Wannabe Larnies in the KTP: December/Jan 2015*

[GavinW]

Thanks for all the wonderful comments everyone

@ Toko I love your thinking

Day 15: 9 January Urikaruus to Twee Rivieren


Being summer, and with the early gates opening times, we were able to go for a morning drive before having to pack up and leave camp before 10am.
We were headed to Twee Rivieren for our last night in the park before heading back to Cape Town, so we decided to take one final drive up to Dalkieth and back.

We arrived at Thirteenth borehole to find a really mangy looking lion drinking at the waterhole.



He really looked in a bad way, and was not very pleasant to watch at all.
He eventually finished drinking and started walking away up the riverbed.



We had seen enough so carried on. We did have a limited time out on this drive after all.

[GavinW]

When we got to 14th Borehole, we were met with a much more appealing sighting.


A lioness with four cubs in tow was making their way to the waterhole.



They came to drink on the far side of the waterhole, and we were blessed with an amazing time with the five of them








Once they had quenched their thirst, they moved off towards the upper road.



We tried to get around to see them on the road above the waterhole, but by the time we got there, they were already making their way up and over the dunes to the west.

It seemed to be a morning where the waterholes were really delivering for us, because when we got to Dalkieth, this longneck was coming in for some morning refreshment.



It’s amazing to see just how nervous giraffe are when they come in to drink. They take forever to get the confidence to actually bend down and take a sip or two.



We got some nice close up pics of her while we waited though.




(funny toes!!)

While we were waiting for her to drink, we were also entertained by these yellow canaries



And an inquisitive jackal




And finally............





Having had a great morning so far, we reluctantly turned around and returned to Urikaruus.

But our morning drive was not over just yet

[GavinW]

Well, as I said, our morning drive wasn’t over just yet.


We were on our way back to camp, and not really concentrating on what was going on around us. We were on the stretch of road between 13th Borehole and Urikaruus, when we came upon a springbok herd partially blocking the road.


As we slowed down to get past, we noticed that one was about to give birth.



Our third springbok birth this trip



You can see the lamb's face in this pic

She lay down for a while



Got up again



The lamb seemed to be having a problem getting out and we joked that it was shouting “Mommy let me down, let me down”



Eventually she obliged, and the birth was complete.



Elated with the morning drive, we eventually got back to camp and packed up.
I took a few arb photos of the chalet whilst Debs was showering







Sadly we bid farewell to Eric and Urikaruus for this holiday and set off for Twee Rivieren.

[GavinW]

One thing which were noticed while we were back on the Auob side after being in Nossob a few days earlier, was just how green the Auob had become after the rain in late December.

This is the riverbed leading towards the Urikaruus camp from the south. Note how green it is.



Bar that first evening in TR on 26 December, we had had no rain whatsoever during our time in the park. It appeared as if that was about to change. There were dark rain clouds brewing to the south east. This is a view of them at the intersection with the Upper Dune Road.



We got as far as Montrose, where we saw our next flat cat.



This big guy was magnificent, but a bit far away and under a tree for any really decent pictures of him.
He was not enjoying the heat.

The rest of his pride were a short distance further down south, doing pretty much the same as what the male lion was doing.



And just to prove that they are not only found on the Dune Roads, this korhaan was being vocal as they tend to be:



Aucherlonie was our last stop before we got to Twee Rivieren, and we had to check if the Barn owl was home.

It was





We booked into Twee Rivieren for our last night, and relaxed for a while before going out again a bit later.

[GavinW]

Thanks everyone for all the nice comments
The owl wasn't phased by us at all, as it was quite deep down in the well and pretty much asleep.


We went up the Nossob River for our evening drive.

At Samevloeiing, we found a very angry looking Black Chested Snake Eagle.



It didn’t seem to being the mud too much





And flew away pretty quickly.





Everything was quite as we travelled up north past Leeudril and Rooiputs. We weren’t complaining, we were just soaking in the scenery one last time.


At Kij Kij, we found our next flat cat. Well 3 actually.



They moved around every now and then, but they too were quite a way off for our cameras, so instead we watched them through our binoculars.

We had to get back to camp as time was running out, so we turned around left the trio.


We had a brief sighting of this cobra (one of the few of the trip) before we got back to camp.



Whilst I was preparing the fire for our braai, Debbie went walkabout and spotted this Pearl Spotted Owlet in a tree just behind our chalet.

[Mel]

More cheetahs for Mel

The flat cats have a name too: Benny (the one standing), Choo (the one with the visible head) and Fancy (most likely the third one in that photo).

And off they go to the sighting thread.

[GavinW]

Day 15: 9 January: Our last morning drive


On recent trips to the Kgalagadi, we have always tried to get one last game drive in on our final morning in the park.
We usually drive back to Cape Town in one go, so we like to be out the park by 9am, as it takes us about 12 hours to get home.
Being summer, this year we had a slightly longer window of opportunity as the gates open at 5.30am,
With this in mind, we were packed and ready to go by 5.40am.

Our last sunrise.




Just after Samevloeiing we came across these jackals playing with a piece of someone’s motor car.



Whilst this is unfortunate, I suppose it’s a occupational hazard of being in the Kgalagadi.
Parts of your car WILL rattle off.
Luckily this piece does not seem to present any sort of danger to the jackals, but I was not about to retrieve it.

Near Leeudril, I noticed this brown hyena having a nap on the side of a dune.




We watched it for quite a while before deciding that we needed to move along more urgently than the hyena thought that it was time to make a move.




