Camping with Petronella ; KTP May 2016

[GavinW]

and where was it
Under your feet.... like mine

and somebody says... nothing like sunset in Kruger

Thanks nan
We still don't know

[Alf]

What a naughty Petronella

[GavinW]

What a naughty Petronella

[Lisbeth]

Debbie is chilling all right

I trust that you had a good look around searching for Petronella, especially in the tent

[Michele Nel]

Just catching up again ...great storytelling with super photos...
So we will be at Polentswa next week...shall I give Petronella your love..:)

[GavinW]

Thanks everyone for all your comments.

Yes Petronella sure kept us on our toes

We were super careful every time we went into our tent to check that the coast was clear, and I always had to try and remember not to step off the platform of the A frame near Petronella's home. Would have hated to step on her

The lions in the wind were a really special sighting. We did see them again the next day, looking slightly less elegant

[GavinW]

Monday 14 May: What a way to wake up!

It was about three o clock in the morning when this load roar, right next to our tent had me jumping upright in bed, my heart was somewhere on top of the A frame, and then I felt really scared.

I looked at Debbie in the bed next to me and told her not to make a sound.


Does that mean I can’t go to the loo? She asked

The lion only roared that once, but it was enough, and it took me a good hour to get back to sleep, well doze really, as we were due to wake up at 5.30 anyway.

In the sober light of day, we saw that a big male lion had walked past our campsite along the road which leads to the Lodge, and was in fact about 50m way from us when he must have roared
My achy breaky heart

We planned to use the day to head up to Union’s End as we hadn’t been up there for a few years, however when we got to the road, fresh lion prints were on the road heading south.
We changed our plans.

We caught up with the culprits some 5kilometres further on. Two lionesses, walking along the road. As we approached, they went up off the road to the left and disappeared into the dunes.



We tried to get sight of them again, but were unsuccessful, so we did a 180 degree 8 point KTP turn and carried on with our original plan
The road north was quiet, and besides lots of frustrating paw prints, we saw very little.

I really enjoy the fork tailed drongos you get in the Kgalagadi, so we had to get at least one picture of the master mimic of the park.



We came upon this huge male lion on a mission just south of Gienab. He was walking towards us, initially on the road, and then he cut off to our right.





We followed him for a good 2 kilometres as he strode purposefully down the valley. Like the lioness earlier, he too eventually moved too far off into the dunes, and we carried on.

At Unions End, you HAVE to take the obligatory tourist pic/selfie /whatever.



On our trip back to Polentswa we were fortunate enough to spot this Lilac Breasted Roller



As we as this adorable pygmy falcon couple.





Back in camp, with Petronella now kindly out of the shower, we were able to get clean, and do a little bit of housework and pottering around camp before heading off on our evening drive.

[GavinW]

Just catching up again ...great storytelling with super photos...
So we will be at Polentswa next week...shall I give Petronella your love..:)

Please do, but be careful

[Lisbeth]

I can imagine that a roar like that must be rather scary

Beautiful couple of pygmy falcons

And a very handsome lion

[Alf]

That pigmy falcon is stunning