Blown away by (in) the Kgalagadi- November 2015*

[GavinW]

Our last full day at Polentswa

As was becoming a daily routine, our photographer friends and ourselves made a bee-line to the Polentswa waterhole first thing in the morning.
Plan being to park off there and see who arrives.

This is very out of character for me, as I have this terrible FOMA affliction, and find it difficult to stay and wait at a waterhole.

As we arrived, a spotted hyena was busy drinking at the waterhole, but was startled by our arrival and set off into the distance.
Damn!@! And it wasn’t as if we had roared up to the parking area. We sort of rolled quietly to our preferred spot.
Oh well.


After a while waiting, I noticed movement on my left.

“Lions” I said to Debbie

“Nonsense, there are no lions in the park this year “was the reply


However, my eyes were not deceiving me.

Two lionesses and two teenage males came for a drink.









After a while, they moved off over to the other side of the pan
Another couple arrived, and we pointed the lions out in the distance, you could see their disappointment in having missed out on seeing them drinking.

But then, the Kgalagadi decided to treat them as well, and the four decided that they were still thirsty.

[GavinW]

Grader gratefulness

We were really excited that our lion drought had finally been broken, and pleased with a very special sighting.

Once the lions moved off into the distance, we waited a while to see what else may arrive at the waterhole.

A flock of doves kept us entertained for a while,



As did these sandgrouses



Having sat at the waterhole for a while, we decided to take a short drive. You could just imagine our glee at finding a newly graded road heading up north.
What a pleasure to drive on a virgin graded road.

We had a quiet drive up to Lijersdraai and back seeing general game in the riverbed.

We did see this chap at the Lijersdraai picnic area




And once back at Polentswa, this Black Chested Snake Eagle blessed us with it’s presence



We headed back to camp, really happy bunnies after a great morning out.

[GavinW]

Polentswa pm

We decided to take advantage of the newly graded roads and go for a drive south that afternoon

We always stop and have a peek at the Polentswa waterhole, whenever we left or arrived back at camp, (as one does), and this afternoon the only visitor at the waterhole was this stunning batty.





Our drive proved to be very quiet, with this snake (ID please, we think it is a cobra) being the main attraction.



Before we knew it, we were back at a quiet Polentswa, where we had time to take in the surrounds as well as some cloud formations.









Our last sunset in Polentswa was as usual really special

[GavinW]

A magical morning

We woke early the next morning, which is pretty normal in the KTP, and before packing up our campsite we set off for one last early morning visit to the Polentswa waterhole.

I have said it before, but I really enjoy wildebeest and their antics.
They are ugly and stupid, yet appealing at the same time.

Our early morning visitors to the waterhole:









And once they had moved on some more doves:



Satisfied that we had seen enough, we returned to camp to strike it down.

[GavinW]

Thanks so much for all your wonderful comments, yet again

We head back south to Rooiputs

We had a quiet trip down to Nossob, and had a short break, filling up with petrol, and other supplies at the camp before heading off towards Twee Rivieren

No stop at Nossob is complete without the obligatory picture of the gate keeper. This time with a new gate.



We had been scheming along the way and had decided that if there was accommodation available in either Rooiputs, Twee Rivieren or Two Rivers for the following night we may be tempted.
We bounced along on our merry way, over the Upper Dune road and into the Auob.

Shortly after our pit stop at Kamqua, we spotted this Tawny Eagle. Nice to see, as we hadn’t seen one for a day or so.




As we were approaching Monro, we saw our second cheetah sighting of the trip.
Spot sightings had been VERY hard to come by this trip, so we were pleased to have seen the four albeit flat felines under a tree



Just before arriving at Twee Rivieren, we saw the Vereaux Eagle drive Owl family in the tree near the gate, and drove into camp relieved to be out of the car after an 8 hour drive.



We enquired about accommodation. Rooiputs was full, but we had a choice of camping at Twee Rivieren or Two Rivers. We checked out both campsites, and the Twee Rivieren campsite won hands down. We made our booking and set off to Rooiputs for our last night in an unfenced camp.


We met the following locals along the way back to Rooiputs

A jackal family at about 5pm



And this pygmy falcon about a half an hour later



Once in Rooiputs, we set up a very temporary tent in campsite no 4, and admired the sunset at the end of a long, yet satisfying day out.





(Profile pic of me taken by Debs at the A frame)

[GavinW]

A mixed bag of sightings:

We woke to a stunning Rooiputs sunrise on our last morning in Botswana, and soon were ready to go out and explore, leaving our makeshift campsite at Rooiputs we headed off north to Kij Kij.



Our first sighting of the day was this rather grumpy looking Martial Eagle.
Obviously not a morning person, it glared at us from its tree top perch as if to say “Just leave me alone”



We arrived at the KijKij waterhole just in time to see this pride of lions leaving the waterhole and heading up the dunes to the left.





They quickly moved over the top and disappeared



No sooner had they moved off another vehicle arrived and asked if we had seen anything.
We were battling to keep in our excitement at the stunning sighting we had just experienced, but “No “ I replied, “Just these lion tracks on the road” I lied, in an attempt not to disappoint them.

As we trundled along further, direction Melkvlei, we spotted this bateleur couple contemplating life on a dead kamelthorn on our left



Our morning drive was proving to be really productive, and after a break at Melkvlei, and a short trip a bit further north, we decided to turn back south.
We passed a quiet Kij Kij and carried on. Soon after the intersection of the SA and Botswana Roads, Debbie spotted something under a bush, next to the road on the Botswana side.

A caracal

In my excitement, I decided to do a quick detour to get onto the Botswana road, so I headed off south and joined the double track
By the time I got back to the bush, the caracal had moved off and was going up over the dune.



We would have been better off staying where we were.

A bit frustrated we carried on, but our morning excitement was not over yet.

Lying next to a bush was this chap



Who then got up, and moved off, over to the other side of the road to another shady spot.

[Lisbeth]

At least you managed to see the caracal

[Toko]

Very scenic the lions and caracal against the sky

[GavinW]

Twee Rivieren: Our last stopover

After our amazing morning drive we eventually got back to Rooiputs, packed up our tent and set off to erect it for one last (extra) night at Twee Rivieren.
We set up camp in the un-electrified section of the campsite and found it rather pleasant.
Much better than we had expected.



While we were sorting our lives out, this vehicle arrived with a whole lot en tow, which provided us with some camp side entertainment, as one does when camping
They were busy on a film shoot of the Kgalagadi , with all the gear





This slender mongoose was also keeping an eye on proceedings.



Once we were settled in, and had had a bit of a rest, we set off for our last evening drive of the holiday.

It proved to be a whole lot quieter than our morning drive

The verreaux's eagle owl was still in it’s tree



And these Kalahari chickens were also out and about.



Our last sighting of the day was that of this black korhaan



We went to bed happy and content, wondering what our last morning drive would bring, and as to whether it was worth it or not staying the extra day

[Lisbeth]

Nice desert chicks