dinner. So after a good meal we returned to warm beds and a good night's sleep.
And so ended our safari - a mixture of fortune and misfortune - but happily EB recovered quickly and fully and drove us home the following day.
Thank you for riding along with us.