Done and Dusted

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Richprins
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Re: Done and Dusted

Post by Richprins »

Hell, these are good interaction pics, Moggie! ^Q^ ^Q^ ^Q^ :ty:

Can I send some on to media? O-/

The "male" comments about the lion and meerkat are hilarious! :twisted:

But I would counter and say the lion is under orders from the lioness, under her spell, so to speak, and instantly "operates" when she has rested and wants more! Check her ears! ^0^


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Re: Done and Dusted

Post by Moggiedog »

RP - thanks - you welcome to use the pics :-) Huge compliment with the asking \O As for the "meerkat' - I think they are ground squirrel - but am speaking under correction O**

H erectus - couldn't agree more ;-)

Nan - thanks for the comments and sticking with the saga.
Lisbeth- very blood thirst humans - we wanted a wild cat. I think she was embarrassed at her families behavior and decided to disown them - but if the truth be told she just didn't want to share her munchies. Thank heavens thos big birds don't fly - imagine your windscreen.............


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Re: Done and Dusted

Post by Flutterby »

Love the squirrels! =O:

Lots of activity at the waterhole! \O


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Re: Done and Dusted

Post by Moggiedog »

Thanks Flutterby - small creatures are always good fun to watch


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Re: Done and Dusted

Post by Moggiedog »

With the angry birds behind us we carried on on our quest to find an African Wild cat. We were moving a tad faster as we wanted to get to Twee Rivieren to fill up with fuel to save sometime the next day. This did not stop us exploring a road we had passed many times - but were never sure if it was a tourist road or not. Although there was no no-entry sign, it was not a well used road. We traveled along but we were getting more and more unsure about where the road was taking us. Finally it was no more than a track and we decided to do a U-turn and head back to the more used roads. The scenery was very pretty but we hadn't seen anything - even the bird life had been quiet.

Still no African wildcat but we did see this little guy. Not being very tall myself, I can fully understand these little ones climbing onto something, anything, to give them a different perspective on life.
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He/she was so busy concentrating on the distant horizon it hadn't seen or heard us arrive. When it did, it fell out the bush, but like a cat, managed to twist and go down headfirst at a rate of knots.
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At twee Rivieren we did not waste much time. Vehicle's thirst quenched with enough to get us a long way towards home, phone calls to people we had left at home done, some small gifts and other items purchased we were back on the road.


Not far from the entrance to the game viewing area was a bit of a traffic jam. We could see some springbok and wildebeest on the dry riverbed and they were all on full alert. There was no doubt in our minds there had to be a cat on the prowl.

We drove round the waterhole then slowly headed towards the traffic. We pulled up behind the last car and Jax could just make out a cheetah lying flat on the ground. At this point I could not see any cheetah. It soon became obvious the news had spread resulting in more cars arriving. Everyone was very good about pulling up behind the last car - but you always get one - A car came past the stationary vehicles - saw the cheetah and slammed on brakes. This resulted in said cheetah getting up and moving away. I could now see the cat.
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I don't know what was said to these people by the people in the car next to them, but they reversed a bit and forced their way in between us and the car in front of us. This is what happens if you try and do the decent thing by not parking on top of another car. They had obviously lost sight of the animal as they started jostling for a view.
We ignored them totally because what they did not see or know was that there were four more cheetah in the distance under a tree!

Unfortunately they were a good distance away and getting shots of them all together was not working to plan.

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The cheetah took turns in moving to different spots - it seemed like two at a time.
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The original cheetah made it's way to join the others, casting longing glances at supper on the hoof. For now it had given had given up the hunt.
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He/she greeted each member of the coalition and then settled down in the grass next to one of the gang.
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All of the cheetah were lean and mean - they would be hunting again very soon. Jax and I debated sticking around but decided to head back to camp. We were almost positive the cats would not hunt until most of the vehicles had left and we believed the ambush would happen closer to the waterhole. The herd we had seen where heading further and further away and we were sure the cats would have to wait for some unsuspecting supper to come in for an evening drink.


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nan
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Re: Done and Dusted

Post by nan »

wow lot of Cheetahs O/\ O/\ O/\

saw the cheetah and slammed on brakes not only good to see the Cheetah, but also to broke the road :evil:

^Q^ ^Q^ ^Q^


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Lisbeth
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Re: Done and Dusted

Post by Lisbeth »

Perfect gold medal dive of the meerkat ^Q^ ^Q^

Nice cheetahs, but too many cars 0*\ Rather squirrels and meerkats, than cars and cheetahs O**


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Mel
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Re: Done and Dusted

Post by Mel »

I had a good week and the according number of days to catch up on. But there is nothing like a good read :-)

It's totally understandable to feel lost coming to Nossob after having spent quite a few nights in the real wild, I think. We even struggle after only coming out of a wilderness camp :O^ Way too many people and too much noise!

Rooikop is our favourite waterhole for a sundowner! The crowds usually go to Marie's or Cubitjie and we find, if you want to be on your own, you just head down the road for a few kays. We even did that once, standing at the waterhole when everyone was waiting on some hidden and sleeping lions just an odd 200 metres further on. They probably even pitied us that we didn't know about the lions. lol

Oh, and you got a cheetah riddle for me O\/ O\/ O\/ Must try to find out who that was you saw there. O**

Kissing a Lion =O: =O: =O: Hope he had a clean breath! But, oh my, what a great experience being so close to the maejestic animals! And after Fred you had another beautiful regular visitor :-0 I like Mr. Fox. \O

The bee activity at Auchter was awful in October! So much that we eventually gave up using the facilities there. 0*\

You really made up the most comical names for the animals... Herman and PeeWee for the lions =O: But some really great shots of them O:V

And more cheetah :shock: Hopefully there will be some action in the next installment :-0 5 in total you said, right? Will be interesting because for now I have no idea who that might be :-?


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Mel
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Re: Done and Dusted

Post by Mel »

Stupid me :o0ps: I had thought you had gone to KTP in December (don't ask me why, got mixed up), but since it was July / August,
the ID of the Group of 5 is rather easy lol Corinne and her offspring which were still together back then \O Today AstroMatt just
posted a link to a sighting posted on Facebook here... That cheetah lady already has the next set of 4 :shock: O:V :-)


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Mel
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Re: Done and Dusted

Post by Mel »

Oh, and the boy makes me really happy O\/ I know it's been almost a year now, but before that he was last seen in December 2014, so I'm very happy to learn that he's still around. He's Ekon, one of Elena's last litter. O/\ O/\ O/\

Please, may I use both sightings on our sighting thread? And could you provide me with the exact dates of the sightings and most exact sighting location you can remember? O0


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