A Cat a Day, almost every day: Kgalagadi Oct/Nov 2023

[GavinW]

Thanks for all the feedback everyone
We really appreciate it


Tuesday 31 October 2023

We left Mata Mata at 6am and headed south, travelling slowly, as we do.

By the time we got to the end of the 13th borehole loop at just after 8am all we had seen along the way was a lone White backed Vulture

And a really nice herd of Wildebeest

We were starting to think that today was to be our first “cat free” day of the trip

Well we were wrong

In the riverbed just before the hill up to Urikaruus we spotted Corrine
She was on a mission, and obviously hungry. (We had heard that she had made a kill the previous day, only to have it taken away by hyenas)

[GavinW]

[GavinW]

We watched her for a long while as she stalked some springbok further up the riverbed

Being interrupted at times by an irritating passing herd of wildebeest

[GavinW]

After a while instead of just us on our own with the cheetah, we had a quite a few other vehicles at the sighting.

Luckily they were all respectful, and we all could watch her at our leisure

We were at the sighting for a good few hours, hoping that our patience would pay off

We have yet to see a successful cheetah hunt actually happen, and today we didn’t either
She ran too soon and the springboks had enough time to make an escape

Great to watch anyway

[Lisbeth]

That was a great encounter with Corinne. In the first pics, it looks as if she is waiting for the bus

[Richprins]

What a lovely experience, Gavin!

A beautiful cat.

Interesting the burning there in the desert!

[GavinW]

Interesting the burning there in the desert!

The burnt trees on the Auob side are the result of lightning strikes about a year ago

[Richprins]

[GavinW]

After the cheetah sighting we decided to return to camp.

A well concealed African wild cat near Craig Lockhart was the only sighting of note. It was so well hidden that no workable photos are available

Back at camp by just after lunch, it was time to relax and slowly start packing up for tomorrow’s drive to Nossob

Camp life at Mata Mata isn’t restricted to furry suricates, but also to the less cute, scaly creatures of the Kgalagadi, like this monitor lizard in the drain near the ablution blocks

We spent the rest of the day in camp doing admin stuff

[GavinW]

Wednesday 1 November 2023

4.30am alarm clock. AGAIN no ways

Today we really battled to get out of bed, but we did, and we eventually were ready to hit the road at a very late 7.30m (remember the gates open at 5.30 in November)


Soon after leaving camp we spotted this White Backed Vulture soaking up the early morning sunlight

Just past Craig Lockhart, our wild cat from the previous afternoon was a little more accommodating, and we got a few pics (and our cat of the day)

Before we got to the picnic spot for coffee at Kamqua


This bee eater stopped for long enough for me to get a proof pic

And Debbie spotted this Vereaux Eagle owl trying very hard to nap