A kinda, uhm, weird trip to KTP (Oct 2012) *

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Mel
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Re: A kinda, uhm, weird trip to KTP (Oct 2012)

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As per norm, a black-headed heron was waiting for us at Vaalpan
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Arriving back on the Aoub side we found our first O/\ and only 0= ostrich chicks
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Re: A kinda, uhm, weird trip to KTP (Oct 2012)

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And a pymy falcon close to Kamqua. Funnily enough, that’s the only place where I ever saw any.
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And finally a giraffe – yay! O\/
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We actually counted the whole of 17 giraffes between Kamqua and Sitzas that day.

Different perspective
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Re: A kinda, uhm, weird trip to KTP (Oct 2012)

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At 14th Borehole we had found another 5 lions – two younger cubs, a half-grown female and grown male and female. They were far off snoozing in the shade, the heat was glistening so I didn’t take any photos. 0- After all they were lions anyway. :twisted:

At Craig Lockhardt we met the legendary Steve from Oz. A very talkative and absolute bonkers guy. O:V But equally amiable! Being desperate for cheetahs we had opened the conversation asking for them and heard the story of his life. Good fun though! Oh, and yes, he had seen the cheetahs. About 12 k’s down the road from Mata-Mata after he had escaped the morning frenzy in form of leaving the camp in an involuntary convoy. What we heard took my breath away: The cheetahs had been in the road with the cubs playing and running around Steve’s car… --00-- To say that I turned green with envy would be a stark understatement. Well, WE didn’t see them despite the fact that we had extended our drive from GK because I was so desperate for them. 0'

The beautiful afternoon glow from our unit
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Dinner: Leftovers from day 8


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Re: A kinda, uhm, weird trip to KTP (Oct 2012)

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Day 10
30/10/2012 Urikaruus

A new day dawned and we were getting ready to hit the road. Our target was to finally find us some cheetahs. We had heard about the family of 4 with young cubs. I wanted them! 0'

So we started with our morning cuppa on the balcony, scanning the area for some life. It was quiet though. At least, that’s what I thought. I can’t recall anymore how long we had been sitting on the deck before an odd shape caught my eye. That hadn’t been there yesterday, I told myself. :-? The light was still pretty dull but with the binocs I was quickly able to make out a lion lying in the riverbed to our right. Lion again… :O^ No, actually 4 of them – 2 males and 2 females. Obviously the resident pride. (Mr. Uri and his mate, Toko -O )

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Re: A kinda, uhm, weird trip to KTP (Oct 2012)

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The full moon setting over dunes was equally fascinating – and the lions were more or less stationary anyway:

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Re: A kinda, uhm, weird trip to KTP (Oct 2012)

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Soon the sun came up and turned the lions into golden kitties:

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Re: A kinda, uhm, weird trip to KTP (Oct 2012)

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But with the sun shining and despite the fact that it wasn’t particularly hot that day, the pride soon moved off towards the dunes.

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Some manicure before going to bed for the day:
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Re: A kinda, uhm, weird trip to KTP (Oct 2012)

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For our morning drive we opted to go up north – after all that’s where the cheetahs were.

Not long after we had left, we came across a BSK on my side.
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Re: A kinda, uhm, weird trip to KTP (Oct 2012)

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SO asked whether it was a BSK on his side as well. Indeed it was! And that one was devouring something furry with a long tail. Spoilt for choices – which one to photograph now??? My BSK took the decision of me and flew away, so I crawled into the back of the car and shot away at the munching one:

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Eventually it flew off and we moved on. Cheetahs! 0' But we didn’t find them – no matter how hard we tried. 0= Seeing that we were close to Mata-Mata by now and in urgent need of a bathroom we popped into the camp, did what needed to be done and got on the road again with the aim to return to the camp and to take a rest there. Tbc...


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Re: A kinda, uhm, weird trip to KTP (Oct 2012)

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On our way back we bumped into two cars. As we couldn’t see what they were seeing we asked for advice and were told: “There are cheetahs.” Oh, my word! :shock: Oh, my word! :shock: Cheetahs? :shock: Finally! O/\ Where? Where? And there they were. The little cute fluff balls 0/0 lying in the shade of a small bush, patiently waiting for mum to serve lunch. While my fingers got trigger happy with the little ones, SO informed me that mum was chasing springboks behind our car. But with no chance to get a photo of that event, I contently paid all my attention to the littles ones. The only shame is that I didn’t manage a single clear shot of them. My camera just didn’t want to do any favours. 0' I tried all settings including manual focus but it wasn’t meant to be. Anyway, I got my cheetahs and I was over the moon. O\/


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