Wannabe Larnies in the KTP: December/Jan 2015*

[GavinW]

The Jap gets a nose job!!


Just for good measure and to maybe assist the wildebeest mother in recognising her baby here is a pic of the baby and her mother



While all this was going on, a few other things were happening.

Michele and her entourage arrived at the sighting,
and as things were happening pretty slowly,
Debs was distracted by these dubbeltjies on the side of the road.



as well as a sandgrouse or two



and some more Wildies
(No I am NOT the father!!!!!!!)



And a bit further on a Ground scraper thrush not on the ground, but in its nest.



And two plat lions on a kill, just north of Sitzas.



We eventually arrived in Mata Mata and I went to reception to see if anyone could assist with my bakkie’s ailments.
I was given good news and bad news.
The good news was that the man was out sleeping the roads,(not that we had seen him, but anyway)
and the bad news, he would only be back after lunch.

No problem, we had things to sort out in Mata Mata, including linking up our battery to electricity and chilling with Megan, who had stayed in camp.

I also noticed that my bull bar was just about history by now. Long story, but after about 8 KTP trips, a lot of welding and more corrugations, the bull bar had finally given up the ghost.

Eventually, Doug arrived back in camp, and being the star he is, we gave the Jap a nose job, and finally removed the offending appendage,




whilst Melissa served cocktails to the rest of the crew

[Mel]

We located the cats, passed out under a tree as promised. It appeared as if we had missed any action from them as they seemed pretty settled.

Two out of three of the Top Cat Gang

On the left should be Benny (IDed by the facial marks) and on the right is Choo (head, neck and part of the right hind leg are reference points for the ID)

[GavinW]

Thanks everyone for your comments and the cheetah id Mel.
Apologies for the delay in posting over the weekend.


Once all our business in Mata Mata was concluded, we took a slow drive back to Urikaruus and besides this snake eagle at 14th borehole, we saw very little









For our evening drive we decided to head south, and again all was pretty quiet.
The net sum of our sightings for the drive was this Kori Bustard




A group of a few spotted hyenas next to the road







And a far away Giant Eagle Owl.

[GavinW]

Day 6: December 31st The year ends off in style!!


We woke early on New Year’s Eve and were on the road headed south just after 5.30am, as it was the last morning (or so we thought ) that we could leave at 5.30am as the “gate” times were due to change to 6am in January.

The drive started off fairly quietly as is the norm in the Kgalagadi, and would get progressively busier and more productive as the day progressed.

First up, this Swallow Tailed Bee Eater was catching some early morning sunshine.



Then just past Kamqua we chanced upon this magnificent herd of giraffe. They were initially up on the dunes to the west, before they crossed over into the riverbed.







Down just past Batulama, we came across a bat eared fox den. An adult and three pups were present.
The adult, upon seeing us approach, made a bee-line for the calcrete ridges on the far side of the riverbed, leaving the pups to fend for themselves.

The pups were very skittish as well and ducked into the den.
We did however get a few proof shots of them.





We turned around and headed back north, and quite soon spotted a juvenile battelier sitting on the far ridge



And then a juvenile Gabar goshawk, in a tree right next to the road



followed almost immediately by this sighting:





I was really pleased with this "kill", and even though the light was bad, I was pleased by the way the pics came out

The hyena clan from last night were also out, (but not really about) when we drove past them.



It was now about 8.30 and the morning had just began......

[GavinW]

It’s not often one gets to capture a pic of a tortoise’s reflection in the Kgalagadi, but that’s what we managed to do at the puddles in the road at the northern end of the 13th borehole loop.





Then just a bit further on, I was saying to Debs that by now all the cats would be flat as it was already 10am, and getting warmer when I was proved wrong..

On the far dune we spotted this lady looking about:

[GavinW]

We watched her for a bit and then we noticed that she was calling the rest of her pride.



Soon they were walking across the valley towards us.



There were eight lions in all, 4 juveniles and 4 lionesses.
They came across the riverbed and parked off under some bushes just next to the road.
We were able to watch their antics on our own for quite a while until a few other cars came past.







This one obviously smelt something off and pulled an appropriate face





We watched them for a while, until they started settling down under the bushes, and we carried on on our way to Mata Mata

How awesome!!

[Bushcraft]

The pic of the lions in a row is fantastic

Great sighting

[Flutterby]

Lovely pics!

[GavinW]

Day 6 continued:

Thanks everyone for your patience whilst we were away, as well as usual for all your input. It really is appreciated.

After a while we decided to carry on to Mata Mata and to let sleeping lions lie.
We saw these butterflies on the side of the road near Dalkieth



We had heard from people travelling down from Mata Mata that there were two lions on a kill under a tree on the far side of the valley just past Sitzas. When we eventually found them they were well and truly passed out in the shade, so no pics were taken.

At Mata Mata, we collected our fridge/freezer and battery, which we now had worked out, was no longer functional. Doug had however made a plan with our cabling so that we could still run the fridge from our car battery in the interim. He is such a star!!


Rookie and her SO arrived in Mata Mata whilst we were there so we caught up with them as well.

We returned to Urikaruus for an afternoon siesta and saw very little on our way back, bar sleeping lions and this secretary bird having a bath at the Urikaruus waterhole near the lookout point.

[GavinW]

Our trip back up to the lions that evening gave us some special moments with the pride as they started waking up...







Cat Stretch




Yawn!!



This rather inquisitive female gave Debbie a bit of a fright as she suddenly stood up and peered into the car





And later, decided that we were good enough to stalk.





2014 ended with this stunning sunset, and a pleasant braai in our favourite part of the world.