Our original plan was to go to Rooiputs and turn around. However, just before the waterhole we stopped to chat to some people in a passing car, who told us of some lions on the road some 2kms further on. Cape Town was about to wait.



A lioness with two cubs, possibly the same ones we had seen right at the start of our trip over two weeks ago were parking off.





The one cub eventually moved into some bushes on the right hand side of the road, whilst the others were satisfied to create a mini road block.






With time marching on, we eventually had to turn around and head out the park.


Our last sightings of the trip were

This juvenile PCG



A flat brown hyena, who had moved only as far as to stay in the shadow.


A heron



And a breeding springbok herd.



It was 9.30am before we left the park after inflating tyres, refuelling (yes they had petrol) and booking out at reception.

As we drove out of the gates the first drops of rain in 16 days started to fall.

Debbie and my reflections on the trip are to follow......

[GavinW]

Wow - I have just finished reading our trip report and I can only congratulate my hubby on a job very well done . We were blessed with an amazing trip and once again the Kalahari delivered in true Kalahari style.

I need to be honest and say that as much as I enjoyed the trip, it will take a long time before I venture back during that time. Gav and I have been very spoilt with holidaying out of school holidays and even though the busyness of the park did not affect us that badly (as the park always seems to be busy these days) I found that at certain sightings there were just too many cars filled with noisy folk and it felt a bit like the south of Kruger......... please note that this is me being spoilt and fussy and I do love children. I also battled with the heat.

I loved staying in chalets but will not be doing that again, hopefully for a very long time. I love camping and setting up my little home away from home and I also feel that in the heat, camping is cooler. My idea of an awesome holiday is to camp for the majority of the time and finish off with a couple of nights in a wilderness camp (Urikaruus if possible). I hope that I never have to stay in a chalet in Nossob, EVER again. Especially number 2. To say that it was a nasty experience is an understatement. I feel that those chalets should be demolished and replaced with tented accommodation or something else. We were lucky enough to only have to use the main bedroom so we left both doors open and stacked ammo boxes at the one door and just closed that bottom half of the stable door of the main bedroom. It was so hot that I did not care if we had visitors during the night, I just wanted some air to move through the room. The worst was that while we were waiting for them to clean the chalet, Gav and I walked around the camp and noticed that old campsite number 5 was empty, this site has no electricity and is in the South Eastern corner of Nossob ( my favorite campsite). Please note that as much as I did not enjoy the accommodation, I loved being in Nossob and we had a wonderful experience with the lion and then later that evening with the brown hyenas. We also saw a genet and found the barn owl so in that respect I was a very happy bunny

Being in that park at that time of the year was a special experience in respect of all the births that we got to witness and all the babies that were running around. I feel that we were very blessed with all the birth sightings and all the babies that we got to see. Loved the very shy baby bat-eared foxes and I would like to thank my hubby for all the hours that we spent sitting on the side of the road waiting for the babies to feel comfortable enough to make a brief appearance. We experienced quite a few firsts and I loved having the special sighting of the warthogs. We spent hours out on the road, sometimes driving and sometimes just sitting and enjoying the stillness and wide open spaces, and became quiet sleep deprived but we did have loads of fun out there trying to read tracks and think like a wild animal........ We also got to meet some new folk and share our holiday with old friends.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of those that posted wonderful comments regards my hubby's sharing and our photos . We will be returning to the park in November and this time it will be a week of unfenced camping in Rooiputs and Polentswa, so until then take care and enjoy my favorite part of the world.
God Bless
Debbie

[GavinW]

No trip is ever the same

That is why we keep going back to the Kgalagadi

Looking back at this trip, it was the first time that we had never camped in the Kalahari, and as Debbie said, we missed it at times. I loved being at Urikaruus (especially for my birthday) and at Kieliekrankie, but camping is the way to go in Nossob!!


The roads were ok during our time in the park. The big storm I eluded to a couple of times during my report resulted in wash aways along the Auob River road which resembled speed bumps more than anything. On the plus side, we didn’t have too much dust to deal with.


One negative that I do have however, is that of the staff at some of the camps.
In the past we have made good friends of the camp attendants and other staff members in the park, and have had pleasant exchanges with them. This year, with the exception of Eric and Jacques, (both at Urikaruus), this was not the case.

I am not sure if they are overworked or have just developed “houdings”, but they seemed aloof and impersonal a lot of the time. I hope that it is the former.

Those are my SANPARKS comments over.

During our trip we were assisted by some wonderful people. Doug and family, take a bow.


We also met up with a whole lot of Kalahari freaks from Cape Town during our stay. Michele, Doug, Glynis, Rob, Karin , Myles, and Karen with an e, to name but a few.

When will we ever be able to go away anonymously? Not that we were complaining!
From a sightings point of view, I lost count of the number of lions we saw,
the springbok and wildebeest births were firsts for us, the number of baby animals we saw was just awesome, and we had a stunning brownie sighting and a very special leopard sighting in Warona.

Warona

Kamfersboom was definitely the waterhole that rocked for us on this trip.

Finally, I need to thank Debbie for all the photos she took.

They totalled over 16000 by the end of the trip. She has whittled them down to about 500, the majority which are displayed in this report.

However, while she was taking photos, I had my video camera out...

Take a look.............( but please excuse the poor quality images tinypic are providing).


The first springbok birth we saw near Rooiputs, Well about 15 minutes later!

Our bestest cheetah sighting near Melkvlei

The Brownie at Kamfersboom

and just before that this guy

The piggies at Monro

and finally the Crème de la Crème Nossob