Africa Wild

Day 15; Urikaruus excitement

We eventually left Miera and carried on. She had now settled down under a bush on the far side of the riverbed, and was hardly visible. We did point her out to quite a few cars whilst we watched her though.

The trip back to camp provided sightings of these delightful slender mongooses





And this snake eagle



We then spent a bit of time in camp, showering and having a bite to eat, before setting off again. This time we headed off north.

We went as far north as just after the 14th borehole loop before turning around. All was pretty quiet until, on our return trip, we spotted these two cheetah lying flat on the ground. They were in-between the two borehole loops.



(a proof pic of note!!)

After watching the cheetahs for a while, they were pretty far away and going nowhere.
We decided to carry on.

These giraffe were on the road in-between the cheetahs and home







Thoughts to self:


“There are times when I really have a hard time writing trip reports, as they remind me only too well of what we had seen, and where I would much rather love to be.
This is one such time, as the next 36 hours were to prove to be pretty spectacular. Mind you on the other hand it is also a reminder as to how privileged we were to experience what we did.”

We had just settled into camp and were getting busy doing all those domestic things you do around supper time, like getting a glass of wine etc etc, when we noticed that the bokke at the waterhole suddenly became a little distressed.

We took note, and soon spotted this stunning caracal arriving for it’s evening drink as well.



Wow Wow wow. Only our second ever sighting of a caracal in the KTP.

The sighting was brief, but certainly worth another toast.


Fifteen minutes later it was dark, and the bokke started performing yet again….


OK now it was time to get really excited ( Or drunk!)


The leopard walked around the chalets,









sniffing at the various vehicles,



before going to the waterhole for a drink.



Two leopards, two cheetah and a caracal……. Not a shabby day’s work. ( Oh and the midnight hyena visitors)

I'm surprised a leopard hunted a wild cat. Cat eating cat seems almost cannibalistic but I guess when you're hungry anything will do.

puppy wrote:I'm surprised a leopard hunted a wild cat. Cat eating cat seems almost cannibalistic but I guess when you're hungry anything will do.

A guide friend has told me that leopards are serious oportunists- they'll catch and eat anything they can catch. Everything from mice to cheetahs to birds to grasshoppers. They quite like bat-eared foxes.

To continue!


Day 16: The calm before the storm

Looking back into Debbie’s diary, she wrote…

”Drove to TR, saw nothing, downloaded, recharged batteries and back to Urikaruus. Stayed in”

Well that pretty much sums up the day, considering what we had seen before.

However it is not totally true. -O


The day did provide us with a whole lot of smaller sightings, which included:

This snake eagle



Another family of suricates,







Some squirrels



A Kalahari chicken,







Some of the Samevloeiing locals also made an appearance




A Marico Fly catcher



And size wise just the opposite, this Giant Eagle Owl



On the way back we came upon this really rare Kgalagadi sighting, (One which we hope never to see again!!)

A blinking tour bus……………….. Horrors!!!!




We decided to spend the evening in the camp, as we were leaving for the Kalahari Tented Camp in the morning.

Once back in camp we were visited by a whole lot of the locals







Sunset!!!





As well as last night’s caracal came back to say goodbye.
(Sorry really just a proof pic)



We went to bed very happy (but really cold!!) campers that night, not knowing what was in store for us in the next few hours!!

I had mentioned that it was cold, hadn’t I?

Things that go grunt in the night.

It was at about 3am when we heard a whole lot of hyenas going ballistic just next to our cabin, or so it seemed. We dragged ourselves out of bed and had a quick look out the front of the unit (please take note that it was freezing).

We could see the culprits dashing about the place in quite a frenzy, they kept on darting into the riverbed just in front of our bedroom and then back behind a bush down the left side of the chalet. And by this time we were vrek cold, so we decided to go back to bed.

As we lay there, hardly able to go back to sleep with all the excitement outside, we suddenly heard this lamented groan, which sounded a bit like a wildebeest grunt. It continued for some time, and I said to Debbie, “They have definitely caught something”


Remembering our friend Belinda’s experience at KTC, where some hyenas took out a wildebeest under their cabin, we wondered if we were about to have a similar experience.

Gus Mills in his book “Hyena nights and Kalahari Days” mentions that it is not uncommon for hyenas in the Kalahari to hunt, rather than to scavenge, due the scarcity of food in the desert.

Needless to say I was up and down like a yo-yo the whole night. Eventually the groaning stopped and we managed to doze off a bit. (Well just a very little bit)

Come 5.30 am we were up and getting ready for the day. We had to pack, as we were headed to KTC that morning, and we wanted to see what was going on outside.

