Chicks and a new SO on the catwalk (Oct 2013)*

[Toko]

Cheetah walking through Aptosimum albomarginatum flower bushes

Love the puffed up Sparrow

[Mel]

We were back in the camp by noon and spent the afternoon doing the unavoidable - serious packing.
I hate packing, no matter if it's FOR the holiday or FROM the holiday... My mood wasn't too bad though
with what the Kgalagadi had given us as a farewell present. All big cats plus spotties within 2 hours and
within a stretch of not even 10 kilometres.

While packing I took regular breaks on the deck to admire the pretty red sand dotted with the local wildlife:



And also the chicks who came foraging underneath our braai stand. Wonder what seeds they found there?

[Mel]

We went out again in the evening to sit at Auchterlonie, but the fun was spoilt because the Freak and others thought the leopards would return and had taken over already. So we decided to return to the dunes where Warona had disappeared and see if she would re-appear. She did not. But the scenery kept me busy and on top of splendid sightings I was in for some magic colours as well.

[Mel]

Changing colours:




The sand seemed to be burning...


And the sunset at unit 4 in Kieliekrankie:

[Mel]

18/10/2013 Kieliekrankie to Twee Rivieren and out

So, the day had come when we had to leave Paradise. Back then we still thought we wouldn't be back until 2015 as we are visiting friends in Australia next year
and we of the opinion that we can't do two long haul flights in one year. Well, we can. But we cannot imagine not going to the Kgalagadi for more than 12 months. Hence, on our arrival back home we made plans to book for next October / November and I was lucky enough to get us most of the camps that we wanted. Just not exactly in the order we wanted. Anyway, I'm digressing....

Kielie offered us a last beautiful sunrise:


I reckon, this was the only day when we left with gate opening time sharp. We had to be in Upington by 11.15 am to catch our flight to Jo'berg, so there was no time to be wasted. It was a quiet morning though as it was pretty cool and the critters were still trying to warm up in the dunes. The Cheetah Highway was deserted. But then we bumped into a traffic jam of 3 or 4 cars whose passengers were intently staring at the dunes. We couldn't see a thing and as we didn't have time to look up and down every tree and bush, we enquired about the commotion and were told that there were some lionesses on top of the dunes and everyone was waiting for them to come down to get some good shots. The photo pros were at it. Oh well, seen enough lions on the catwalk - let's move then.

At Kamfers there was another car parked but nothing at the waterhole. Ah, right, a lion king overlooking his realm:



Just waited for him to turn his head into my direction, got some shots and off we were again.

At Twee we checked on the Verreaux's chick again but it was very uncooperative to start with. Had to wait quite a bit for it to lift its head to get at least a bit of a nicer shot.



That was actually our last sighting! How cool is that?!

We then drove to the gas station to fuel up and to inflate the tyres. Then off to reception to check out. When coming out of the reception building I tried to stop the heavy door from shutting with a loud bang. Unfortunately for me and my left index finger, the door was much quicker than I had anticipated and my finger got smashed in the door frame. I actually had to sit down not to faint because of the pain... For weeks I had a blue nail which nicely ( ) reminded me of our holidays. By now the nail is starting to grow out and it will come off soon. Will definitely never ever again try to stop a door from banging!

[Mel]

Here's a collection of videos from the trip - partly mine, partly Spots'.


10/10/13

Lisette on kill

[Mel]

12/10/13

Silly weavers at Grootkolk

[Mel]

14/10/13

Lions at Grootkolk

[Mel]

15/10/13

Weavers at sundown

[Mel]

15/10/13

Kill on the patio