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

[Mel]

And we actually did. Of course we had to check out the lions again and to our surprise, they were on the move, despite the heat.







They had decided to shift themselves from the shade left of the waterhole to the shade right of the waterhole... And none of the three even bothered to stop for a quick sip. I wasn't not sure if it had to do with the second young male lying flat out there already as if he wasn't alive anymore. In fact, when the first female arrived at his resting spot, she sniffed at him and nudged him but he didn't even shrug an ear or something. We really thought he was gone. Just before we left however, his head came up a wee tiny bit. So he was still alive.

[Mel]

I'm not really sure what happened to those four regarding their pride. But even if they had been chucked out, surely the ladies will be well capable of hunting and feeding themselves, plus the two adolescents

Anyway. The morning was progressing rapidly and we hadn't had any food yet, so back to the camp it was. And even though those steenboks drive me nuts because they hardly ever let me have a good photo of them, I never give up trying as they are such cute little things.



One more stop was granted to the raffie roadblock:



And his friend.

[Mel]

In the late afternoon we decided to take a drive to Sitzas or Craig Lockhardt to see if we could get a spot at the waterhole.
Well, we did not because others had been out earlier and had taken the best seats at the waterhole theatre. So, we ended
up going after the animals instead of them coming to us.

First up was this Verreaux's in the trees just outside of the Craig loop.



It had been sitting there in the morning already, but at that time it was unavailable for decent photos because it kept looking
at the tree bark.

At 13th a red-neck falcon drank for the overflow at the waterhole.

[Mel]

More cute lambs

[Mel]

And the moon was out early too.

[Mel]

Returning to Sitzas, the parking space was still full, so we decided to park in the only shade in the road where we still could see if something happened down there.
Another red-neck falcon kept us entertained in the meantime. I had seen it chasing the smaller birds but had not observed that it had made a kill. Yet, here he was
demolishing something.



And I mean it when I say that. Within 5 minutes both birds were gone... The little one inside the tummy of the bigger one that flew off.

Back at the camp, just before dark I could hear a pearl spotty. Looking around I was able to make out its shape in a dead tree right next to our unit.



What a special treat for the last night.

[Mel]

26 October - Mata Mata to Urikaruus

The last leg of our journey had begun. We would spend the last five nights at one of our top favourite camps. Luck had been on our side regarding the booking.
Yet we had a lot of time to kill before being able to book in at 2 pm and it was hot, hot, hot again. Not a day you'd look forward to really.

Seeing that we had missed the cheetahs by a few minutes the morning before, we made sure we'd get out of the gate with the crowd this time. Actually, we were
third in line. A feat that we hadn't managed in a long, long time. And not because we hadn't stayed in a main camp for quite some time, but because we usually don't bother with such petty details as gate opening time.

As we had to clear our unit by 10 am we decided to drive for 1.5 hours (or park if something came up) and return to be able to pack without hurrying.

Since it was really quite in the road, we got all the way down to Dalkeith. Checking for the cheetahs... Nothing. Checking for the lions... Not again

[Mel]

Otherwise it was really quite. We didn't want to go further south even if we could have afforded it time-wise. So we turned around and headed towards Mata again.
Down the dune into the riverbed that leads to the Kalahari Tented Camp we found three cars parked in the road. A lioness was lying in the shade of a tree far off
down the riverbed. Apparently there had been 7 lions early that morning walking on top of the dunes behind the camp. The rest of the bunch had disappeared.
While Spots was watching that lioness (who did move despite the heat), I scanned the surroundings because we had heard that there had been two young cheetah
that morning as well. Can you imagine my mood realizing that I had been a few minutes too late the other morning and this morning I had been a few minutes too
early and that's why I missed cheetahs again?! I was royally p***ed off!

Then I noticed that one of the camera lenses actually didn't point at the lioness but right at the area where the cheetahs were supposed to be. Obviously I had to
ask and he said that they were moving. Well, I did see that as well but by the time I had my camera up and ready, this is what I got:



I still don't know who they are (well, only one visible here, but there were two) and as you can see I don't have much for identification.

[Mel]

Back at Mata Mata we found the resident meerkat colony had moved down to the riverbed for a better view as well.
We were running backwards and forwards with our stuff when I felt a pair of eyes watching me interestedly. A meerkat!
By the time I had collected my camera, the one right next to our door had joined the rest of the family in front of the
unit. They were so close!



Unfortunately, they all ran off to the neighbours. As that unit was a bit backwards compared to ours, it was impossible
to get any good photos. But there was still the sentinel in the riverbed.

[Mel]

Around 9.45 am we left Mata for good and got on our way south again. Quick check just after KTC - lioness was still there, the cheetahs still remained vanished.

Sitzas offered this serene scene



We had wanted to sit at Craig to have some food but once again, others had been quicker. So we carried on to Dalkeith to find the male had gone somewhere else too. Plus there was no real shade when facing the waterhole, so we carried on and settled in at 14th Borhole. We were just digging into our food when Spots said: "Uhm, we're going to have company. There is a lion coming down the dunes..."




"No, wait, there are two."



"No, three...oops, four".


But they looked just as appalling as the ones we had seen the day before at Dalkeith. Actually, they also were two young males with two ladies
By now I know that at least the better looking male is the same, so I assume the rest is too.