A trip down to the catwalk revealed this chap, covered in blood wandering around the edges of the car park:





As it got lighter, we managed to spot some more hyenas up on the ridge behind the camps assistants’ cabin



Eventually, they moved off, and we were able to get out of the cabin(With the permission of the cabin attendant) and at last we could see what all the commotion was about.

This is what we saw:



A clan of 5 hyenas had taken down a gemsbok, just 50m from our cabin, and had spent the night having a midnight feast

We watched them as they dragged what was left of the carcass aound the place:







(Needless to say, there was to be no morning drive this morning!)




TBC

Our Urikaruus morning cont...




After a while, we decided that we needed to:

a) get some coffee to warm up, and
b) To carry on getting packed up

At the same time the hyena clan decided that it was time to move into the semi – warm sunlight in the riverbed.

Day 17: Urikaruus to KTC:


It was 8.30 am when we nervously started packing the vehicle, with five, OK not so hungry hyenas in close proximity.

Whilst we were packing up, this familiar chat came to say goodbye!



By just after 9am we had to leave camp, and head off. We said goodbye to Jacques, who was off on some leave and headed off.

We couldn’t believe that it was only 9am in the morning and we had already experienced so much.

The day had just begun!

Just after 14th borehole we came across the cheetah family from the other day. They were in the road on the move



We had only left camp and the hyena sighting 30 minutes ago, and now we were looking at 4 stunning cheetahs

We watched them as they moved up onto the ridge on the left, and continued to look for breakfast.






We watched them for a good while as they painstaking moved along the ridge



They would move, settle down for a while, and then carry on.




Climbing in and out of trees for a better view



After about an hour, they eventually moved over the ridge and out of sight.




We decided to carry on to KTC

The trip to KTC continued

I often wonder what we are about to miss when we leave a predator sighting, even though in this case they seemed to have disappeared, one always wonders if they were only evading detection to make a kill a bit further on. It’s a chance you take I suppose.

Travelling further north, we soon came upon this Gemsbok, (and told her in no uncertain terms to watch out for hyenas, and not lie around too nonchantly ) -O



Things seemed to be settling down to normal., and soon it was birds we were on the lookout for.
We spotted this Hoepoo



A lilac breasted roller



Some White Backed Vultures on a nest



And this Swallow tailed Bee –eater before we got to Craig Lockhart



Just after the waterhole, we came across a pile of lions sleeping under a tree.



They were ultra settled, and we still needed to settle into our accommodation for the night, so we carried on and booked into our unit at the Kalahari Tented Camp

Kalahari Tented Camp

The last time we had been to KTC was way back in 2008, when we were “given” a night in the Honeymoon tent by Debbie’s boss as a thank you gift. It was our first ever taste of a wilderness camp, and very special.

We booked into camp and we were allocated unit no 8.

The setting in the camp is great, but the waterhole is very far away.




The accommodation had been upgraded since our last visit with wooden and glass doors replacing canvas flaps, which was a great improvement.



We settled in, and after a while decided to head down south again to see if the lions had moved.

They hadn’t so we carried on down south as far as the Dalkieth loop

On the way down, a Kori Bustard actually posed for us for one second before turning it’s back to us as they all seem to do.



We also spotted this spider’s web on the side of the road.



This juvenile Giant Eagle Owl obviously didn’t understand the meaning of concealment, as it was on a dead tree wide out in the open



If I can’t see you, you can’t see me!



You could have driven past, mistaking it for a mop!! -O


Hoping to see it fly off we waited for a while, but it wasn’t going anywhere

On the way back to camp, one of the lions had moved into the sun, which gave us the opportunity for a far off pic.



We got back to camp, and enjoyed a quiet evening in camp and a potjie for supper.

Day 18: A day for the birds

We packed up and were ready to leave KTC by gate opening time.

The plan was to head off down south, do the loops, before booking into Urikaruus for the next 3 nights.

We had just entered the Dalkieth Loop when we saw a car stopped on the side of the road. The object of their attention: This cute Pearl Spotted Owlet:




It was positioned perfectly facing the light.



Carrying on we soon realized that today would be a bird day, and that the larger carnivores were not playing the game.

Other birds we spotted on our morning drive were:


A pygmy falcon




This Tawny Eagle




A lilac breasted roller




or two!!





And a white backed vulture.





By the time we had got to Urikaruus, we were way too early to book in, so we carried on south for a while.

Just past Kamqua we came across this Martial having it’s lunch.









After a while we set off to check in at Urikaruus